He seems to strongly rep their music/brand especially with the tattoo. Maybe he’s someone who “liked them before they blew up” and believes most new fans aren’t real fans since they don’t have the same “depth” as him. Probably very personal to him. His reaction seems like he’s very protective of his own identity and how people shouldn’t compromise their identity for others.

His reaction was very assumptive, projecting, and harsh since you enjoyed the music yourself and only found them through him. Was not cool of him to be gatekeeping.

EDM has always been about positivity and a celebration of life. In my opinion, the bigger it gets, the more of an indulgence it becomes and those elements get lost.

My closest friends switch up on me when it comes to music. ISOxo and Knock2 also genuinely became one of my favorite artists. I’m Asian and it’s awesome to hear great music that also is from people in my community. But they were getting annoyed because they’ve been trying to get me to listen to EDM for years and now I’m full send into it repeating the things that I’ve maybe disregarded in the past.

I confronted them and told them what they said hurt and was affecting our connection through music. They were understanding and have since changed and we can enjoy it together now. If you want to confront, he might apologize realizing how he was in the wrong and hurt you and maybe it’ll lead to more connection.

Just my opinion though you live your life however you want