“Do we have any EIGHTH-graders in the houuuuse?!!” might not get the typical dance crowd fired up. But then again, Clint Catlin isn’t your typical DJ.

Catlin, who DJed the school dance held Friday at Demopolis Middle School, is only 16. And he already has big plans.

“I’m hoping to get an internship at 95.7 JAMZ in Birmingham,” he says. “One of the DJs there, B. Money, he’s got his own show…me and him are real cool. I’ve got his cell number.”

Despite his age, Catlin’s already been DJing for three years, coincidentally getting his start at an event very similar to Friday’s DMS dance. “That’s where I met B. Money,” he says. “They were having a dance right here, like this one, that he was DJing.”

Catlin struck up a conversation with the JAMZ personality, and then even got to do a little filling in for him. “He was out and the music just about went off,” he says. “I just had to step up and keep it going, play something hot. That’s when I really got started.”

Catlin, who attends West Alabama Prep when not behind a turntable, has already reaped some fringe benefits of his quick start in the business. One of those is spending money, which he earns by DJing on Friday and Saturday nights in downtown Demopolis. Another is contact wit hsome big names in the entertainment industry.

“I got to meet Magic Johnson, which was cool,” he says. Other luminaries Catlin has shook hands with include rapper I-20 and singer Cierra. The latter was a thrill for Catlin, who names Cierra’s “One-Two Step” as his current favorite track.

“After this summer, man,” he says with a grin, “I’m gonna go after a real big gig.” Judging by the cheers and whoops from those eighth-graders he called out, he might just get it.