Loading up the back of Zachary Mikell’s Chevy Tahoe feels a lot like three-dimensional Tetris.

The Mississippi State University marketing major has a careful arrangement for the equipment that regularly fills his vehicle. He folds down the back seats, and then in it goes: The speakers. The smoke machines. The lighting. The subwoofers. The microphones. The tangle of cords.

“I have to stack everything literally a specific way, or it won’t fit,” Mikell said.

Mikell’s life sometimes feels the same way. The Jackson native is not only balancing the responsibilities of his third and final year of college, but he’s a promising DJ doing whatever he can to further his burgeoning career.

And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s what you want,” Mikell said. “With school, sometimes it’s difficult, but it’s what you want at the end of the day.”

This year, Mikell — aka “DJ Macho” — has taken on a new responsibility: He’s been entrusted with DJing Mississippi State men’s and women’s basketball games at Humphrey Coliseum.

For Mikell, it’s a big accomplishment for a Black man at a predominantly white institution. Duing the 2018-19 school year, 71.5 percent of MSU students were white, and 18.5 percent were Black or African American.

“It’s very important to me,” Mikell said. “I feel like it breaks down a wall. Not only is it showing that I can be diverse, but it’s just showing how versatile I can be within my works. 

“That’s really all I’m trying to do right now: just bring a different vibe to the Hump,” he added.

Getting the gig

Mikell owes the position to former MSU women’s basketball player Sidney Cooks, a close friend of his. Mikell told Cooks about his “bucket list” before graduating. One item stood out.

“I’ve got to DJ a game in the Hump one day,” Mikell said.

Cooks listened. She connected him with Michelle Pontiff, then the Bulldogs’ director of marketing, and Pontiff set up a tryout of sorts.

With just the marketing department in attendance, Mikell was invited to play music for roughly 5 minutes. The experience was nerve-racking.

“I’m usually pretty confident in my ability, and I was confident that day, but I just wanted to make sure that I showed them that I could be versatile and that I wasn’t just coming in and playing completely rap music or stuff like that,” Mikell said.

He passed the test, but before any other promises were made, he was brought in for Step 2: DJing a game during the spring 2021 semester. With a crowd, scripts to follow and a strict schedule thanks to advertisements and game action, it was a far cry from the empty arena he’d first performed in.

“That was a different experience in itself,” he said.

Mississippi State brought Mikell back in the fall to DJ the Cowbell Yell events and sent him an email officially offering him the gig. (Mikell said the school’s previous basketball DJ had to leave because he was entering medical school.)

Mikell has gotten plenty of experience so far in 2021, but he’s still learning on the fly. He sits with his laptop and a folder full of song titles at a table near the student section, next to a marketing department intern who helps give directions: a certain type of music for a commercial break or simply “hype DJ music.”

Providing “hype” hits is tough in a crowd featuring children, students and older alumni. Mikell does his best, but about once a game, he’s told a certain song might be “too much” for a particular age group and asked to turn it off.

“You want to be hype, but you also have to be aware of who’s in the audience,” Mikell said. “It’s just trying to find that balance and making sure that everybody’s happy.”

Worth the cost

Mikell has done a good job striking that balance in just two and a half years as a DJ.

His uncle, Maurice Rounsaville, taught him the craft the summer after Mikell graduated from Terry High School in 2019. Rounsaville, who works at the Nissan plant in Canton, DJs under the name DJ ReeseRe. 

Working at a Krystal fast-food spot during the summer, Mikell was happy to learn. But progress was slow: For the first week or two, all Rounsaville taught him was how to set up the equipment — which Mikell said still takes him an hour and a half.

Next, Mikell learned the basics of how to blend two songs together, fundamental knowledge for any DJ.

“He taught me the most simple way possible,” Mikell said.

Mikell fell in love with the art and set out to learn more advanced techniques on his own. He also adopted the name “DJ Macho,” pulling the adjective from his Instagram handle; Mikell said he initially used it because of the fittingly macho titular character on the animated show “Johnny Bravo.”

“Macho is such a versatile name or brand,” Mikell said. “It can pretty much go anywhere. It’s not offensive to anybody.”

Mikell had his identity, but when he came to Mississippi State that fall, everyone knew him as just Zach. It took DJing a few house parties to get his name out there, and his friend Christian Dunn — aka “DJ CDunn” took Mikell under his wing.

It took plenty of networking, but Mikell made a name for himself in his first few months at MSU.

Practically as soon as he did, the COVID-19 pandemic began. And Mikell found himself in an unfavorable position: a DJ in search of an audience.

“COVID hit right when I was catching steam around here,” he said. “As soon as everybody started to know my name, COVID hit.”
He finished out the semester online and spent all his time in his dorm room, practicing his craft. Over the summer, he got another job — something he hoped he wouldn’t have to do — at a barbecue food truck in Byram.

“Business was booming, unfortunately,” Mikell said.

Serving up brisket and burnt ends was the only way for Mikell to afford the equipment he needed to DJ. The equipment he brings to MSU basketball games is worth about $3,000; the stuff packed into his Tahoe costs another three grand.

But for Mikell, it’s worth the investment.

“I love school, but DJing is going to be my career,” he said.

‘Never Not Working’

Along with his “DJ Macho” persona, Mikell created a brand called “Never Not Working,” and the name is apt.

This summer, Mikell took his trusty Tahoe all over the region — to Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Memphis, Tuscaloosa and more.

And since school started, he’s been busy with house parties, concerts, basketball games and more, rarely having time to take a break.

But Mikell knows he can’t afford to do that. When he’s a full-time DJ, this is how it will be — minus the classwork.

“This is my career, and when I am finished with school, I do want to be able to DJ consistently without having to sit out a week or two at a time, because that’s my main source of income,” he said.

Mikell put together a website, djmacho.com, to promote himself this summer and has made sure to present a good image on social media. With plenty of DJs out there, Mikell knows those are important steps to take in order to stay ahead of his competition.

“I take all that stuff pretty seriously: the way I present myself on social media and just in person in general,” he said.

He has also started working with several Mississippi State student artists, including 2Ton3, YMG BREE, Atooly and Millennial. In 2020, Mikell released a project called “Raising Hail” featuring 10 songs sent to him by other artists.

“As a DJ, they really find you,” Mikell said. “DJs need artists and vice versa. As an artist, if you want people to hear your music, you need somebody to introduce it to large crowds.”

For his next project, Mikell wants to actually produce an album — making the beats and recording the various artists he works with. He said he’s been working on it ever since dropping “Raising Hail,” but he’s not yet where he wants to be.

But Mikell has plenty of time to get there. He still has a full semester before he graduates, and he plans to move to Houston, a city with “space,” “opportunity” and a strong musical background — Beyoncé, Megan Thee Stallion and Travis Scott are all from the city.

Mikell said he considered Atlanta but found it “cliquey.” With certain groups already established, he’d have to find one and climb aboard.

Zachary Mikell will never do that.

“I kind of want to build my own wave,” he said.

Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.