Macon Magazine

while steadily building his DJ prowess, and in 2016 he left the classroom to focus solely on his DJ business. Ficklin performs under the name DJ Phi (@djphi), a childhood nickname given to him by his cousin, and his company Phi Events and Sound is a one-stop shop for any rentable party need. Pre-COVID appearances include the Silent Headphone Holiday Yoga at U Create Macon, spots DJing at Mercer University football and basketball games, and a gig at Midtown Key Club downtown, which Ficklin said was his favorite. "e best part of this job is connecting with so many different kinds of people through music," Ficklin said. "I love seeing people letting their hair down, regardless of whatever they might be going through, and creating memories." His favorite tunes to spin? "I really gravitate toward old school, classic, '90s hip- hop and R&B," he said. "Everybody loves that. I can play 'is is How We Do It' by Montell Jordan anywhere, and the crowd'll go wild, guaranteed." KHALIL BLOUNT, aka DJ B3 (@B3me), was just 6 when his family moved from Manhattan to Macon. An enthusiastic and eclectic music aficionado from a young age, Blount's middle- school love was lyrically-driven hip-hop. "All that stuff that old heads would say, 'Oh, that's real hip-hop' about, that's what I was into," he said with a laugh. In high school, he discovered Japanese heavy metal and became "perhaps the only metalhead at Southwest, and definitely the only skateboarder, until I converted my friends." He credits his older brother, who was always "messing around with turntables" and even DJed at Macon's skate park during competitions, with getting him into the scene. Blount, 31, who holds a degree in health service administration and information technology, DJed his first house party in 2009. He loved it and spent three years re- creating that magic whenever he could. "It was crazy – 300 people would show up for a party at a double-wide trailer. All my parties ended up getting shut down, though, so I knew I had to figure out how to be legit," he said. "Being a musician – a DJ is the same way – there's so many avenues you can take, and none of them are right, and none of them are wrong. You just gotta try." And that's exactly what he did for the next few years, hustling downtown venues for opportunities to host a party or land a coveted resident DJ position. In between gigs, Blount would set up his gear and DJ on the corner of ird and Cherry streets on First Fridays. "I knew all the break dancers. ere used to be a pretty big dance crew downtown, and there would be people who did poetry, too. We'd all just hang out and do our art in public. It definitely added to the scene," Blount said. Before COVID-19 hit, Blount was making a living as a DJ. He played Bragg Jam and Bearstock and was the artistic director of Bass-o-Rama, a multi-DJ rave that enjoyed its third anniversary back in February. Occasionally he'd take off on a little adventure, like the time he drove seven hours down to Florida to open up for Big Boi. Always innovative, Blount was the first to bring Silent Disco – a multiple-DJ event during which attendees don wireless headphones and tune in to the channel of their choice, all without violating any noise ordinances – to the area. "Every day I make a living off of music, I feel like I'm walking on stilts made of K FROM LEFT: KHALIL BLOUNT, BOOTZ & KATZ 38 maconmagazine.com | OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2020

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