DJ, writer, producer. Backyard Funk Crew. South Florida.
Dj Chief was born in West Palm Beach, Florida in 1982. He began making mixtapes at age 10, using a dual cassette deck to compile and remix songs by Hip-Hop artists of the day.
Chief was self-teaching music production by way of step editing on a classic DJX keyboard from Best Buy by age 16, sampling phrases from his mom’s 45 record collection using a stand-alone Gemini sampler.
Chief moved to Orlando to attend UCF in 2000 at age 17, and connected with local musicians, DJs, and Hip-Hop aficionados, playing at local clubs and parties while always refining his production.
In 2005, Chief joined the line-up at a local Monday night Bboy spot, playing alongside Orlando favorites Brain Reward, Dj Aeon, Dj Caution, and was joined later by Florida superstar Dj Rincon. It was here that Chief joined up with Backyard Funk Crew.
Soon, Chief started getting hired to play at local jams alongside the OG Dj Magic, who educated Chief through his deep library of rare tracks.
Chief was known for combining his battle-arranged Technic turntables and mixer with live, improvised Latin percussion via a Roland Handsonic, laying additional percussion over the tracks he played. He also prepared his own cypher-ready versions of well-known songs, including current hits and classics.
After relocating to South Florida in 2009, Chief connected with high school friend Sway Beats, who had also just moved back to town, and within months they collaborated on the Radio Breaks Worldwide podcast, and what would eventually become Bboysounds.
Since then, Chief has produced countless mixtapes, flips, remixes, singles, and albums that have been featured at some of the biggest bboy
events around the world, including World Bboy Battle, Red Bull BC One, Battle of the Year, Silverback Open, Miami Pro-Am, and many more.
Chief has curated hundreds of articles and conducted dozens of interviews for Bboysounds, and he also writes his own column “Behind the Beats.”
In 2022, Chief produced "River City Girls Anthem" for WayForward's "River City Girls 2," the highly anticipated sequel to the wildly popular "River City Girls" video game, with longtime collaborators Mega Ran and The Microphone Misfitz, which quickly became a fan favorite.
