Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Mitchell.
Anthony, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Ever since I was a little kid, I would listen to a lot of music. I vividly remember listening to music and wishing that I could somehow play multiple songs together or side by side to show people how similar they were or just to see if they would sound cool. This was way before I knew what DJIng was. When I was about 10 years old, I watched a documentary on TV that was about DJ battles and the history of DJing. After that, I knew that DJing would let me manipulate music the way I wanted to. For the next year, I saved up money by doing a ton of odd jobs like cutting peoples grass, washing cars, etc. I saved all the money I could and then, I bought my first DJ set up. It wasn’t the best but I couldn’t be happier. I was too young to DJ the events I wanted to do, but I practiced a lot and took it more serious as I got older. I did a ton of mobile gigs like parties, and quinceñeras.
At the end of high school, I was DJing a party and someone asked me if I would want to DJ at a concert they were performing at. I of course said yes and didn’t think to much of it, until I found out about a week later that the performance was to open up for Kid Ink. It was a big deal at the time because he had just rose to mainstream popularity. It was at this show that I realized that I could actually perform for a living. Even with all the time I spent DJing and practicing, I didn’t even know that I was that good because I didn’t know any other DJs. After the feedback from other artists at that show and a couple other concerts I did, I gained a ton of confidence to really pursue a career in music. I kept doing concerts and events until I finally turned 21 and felt comfortable trying to reach out to clubs to play in the city. At this point I’ve played at almost all the major clubs a couple times and I’ve been booked to play across the country.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There is a lot of competition in Chicago. The barrier of entry into DJing isn’t as steep as it once was back when you could only DJ on turntables. Now, everyone thinks they’re a DJ and finding booking when you don’t well know is pretty tough.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I don’t have a single accomplishment that I can point out that I’m most proud of. I’m most proud that I can keep moving forward. Recently, I’m very proud of my DJ crew Be Nice Collective. We had our first event in November of 2017 and with some very hard work we have multiple club residencies in the city and our members have played shows across the country and had our members (AYOO) perform at Spring Awakening Music Festival.
What were you like growing up?
I was always really quiet and pretty shy going up. I took interest in computers and art at a pretty young age. I used to draw, make a video, and create animations in my free time when I wasn’t at school or playing football.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.djpharaoh.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/djpharaoh/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DJPharaohChicago/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DJPharaoh
- Other: https://soundcloud.com/djpharaohchicago
Image Credit:
Jonathon Garcia, Eddie Sendaydiego
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