Ep.16 : Curiosity, Collaboration and Craft w/ Christopher Mitchell
In this episode of Beyond the Threshold, I am joined by Christopher Mitchell, an award-winning executive producer, writer, and musician from London.
In this episode we discuss:
- His early inspirations, passion for hip-hop, & how those experiences shaped his creative and professional paths.
- His journey into the audio industry, highlighted by his acclaimed audio documentary on Jay-Z's 'Reasonable Doubt' album.
- His creative process, the art of storytelling, and the importance of collaboration.
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[00:00:00] Chris Mitchell: So my entry into the audio business was, yes, people offered me money, but I wasn't necessarily on the high end of the scale. But what compensated that was, I was with a group of people, namely unedited, so Bernarda, chaong, Andrew Spence and Emma Stevens, the three headed monsters of production. They not only paid me to produce for them, but they invested in me as well.
They taught me the game.
[00:00:25] Sidney: Thank you for tuning in. I'm your host, Sidney Evans, and [00:00:30] you're listening to another episode of Beyond the Threshold.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Beyond the Threshold. I'm your host Sidney Evans, an award-winning audio editor and producer. On this show, I interview black men and women working in media to highlight the lessons and experiences it takes to achieve success in the field. If you haven't listened in a while, that last statement may be a little bit surprising.
So, for the first season of the pod, uh, was exclusively [00:01:00] for audio professionals, but after, uh, doing. The first 15 interviews, I'm like, man, the names that are being brought up, the recommendations that were coming my way, I'm like, I gotta open this thing up. So it's 'cause there's so many other, uh, talented individuals who are not constricted to audio itself.
I myself am an audio first guy, so I'll continue to heavily highlight those in the audio space and I'm hold true to that promise and help bring more awareness for. What day and what we do, and I'm actually gonna hold truth to, to [00:01:30] that on today's episode and go a little bit beyond. But to give a little bit of a background for our guest today, he's an award-winning executive producer, writer, and musician from London who loves sound and storytelling as a whole.
Uh, and his work has been featured on BBC Sounds Radio two, Spotify, the Independent, the Guardian. Pitchfork, complex Music Week and Forbes, and I'm pretty sure he left out a few. But those, those are some impressive, impressive, uh, names right there, to say the least. Uh, so [00:02:00] without further todo, I'd like to introduce today's guest, Christopher Mitchell.
Uh, welcome to the show.
[00:02:05] Chris Mitchell: Appreciate you Sydney, man. Thank you. Thank you for the, the intro. Uh, and it's a pleasure to be here with you today. Uh, I've seen your work, I've listened to the shows and, um, you know, I'm humbled. I'm, I'm in great company and, uh, I really appreciate what you do. So thank you for sharing your platform with me.
[00:02:21] Sidney: I appreciate that compliment, man. And after learning, uh, all the things, if you've done and you're going into death, I'm sure there'll be appreciation for what you do as well. Uh, more so [00:02:30] than I already have. So, yeah. Uh, I don't like to, uh, beat around the bush here. We're gonna get into the nitty gritty. Can you just share a little bit about your background, man?
What your passions were, uh, in your youth and what was the journey to where you're today?
[00:02:43] Chris Mitchell: Well, you know, uh, black kid, born in London. Um, from a, a West Indian background, Jamaica in particular. So my grandparents came to London from Jamaica in the sixties. And for those who, you know, kind of want an idea of what London was like [00:03:00] in the sixties, you know, it was challenging.
Uh, the reception in the UK was colder than the weather, so there was a lot of struggles there. And, um, you know, social struggles, housing struggles, fitting in, being accepted, just being. Appreciated and embraced in the sense that you have a right to exist. There was a lot of that going on. So, you know, I came along in the early eighties, um, I grew up in a place called Kenel Rise, which is in London, in the [00:03:30] northwest side of, of London, and it was a very.
I would say a very diverse community. So you had black, you had African, Brazilian, Portuguese. It was a massive, massive melting pot of culture. So I grew up around a lot of people. Um, school, church was a big thing. So I, I come from a, a very strong church background. Mom is an evangelist. My grandma's one of those church OGs, you know, always had the church van, the church fan, and we, you know, praying all the time.
It's that, you know, so, and it's really key in terms of [00:04:00] mentioning. My early examples of authority were black men. So my head teacher was a black man, the local bishop was a black man. And, and it had a really strong impression on me to say, people who look like me and come from the same background as me, can be in charge and can, you know, make decisions and be in a position of authority, uh, as per usual with a lot of us kids who, who are raised in the rhythm.
I had a deep love for music, which we'll get into later. So my mom was the choir director. Church. So I grew up on choir music. It wasn't [00:04:30] soul, it wasn't funk, it was choirs. You know, people who could sing for real. That's the kind of music I was raised on. And eventually what would happen is I would eventually start to make music of my own soul, you know, fell in love with hip hop music, roundabout 92.
So it was definitely 92. It was Mc hammer and crisscross. Um, MC Hammer stage performances just blew me away seeing crisscross, same age, same names, which is a key, uh, element of representation in my story. Seeing people do something that you aspire to do. [00:05:00] It's really inspiring and I can say that crisscross is one of the earliest examples of that.
Didn't
[00:05:04] Sidney: they, uh, open up for
[00:05:05] Chris Mitchell: Michael Jackson or something on the same tour? Yes, they did. On the, um, was it a dangerous tour? Yes. So on my podcast, I co-host weekly called Breaking Adam Shout to Sumit Sharma. We spoke to Chris Schwartz, who was the CEO. Or co CEO of Roughhouse who crisscross was signed to.
And he said that, yeah, they toured with Michael Jackson. So there's, there's that kind of, uh, uh, cultural synergy in terms of my earliest experiences being [00:05:30] on the stage together. Fast forward, um, my love of music translated into becoming a n producer and, you know, I've gotta give credit and all praises due to my wife.
Um, you talk about my early interest. Mm-hmm. So there was video games as well. She wasn't
[00:05:44] Sidney: gonna let you go there. Oh, no.
[00:05:46] Chris Mitchell: She won't go live here,
[00:05:47] Sidney: do that as a living.
[00:05:50] Chris Mitchell: Nah, she was, she, she, she, she wasn't, she wasn't on it at all. I mean, even just getting a Nintendo Switch was a, a debate. You know, I, I'm a big, big fan of wrestling.
My cousin Jackie got me into it. Um, [00:06:00] and wrestling is part of my story in terms of how I got into audio production because I love the storytelling side of things. So one day. I was watching her wrestling with my wife. She wasn't watching it. Her eyes were on the screen, but she wasn't watching it. And I was telling my wife all these things that's gonna happen in the match.
And she's like, how do you know this if you've never seen it before? And she's just like, you know, a lot of useless details about things. You should start a podcast. That's what she said. Fast forward again. Um, she bought me a ticket to a podcasting event called Pod X and went [00:06:30] soaked up as much game as I could.
Spoke to a friend of mine who wanted to start a podcast as well, Sumit Sharma, who I mentioned before, and we started the Breaking Atoms Podcast in 2018 and we literally released episode 227 this morning. So that's how we got into podcasting. Um, we did a live session for the charity that my wife worked at at the time.
They did a crowdfunder and 50 pounds donation. Got you. A free podcast production session. There was someone from an agency there, a very big [00:07:00] agency in the uk and they were like, Hey, we are thinking of starting a podcast. Could you produce it for us? And we had no idea that what we were doing was podcast production at the time.
So we said, yeah, of course we can. And you know, we, you know, as we do, we figured it out as we went along and that's how we got into the podcast production game. And, you know, a few years later, you know, Sumit and I have done some great things together. Individually, so B, B, C, Spotify, Amazon, MTV. Um, my music's been used on Viceland, WE Hennessy, [00:07:30] Jansport, you know, it's been a, it's been an amazing journey and, and I finally feel like I am walking in my purpose and doing what I was sent on, sent to Earth to do.
[00:07:40] Sidney: Um, there are a lot of, uh, similarities in our story, man. Like, it's kind of eerie just thinking about it, but the, the thing I want to highlight is, so, 'cause you mentioned there was like a, your, your early interest in it as a youth. And now that I think about myself, I did, maybe not audio specifically, but just media storytelling in [00:08:00] general.
Paying attention to those, those details that nobody else pays attention to, that you might be like, man, this, this is, you don't think of of it as a gift. You might just be like, this is just an observation. And in terms of what, I know this is basically useless information, like as your, as your wife said, but just exploring that can be the catalyst for something bigger.
But like for me, I. I was the collegiate athlete. I went to school for mass comm. I knew I going to wanna do something in [00:08:30] communications. Um, initially I thought I was gonna be sports broadcasting. But long story short, I graduated, didn't end up working at Meda. I start off in hospitality. 'cause I just had to, I had to eat, I had to pay bills.
And I, you know, I'm five years in, I'm like, you know, you ca, life just happens. So, because you mentioned like, but when you, you and your wife were sitting and y'all had, you know, that, that aha moment or whatever happened for you. Like you're already married, like I'm sure you were already working in some capacity.
Like so what was the like, I [00:09:00] guess the internal struggle that you had between like, I know this is my purpose, but this is something that's gonna have to put time into before I can really see a war, as opposed to like, I have a wife. I don't know if you have kids, but you may have had a family. I gotta have to balance that between what I have to do and what I want to do.
Did you, did you ever battle with that at all before you actually started getting into the thing? Things started taking on.
[00:09:23] Chris Mitchell: So that's a really good question. So, when my wife dropped the gem on me to say, you should start a podcast, I wasn't [00:09:30] necessarily working at the time. I was in between jobs, I was unemployed, and I want to be honest about this.
Sydney, you know, my mental health at the time wasn't good. It was not good. I was struggling internally, uh, issues of, you know, self-confidence. Uh, I was angry, I was bitter. I was depressed. Now, when I look back and I look at some of my, my habits and, you know, the, the sleeping patterns being disturbed and how it affected my, my [00:10:00] diet and just my overall mood, I was very, very depressed.
Very, very low. Uh, I don't have children, or we don't have children. So the, the, the battle was really a battle itself. And you talk about how did I kind of overcome those battles? To be honest with you, I don't think I would've overcome them without my wife because she was the one, like she saw. It's always interesting how some people can see what you can do and be before you can, and I think she saw it.
You know, my wife is better looking than me. She's smarter than me, for sure. And she saw, she's like, you [00:10:30] should get, you should get into this because you got a bear in mind, Sydnee. Yet she, she sees me go into the studio all the time. Making music, producing music, releasing music, selling music, making money from music.
I guess she probably thought, you know what, it's not that different. Now my husband is a super storyteller. He knows how, you know, I may not know the technical terms of walking around the studio and saying, you know, this machine does this and that, but I know how things feel and I know how, you know how to elicit a response from people.
So that was the main struggle. Financially. At the time it [00:11:00] was a bit tight because it was one salary, but. What I did, the redundancy check that I got from my workplace, I kind of used that to start my audio career, if that makes sense. So we put a lot of that into breaking atoms. It kept me afloat for a while until I found a full-time job in the industry, which happened.
Uh, after Breaking Atoms released our first. Independent documentary, which was called Brooklyn's Finest, the Making of Reasonable Doubt by Jay-Z. That one took off and got us jobs in the industry and people started [00:11:30] calling.
[00:11:30] Sidney: Ah, okay. So to, to back up a little bit. 'cause I always, early on in the pod, I kind of, I didn't want to get too technical.
I ignored some of the technical things, but I came to realization that that's an aspect of it. So like, when you're producing music, getting studio and things like that, like what. What year was it and what, and then what tools, what DAW what, what technology were you using at that time? I'm sure it's a little bit different or maybe in the early stages of what people know to be like household name stuff at the time.
And then once you went over [00:12:00] into. Audio producing, not just making music. Did you stick with kind of the, the tools that you're familiar with at that time, or did you have to, or was there, uh, were you forced to adapt to something different? Or is this an open mindedness and willingness to do it? To say, okay, what.
They see as the most useful in the music world. May not be as, as, may not be as useful as what's in this world as far as being an audio producer.
[00:12:26] Chris Mitchell: So you, my, my adventures in the, I call it my Adventures in, in the Land of [00:12:30] music, um, that's a reference for, for the music people out there. So I was never a producer Sydney.
I was a performer. So I sing and rap. So I, I write the lyrics and I go into the studio, but the engineers, I first went into the studio. A professional studio, I would say was around 1997, so I was really into my music. I wasn't sure what they were using at the time, but I do remember that session. We missed the last train home and it was like one in the morning.
So the, the, the [00:13:00] studio engineer had to drive us from. South London to Northwest London, which is, you know, a good hour and a half. But as the years progressed, the engineers that I was working with, a lot of them used Cubase. One of them chemo, used Sony acid. Uh, I remember a few of them using Pro Tools, which some of them still do now.
But as for me, in my tools of choice as an audio producer, I use Logic. So where I am right now in my house, I've got a studio in the other room where I can record from home and I use Logic for all. My, my [00:13:30] podcast production needs, it's the system or the DAW that my main producer at the time used. His name is Imperial Dave Walker.
Shout out to him. So he set me up nicely with logic, gave me some templates and some plugins, and. I just used it and I like it and I know that for what I gather is a lot of people in the, in the audio industry, they use, you know, Adobe Audition and all that. But I've, I've come to find out, and I've come to really reflect the working style of some of my favorite producers.
You know, people like a Ninth [00:14:00] Wonder or a Mad Lib, and it's to use the tools that you know how to use. So I've got my laptop here. I've got my logic here. I've got my nice little plugins, I've got my eyes a top and all that going. And I managed to produce world class podcasts from my little room in northwest London and, and that's what works for me.
So yes, I have tools, I've got logic, I've got the laptop. But I think for me, my greatest tools as an audio producer. My ear and my heart.
[00:14:27] Sidney: Right. That's, I mean, that's the, [00:14:30] the, the skill though. It's not the, it's not the gear, it's the ear. I'm sure you've heard that billions of times and then Absolutely. I agree with that.
You know, the, the, the, the emotion, the feeling that you want to come along with it, that's, that's the, the, the secret sauce right there. And I, and I, it's, it's funny you, me, because you, you use logic. You mentioned w audition, but I. So I started off in Logic when it used to take me like five hours to record every podcast episode.
Like literally. 'cause if there were, it was super long and I was super inexperienced. But the reason [00:15:00] I, I started in logic because my, the bug for me to explore other production was from, uh, music production perspective and to, as far as like making beats and stuff. And then I quickly realized that I had like.
No musical talent. Um, not at that time. I was just too, I was, it was, I was approaching it from too technical of a standpoint. I wasn't allowed the feeling to come in because I'm just learning it, you know what I'm saying? Right. So it was hard for me to translate. So I was like, man, I'm learning this stuff.
I'm learning the [00:15:30] foundations, all that, but it's not translating to anything that. I would wanna listen to that. I would want to play for anybody. Luckily I had the foresight to say, well, let me pivot and just use this skillset for something else. And then that was Ron Podcast and became super big and one thing led to another, but.
Then once I really started working for like agencies, and once I stepped my game up, I, I switched to audition because it wasn't a, it wasn't a music making platform, it was like a radio production platform technically. And so I've been using it up [00:16:00] until this point, right. But now I'm a, I'm getting back into making beats and I understand how to put feeling and I have a, a way different perspective from what I'm doing.
So I went back to Logic and now I'm getting it to sound design. And they have these updates where now you can mix in. You know, Adobe Atmos and all, a lot of capabilities that Adobe Audition doesn't have, and they don't update it at all. They stop updating it a couple years ago. So like, I can't continue to get on this route.
So I'm making the transition back over to Logic to make a long story short, but to move your story along. [00:16:30] Did the music thing. What was the name of the, the, the podcast document you produced? Did you say where people started calling? What was that? What was that? What 'cause a lot of, you know, there's always, I guess you could compare that to like, outside of music, like your first album, your first project, your, your, your your baby, your your thing.
Um, so what was your like Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I want to use that to move to cereal line. What was your. The genesis for that idea, the execution of it, and then all the other things that came along with it. And did you kind of stick to that format [00:17:00] or did you just as you learned more, started applying different things?
[00:17:04] Chris Mitchell: So the idea came about, so again, I've, I've mentioned his name. His name is Sumit Sharma. He's my co-host and that's my guy. I call him Mr. Audacity because when he says he's gonna do something, he's gonna do it. And it sounds mad sometimes, even in my head, I'm like, you sure? But I've learned to listen and get outta the way.
Support wherever I can. So he had the idea of doing a narrative documentary [00:17:30] on hip hop albums. The original idea was to do an audio documentary on Massberg by Rock Marciano, which is a seminal underground hip hop album that dropped in 2010. I'm, I was in my kitchen, which is just to my right now, and I, you know, I'm a dates guy.
They call me, he calls me the actual factual, 'cause I remember the details, I know what came out when, where, who did it, what they were wearing, what the smell was, everything right? So I said to him, dude, it's 25 years of reasonable doubt [00:18:00] Jay-Z, and like six months. Why don't we do audio documentary on that?
We're both big Jay-Z fans, so we got to work. And Sydney, lemme tell you something, right? I look back now and I realize we. We produced a podcast, five episodes, over 55 interviews. We had never written a script for a podcast before. Never did sound design. We were using Zoom, like you go back and listen to it now it's so amateur.
Um, but we put it together in two [00:18:30] months. This is what I mean about the heart, right? So whilst we weren't necessarily technically proficient, we had the heart to tell this story. What we thought was gonna be a story about the making of this album grew into something bigger and different. We kept hearing this thing with the guests.
This is the family album. This is the family album. Jay-Z's name is on the front cover. But there were so many people involved, people who pulled their time, energy, resources, and money into making this [00:19:00] album. So by the time episode three came about, we pivoted and we realized, okay, the story about this is how the streets crowdfunded this album.
And Jay-Z was backed by this group of early believers who really believed in him and poured time into his cup. We spoke to so many people who were involved in the making of the album. We spoke with, oh, my mind is so blank. We spoke to artists, Janice. We spoke to engineers, so people who recorded the songs.
Because our thing at Breaking Adams is [00:19:30] we wanna speak to the peoples whose names are in the fine print, because oftentimes those are the ones with the stories, right? So. You know, we spoke to Ski Beats who produced most of the album. We spoke with Joe Quinte, who's the engineer for the album. We spoke to the person who wrote the source review.
We spoke to Marie Davis who booked him for some of his early shows, and they gave a really rich and nuanced picture about what Jay-Z was like pre Beyonce, which was another motivation. 'cause I that there are people out there who know nothing of Sean Carter or pre Beyonce. [00:20:00] And it bothers me. It bothers me.
So that was my personal motivations in getting involved. So yeah, 55 interviews. Um, we had it mixed by my guy, Imperial, who I mentioned before, and we put it out Sydney. We, you know, there wasn't necessarily a promotional plan or any kind of sustained marketing strategy, but what happened is that it caught the right ears.
I remember the day we put the trailer out, it was like a short mini video that we put out on Twitter. And [00:20:30] that was the first time in my life I realized what going viral meant. It was stressful, it was surprising, and it was humbling. I'm talking, I think we maybe have got like 10,000 retweets that day.
When the episodes came out, we were releasing them weekly and the response was so positive we had to start finishing up episodes early and releasing them early. 'cause people were like, oh, where's the next one? Where's the next one? Where's the next one? People who were involved in the series. There's one gentleman by the name of Dar [00:21:00] Adams, Google him.
He's a, he's a legend. He's a journalist and historian, and he said, this is a classic podcast series. So what happened afterwards is that the industry started hearing about this. Started to seek us out and eventually the phone started ringing. Like, um, we heard this, let's have a chat, let's have a coffee.
Conversations happen. They kept happening and eventually people put money in our pockets to produce shows for them. Mm-hmm. And here we are. Okay.
[00:21:26] Sidney: So, so we, that's, that's actually a good segue 'cause [00:21:30] we kind, we can get a little, I always wanna touch on the business side of things too. I don't, I don't, you know.
One or other things you learned as a man early on is to not count, not counting another man's pocket. So I don't wanna get in too much of numbers specifically, but I want to go to talk about the mindset of you. 'cause when people come to you, you have the leverage, right? So that's pretty much what happened in this situation.
So what is, what are you all's mindset? Are you just, like you said, just so humbled and flattered that these [00:22:00] people see the value in what you do. I'm sure there's a level of that, but then there's also a level of, okay. You know, people are coming up with offers, numbers are being thrown out. Um, like what do we, you know, what are our non-negotiables?
What won't we do? What do we prefer to do? Do you know? Now is the time to get a lawyer. It's the time to somebody outside to start looking at this stuff. Like, what does that process look like?
[00:22:21] Chris Mitchell: So, you know, it was a bit of everything that you mentioned. We, we were definitely humbled and I wanna be mindful because Sumit is his own person.
Even though we work [00:22:30] together, we still give each other space to know that we, you know, we don't always agree on everything. I think we agree on most things, but you know, we, we like to speak for, speak for ourselves. You know, we were definitely humble that people came, but you gotta remember for me, Sydney, I was still very green.
So in spite of the success. In spite of the fact that this documentary went to number two in the music charts and we were right next to Drink Champs, the fact that it was in the independent. The fact it was in Forbes and Music Week and we're getting all this mainstream [00:23:00] press. I'm still green. There's things about audio production.
I still don't know. It's, it's, it, to me, it was no different to, to becoming a rapper. The first, the first time I went into a studio, I didn't necessarily know about cadence and taking breaths during the delivery and enunciation and all these kind of things. So when people came to us, I was in a position where, yes, you are the prettiest girl on the block right now.
There's still ways that we can make you look even more attractive. So my entry into the audio business was, yes, people offered me money, but I wasn't necessarily on the [00:23:30] high end of the scale. But what compensated that was, I was with a group of people, namely unedited. So Bernard Chaong, Andrew Spence, and Emma Stevens, the three headed monsters of production.
They not only paid me to produce for them, but they invested in me as well. They taught me the game. They taught me the business side. They taught me about IEP. They taught me about how you work at the B, B. C, how you move when you're in a room. It was holistic training. I often say the time I [00:24:00] spent out unedited, which was two years, not only did they pay me for my work, they also invested in me as well.
[00:24:06] Sidney: That's, that's a, that's a, uh, a great point because, you know, the saying goes, I don't know, I, this, a lot of sayings are coming into my mind right now, but, you know, uh, the game is to be sold, not told. Right. So for somebody to actually pay you to come work for them and give you the game is like very contradictory to have things operate normally in our society, which is extremely capitalistic.
So you, I'm sure you were [00:24:30] very grateful for that, for the game they gave you.
[00:24:32] Chris Mitchell: Dude, I, I, I tell people all the time, like, even though I don't work for Unedited directly at, at the moment, you know, I currently work for a company called Story Things, which is a content production research agency in Brighton, uk.
Shout out to the guys over there. If they call, if unedited, call me right now and say, yo, Chris, um, can you come and help us with this? Um, I'll go. Because they put me in a position where I could feed my family and take care of my wife. Like the industry was cruel. They weren't the first [00:25:00] people telling me, Sydney.
I had a rough time on my entry to the industry. Like, you know, there was gatekeepers, there were bullies, people who would speak down on you or make you feel like you should be grateful to be here. So I'm gonna verbally abuse you every chance I get. But those guys took me in and, and, and showed me the game to the point where I had people offering me jobs.
I had to turn work down, I had to turn work down and say, you know what? Respectfully, I can't do it 'cause I'm over here. They created a role for me after a while. So that one call I got [00:25:30] January, 2022. We've got this project. We heard you're available. When can you cut? What you know, we need you to start. When do you need me?
Can you start now? Sure. Worked on my first BBC project and I was there for two and a half years. And I'm still producing work for them now. Just did pilot season. We put out Breaking Adams, put out an audio documentary today about the making of the food album by MF Dune. It's a con, it's a co-production with Breaking Adams and unedited, like they really, really ushered me into the game.
So no matter where I go in this world or where I go on earth, I don't care [00:26:00] what awards, rewards, whatever they give me. You cannot tell the story of Christopher Mitchell as an audio producer without mentioning Unedited. It's Impossible. And it was A Black Home is a black-owned company. Yeah, black on. So you gotta remember, Matt, I'm 42.
Most of my life, I've worked in offices where I'm the minority. You know, I'm tense, I'm code switching. I'm thinking of what to say and overexplaining and over pronouncing. Do you know what I mean? Now I'm working unedited. You know, you can come on the call and if you've got a durag on because you, you know, you, you're trying to [00:26:30] get your hair done or, you know, keep your hair nice, it's fine.
I remember the first time I spoke to Bernard and he said, how you doing King? I looked over my shoulder. I'm like, is he talking to me? I had never been called that in the world of work before, so it was a totally different experience. Very, it was tense. It was tense in the sense of the workload was intense and a lot was required of us.
But it was fun. It was, it was definitely, it was definitely fun and I, it helped me learn the game and get me to where I am now, where I'm talking to you.
[00:26:56] Sidney: Man, that's gotta, that's gotta be rewarding, man. 'cause I just, just from me doing this [00:27:00] podcast mean the 15 episodes of the podcast, you know, focusing like, I, I, I, I was adamant, I, I debated myself.
Do I want to, and then in my tagline, do I want to, do I want to include the black part? Do I, I'm thinking long term, like, is this going? I'm like, nah, I, I, I'm, I just started. I can't sell out already. I got you. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm not, I'm like, I can't, I cannot, like I know I'm made a promise to myself.
I'm like. The, the, the things that you see in regards to that arena. You know, [00:27:30] like the, the sellout work is thrown around a lot, but just not like you having that true idea, but modifying it because, oh, it's gonna look more appealing to, to this group of people or that group, group of people, and you start deviating and then, then when things don't work out, it was like, well, this was never really the plan like this, the, the, the true, the true core.
Ethos essence of why you wanted to do something. Like I, I feel like I have to go into this and sticking with that. So for me to just do [00:28:00] this on a, on a level with the podcast, but for you to do it on that level and then, you know, with the back end of unedited and the experience and being able to be yourself and you know, like it's, it's, if it is, if it is mostly black people around, like it's going to.
It's going to cater to us and it's gonna be authentic. It's gonna be our, our real lived experience. So I'm sure that was very
[00:28:19] Chris Mitchell: rewarding. Absolutely. And, and oh man, it was, it was amazing. And, and, and you know what's really good, Sydney, is that even though I'm not on, I'm not at unedited anymore and I work for story things, [00:28:30] the team over there is still very diverse.
It's not an, it's not an all black team, but the confidence that unedited gave me to be myself in work, even when I'm not working for them, I've brought it to story things and it's been embraced. It's been championed over there. You know, Hugh, Matt, angel, the whole team just let me rock. I am who I am, and they, they love me for that and they give me the opportunities where I don't feel like I got a code switch anymore.
I am here because you want me here. You [00:29:00] wanna work with me and I wanna work with you. So, you know, I'm, I'm saying this with a smile on my face. I'm, I'm in a very, very, very fortunate and blessed position 'cause I, I don't fear Monday mornings anymore. I get to wake up and do what I want to do and change the world through storytelling from this little laptop in, in my house in northwest London, man, like, well, you know, life is good.
[00:29:19] Sidney: Yeah, I mean, you decided to, to, to, uh, use the storyteller, a storytelling avenue to, to do that. And I, I feel like that's one of the most powerful things. And, [00:29:30] um, just to back up a little bit, not necessarily about your timeline, but. Uh, it's kind of more of a creative question 'cause I, you, you mentioned you're a rapper, obviously you started producing and getting into, into this realm.
But I'm curious to know, and hopefully the listeners are too, is like, what is your creative process like? Like, I, well, I, I'll let's start with that because I, I would say that was your most powerful outlet at some point. Like, how did you, you know, what was the. Yeah, what was your process for that? Are you somebody [00:30:00] who can just go in and just write it out?
Are you kind of planning the head or do you get randomly inspired and then your process for that, like is, was there some carry over to what you do now? Or is it like a whole different creative process and how it ties into, because I, I get the feeling that you aren't a holistic person. Like you want to, you know how.
One thing connects to another. So how do, how is your creative process affected by your lifestyle? Do, do you go on walks? Do you, are you adamant to be like, I, I [00:30:30] can't work, I'm not gonna work 10 hours in a row. I'm gonna work five and take a break and recharge, so I'm fresh and work another five. Like, what is that like for you?
[00:30:37] Chris Mitchell: I, I feel like you know me already. So, you know, with, with, with my creative process, with rapping, so I, I started writing on paper. So 92, you know, all I had was pen and paper, but what happened was because of my church background as well, and having to memorize scriptures and all these kind of things, I developed a really strong memory.
So when Jay-Z came out and was like, you know, he don't write [00:31:00] things down, he writes it in his head, you know, and people were like, oh. How could you do that? That's impossible. I'm there thinking, yay. It makes sense because I know people who do that. 'cause I can do that even though I don't do it all the time.
But I can do that. I've written songs in my head walking down the street, mumbling. People think I'm mad. Well I'm, I'm creating with me and you know, my process. Yes, I can just. Write stuff down and go in and record, but I think I write my most powerful and long lasting music when I have space to think and breathe and just [00:31:30] articulate my thoughts.
I'm a thinking person. There are people out there who can be spontaneously creative and create something amazing and it works, and that's them, and I envy them. 'cause I wish I could do that. I can't. Um, I need time to cook. I need time to marinate. My, my creative stuff is like soul food, man. It need, the meat needs to sit in the flavors for a bit.
Do you know what I mean? And, um, you know, that's also not been a good thing. 'cause sometimes I overthink things and I get caught up in perfectionism. So [00:32:00] recently what I'm learning to do is to put creative restrictions on myself. So it might be, okay, Chris, you're gonna write a verse in an hour, whatever that verse is in, at the end of the hour.
That's what it is. You go in and record it, and then you tweak and improve the next time. So it's a similar approach with podcasting. If I can hear a verse or a song in my head when the beat plays, it's the same as if I can hear a podcast before we've recorded and edited. If I can read the synopsis and I can hear this podcast in my [00:32:30] head, I can recreate what's in my head.
As a podcast, so you are a hundred percent right in terms of how I work. I go on walks every single day. Sometimes twice a day. If it's a good day, I'll go on a walk three times a day. I just got back from a walk before we started calling, so I try to exercise as well, um, as much as I can. I'm not consistent with the exercising 'cause I hate gyms, but I'm definitely consistent with walking.
I think walking cleanses my mind and my brain. I, I'm fortunate to live [00:33:00] in a part of the city where there's a lot of parks and a lot of green spaces. So I like to go, I do like to put my, my ipo, I'm sorry, my headphones on, and just listen to an album, go for a walk. I'm even learning to just take the the headphones off Sydney and just go for a walk and absorb the environment and hear the birds, hear the trees, hear the cars.
Just being really, really intentional. That's a key part of my process. You know, sometimes I might be mulling around in the kitchen before I sit down and start, because I'm [00:33:30] formulating it in my head. Structure, you know, um, I was just writing a, uh, a synopsis for a podcast called Redemption Man. You know, we can talk about that in a bit, which is my first, uh, factual narrative series.
And I had to see the words in the air in front of me before I could commit them to paper. So think of it almost like a, a jigsaw puzzle, and you've got the pieces floating around in the air. And I put them together. It's the same with music, podcasting, writing essays. If I [00:34:00] can see it before I do it, then you know I'm cooking.
[00:34:02] Sidney: That's, that's dope, man. That's cool. Um, man, that's, that's whew. So, yeah, I, I have, so, so I'll say this. I'm glad you mentioned the thing about I'm, I'm glad, I'm glad you shared your creative process because for me, like I. Undoubtedly know that what I'm doing now is my purpose. Right? But I was having a conversation, I think I mentioned this on the pod before with my girlfriend who, well she was like, 'cause we're, we're, we're we, you know, we do church every Sunday where [00:34:30] we, you know, we study the word together and things.
And, um, she made a reference, I can't remember the exact reference, but she was like. Yeah, I know you always talk about being this, being your purpose, right? But your purpose is not only something, if it's really a purpose, it's not only going to benefit you, it's gonna benefit the world of society. So I had to, I had to, I had to think about myself like, okay, I'm, I'm getting a lot out of this.
What, you know, is the bigger picture thing for the, for the world and for me, I, I would say because I was an athlete growing up, I, I was never. [00:35:00] Tapped into like my creative being, my, my creative ability that's, that everybody has within them, whether you, whether it was exercise and whether it comes out or not.
You know, that's another story. But I was, I was always a very, I told you I tried to mess around, make it beats. I was always technical. Very, I didn't ha I didn't, I, I, I had, I didn't have a connection or a feeling to a lot of things I was doing. I was just doing like I know how to shoot. Because somebody taught me how to shoot so I can shoot well, but I don't, I didn't necessarily, I wasn't a player who had a rhythm [00:35:30] to his game and was out there like it was, you know, it wasn't a form of expression for me.
It was just something to do. So once, but as I became an adult and I wanted to explore that, and I did explore that and I, I went through that process. I'm like, oh, this is something that, like anything like you, you have, you, you, you have to train it if you want to, if you want to be muscular, you have to get to, you have to lift weights, you have to lift that creative, the creative weight per se, so as well.
So I realized that the connection between my purpose [00:36:00] was. I want to inspire others to tap and tap into their creativity, whether it's audio, whether it's, I don't know, you're, you're a dancer, whether it is, there's so many creative outlets. But I, I wanted to use my platform and what I do to inspire people to explore their creativity and don't constrict yourself and don't be afraid to do it and put things out there and see what works and what doesn't and what for you and maybe an inspiring others.
So, I'm glad you shared your process because maybe that [00:36:30] might be the first crack or opening of the door for somebody who's just starting on this creative journey, the, the one that you started so long ago. So I appreciate you sharing that.
[00:36:40] Chris Mitchell: Yeah, for sure. Uh, what, what you said is, so, it's actually something I'm gonna have to sit with.
You know, whilst what I do is, is enriching my life in a creative, in a financial way is like, you know, how am I, how am I enriching the world with, with my purpose and my gift? That's a really, really good question. I like to think that because I have the heart of a [00:37:00] historian and a documentarian filling in the gaps.
In history with my storytelling and creating capsules, time capsules and archives for future generations. That's my contribution to the world. 'cause I'm big on that. I hate when people rewrite history. 'cause they want their own particular SL on it. What happened, happened. Tell it like it is. I'm big on that.
[00:37:25] Sidney: The the truth is, is straightforward. Once you, when things start becoming complicated, that's because that's [00:37:30] the, the, the f the fix is in Y.
[00:37:32] Chris Mitchell: Yeah. No, you gotta tell it. Tell, tell it how it is. You know, you may not speak to that person or you may not like that person, but are they part of the story? Yes.
Alright, so they go a go in.
[00:37:41] Sidney: Right. That's cool, man. I, um, I actually want to, uh, move forward 'cause you mentioned story things and I, I, I do want to, uh, you know, want you to share what you do now, but, and this may be, you may actually do that within the context of this next question, but what are some projects, I know you mentioned your baby.
We, we, we, we dove deep into that. But what are some [00:38:00] other projects that you've worked on? 'cause we all work on things that, you know. Stand out in our mind. They were memorable in some way. Was it the amazing people you work with? Was the, was it the story, was it the angle? Was it something else that made that particular experience stand out into your mind?
Something that you can retell and retell like it just happened because it was so that impactful for you. So what are those couple of, uh, things that you worked on that really stand out in your mind?
[00:38:27] Chris Mitchell: Well, you know, I have to think about my time at Story things. I've [00:38:30] been there for about a year and three months.
When I went for the job, um, I was planning my dad's funeral and the day I got the call for the job, there was so much going on Sydney. So I was wrapping up as podcast at Spotify, was the first wrestling podcast I ever worked on. And you know, I mentioned earlier in the interview how much I love wrestling.
So that was like a dream project for me. My time on a project was coming to an end. I had just seen my dad's body and then I get the call, you've got the job. So there was a lot of [00:39:00] emotion in that few hours, that little window on that particular day. But you know, my time at Story things I've, you know what it's done is that yes, music and wrestling and pop culture are my passions, but it's really shown me worlds where you have to go from storytelling to story finding.
There's a difference. So for example, I'm currently working with a client called A DP, which is the world's biggest payroll provider. They work, I think, in over, [00:39:30] I don't even wanna get this wrong, they're everywhere. I think they said, I know 'em. They got like the uh, it's like a white background with like red writing.
Yeah. So I produce their podcast and it's called a DP Payroll around the world Now to most people, me included, when someone says, yeah, we're gonna do a podcast on payroll. In my head, I'm thinking, what? How? Like what? Huh? So then you go from storytelling to story finding. So previously before I got there, they did a series about your first paycheck.
Ah,
[00:39:58] Sidney: what did you spend your first [00:40:00] paycheck
[00:40:00] Chris Mitchell: on? So do you see how you can. Take this. Seemingly, there's the story. So when you know, I thought even like, yeah, Chris, of course, that's a great story because we, you know, I could say to you now, Sydnee, what did you spend your first paycheck on? You got a story behind that.
So with a DP payroll around the world, what we did is we came up with this global podcast where we speak to people, freelancers. From different parts of the world, different countries, and we speak to a DP experts from those particular countries to talk about the nuances in their countries, around taxes, around [00:40:30] freelancing, and all the different legalities.
And Sydney, when I say I did not know the world of payroll was so exciting, dude, I found out that in Australia, right, if you get a new pet, you can get a certain amount of leave just to look after the pet. In Australia, I found out in in India part of their tax break system. You can use the time to go to a spa.
[00:40:56] Sidney: You know, it's
[00:40:57] Chris Mitchell: not surprising.
[00:40:58] Sidney: Well, I, I [00:41:00] anticipate none of these to be the United States. 'cause we don't, we don't operate like that. We don't give people those luxuries.
[00:41:05] Chris Mitchell: No. I, I, I went, I've been, yeah, I've been to America. I be, when I first went to America and I found that you guys only get two weeks off a year.
My brain was rattled. I could not believe it. I'm like, yeah, that this is, this is capitalistic headquarters right here. Um, so yeah, like, you know, payroll, finding out, uh, what people spend their first paycheck on, you know, all the differences in the different countries, you know, that story finding right there.
Um, I worked with a [00:41:30] company or we worked with a company called. Data org and they came up with, you know, uh, some kind, some systems around COVID and you know, if there were a future pandemic, they've got this technology where they can predict and prevent. So I did a lot of sound design in my first animation project, and recently I've just started work, or when I say recently in the last, you know.
Eight to nine months. I've been working on prototypes. So all these ideas that I've got in my head, me and one of the directors, Hugh, we, we just produce ideas. But I mentioned before [00:42:00] about a creative restriction. We have an idea, we might just spend two days on it, whatever it is, at the end of those two days.
That's what it is. And then we can take these early ideas to different clients. So one of the prototypes I came up with is called um, last Minute Game Changers. Which is a podcast talking about ideas that came about in the last or the 11th hour that changed the world. So episode one is about text messaging.
A lot of people don't know that text messaging was a throwaway idea. It [00:42:30] was two engineers who wanted to test it in the mobile network, said, oh, let's just send each other a message. Let me know if it works. Now imagine your life without text messaging or WhatsApp or Telegram or signal. So it wasn't a, they didn't do it as a product.
They just wanted to be able to talk to each other. Yeah. And then they realized, oh, let's just put this out in the public and look, and here we are. Right. Another project that, um, Hugh and I worked on was called Don't Snooze on Wrestling. A nine minute daily podcast to get you up to date on everything to do in the world of wrestling.
Why is it nine minutes Sydney? Because when you press snooze on your iPhone, it will not ring for another [00:43:00] nine minutes. So our thing is you are gonna get everything you need to know about the world of wrestling from the time you press snooze and your alarm goes off again. We've just launched a video series where we were about to called What would you do if you weren't afraid?
So it's similar to like Humans of New York where we speak to real people. Just about their vulnerabilities and their fears and their life story. And that's a video series that's coming out. And you'll just hear real people just talking about the lives they would've lived if fear wasn't a factor and if they wouldn't be judged and if they weren't scared of failure.
So these are all the kind of things I'm [00:43:30] thinking of that go out my usual hip hop sphere. But in many ways it's still similar because the ethos remains. It's talking to real people, people who may necessarily be overlooked or marginalized, going deep. And telling stories that would otherwise get buried beneath the surface and just thinking outside the box like, yo, you got this idea, do it.
Let's see how it comes out. And that's one of the best things about working at story things. Not only are the people insanely smart over there, Sydnee, those guys are [00:44:00] smart, yo, like you need to be on your job when you are talking to them. 'cause they are smart and they're creative and they're savvy, but. We just make stuff.
That's what we wanna do. We just make stuff, see how it works, and you know, we go to our clients with our research and with our findings, our thoughts, and, um, I'm just having a a, a ball over there. I'm having a ball. I'm, I'm,
[00:44:22] Sidney: I'm glad, man. It's, and, and it's, it's actually refreshing to hear and. The state of the industry now.
'cause it's, it's, I don't know how it is over there, but [00:44:30] here it is, it is, it's rough, man. That's a lot of talented people who are, who have lack of opportunities, man, and, and, and, and it is not ideal. And people are having to scramble and do what they have to do to make it and, and to do what they gotta do, take care of their responsibilities.
But I know one thing, like the people who really, really, really, really, really love it. They'll figure it out. They'll figure out a way whether they gotta do this and. You know, work a full-time job, work a part-time job, whatever, for the people who this is part of their life, this has to [00:45:00] be a part of their life.
They'll figure it out. And for those who not, hopefully they can find that, that thing that, you know, they, they'll commit to, um, no matter what. But this, I think this is definitely probably gonna weed out the people who, who, who aren't really, really, really about it. So, um, but I wish bad on no one.
[00:45:18] Chris Mitchell: Yeah, I, I, you know, and, and you know, Sydney, I'm, I'm fortunate and I'm blessed and I realize that, you know, as my career is good, it took me a while to get here.
It took me a while and it, you know, I lost a lot and it cost me a lot to [00:45:30] get here. But I also remember that not everybody is in the position that I am. So I'm here to make the most of it. You know, those days when I'm tired or I don't feel like doing it. 'cause it's not every day, you know, I jump out of bed and say, yeah, let's get it.
There's some days when you wanna spend that extra hour in bed, but I, I'm here to really make the most of this time that I have left.
[00:45:50] Sidney: I'm glad, I'm glad and I'm glad you're, you're, you're action taker who puts somebody who, uh, takes action to executes their ideas. And I think the silver lining in with these, you know, as [00:46:00] far as the system, not opportunities not being available, that was the genesis of me creating this podcast.
'cause I got laid off and I'm like, I, I, I, I don't have a, a, a source of expression right now. Creativity. Like I don't, I have to do something. So this is, was birthed outta that and hopefully it'll, you know, a lot of other people will. It inspire them to like, okay, let me not rely on other people to come up with the ideas and to me to contribute.
Let me come up with the ideas, let me make the decisions and let, may made me write the [00:46:30] stories from the way that I and the angle that I wanted to be told. And I think something ultimately. Good, uh, is gonna come at it. We're not gonna be as reliant on outside sources. We're gonna take things in our own hands and we're more going to be more collaborative with the people that are on our level and around us.
That's
[00:46:45] Chris Mitchell: important. Collaboration is key. We, no man is an island. And, you know, unfortunately, my experiences in, in terms of my community here in the uk, oftentimes, you know, people wanna be the first and only to do stuff. We ring [00:47:00] fence information, we gate keep people. Because I've seen people are, you, let me know what you need and I'll go and speak to them.
No, I remember when I, I bought my flat with my wife and I sat there and I said, you know, all the people I know in my community who have bought houses and apartments, et cetera, and I, there was no one I could go to for advice because no one tells you what everyone hides this information. Like what's the difference between a leasehold and a freehold?
I didn't know. 'cause I was conditioned not to talk, not [00:47:30] to share, not to don't collaborate. Don't let anyone know what you're doing. Gotta break outta of that man. We got, we've got to share information and share opportunities.
[00:47:37] Sidney: Yeah. It, it, it, it, it, it makes it more equitable for everybody really. So we, so we absolutely did need to do that, man.
For sure. You, I, I appreciate all the, the game you gave away and, and, and the people who gave you the game because they didn't have to do it and, and you didn't have to do it as well. So, and that's,
[00:47:52] Chris Mitchell: and that's why it's important that I pay it forward. Anyone I can, anyone I can help. You, you know, if it's five minutes over a [00:48:00] coffee or you need to jump on a Zoom call for 30 minutes.
I, you know, as long as I got the time, I'm going, you know, the same way Bernard, Andrew, and Emma gave me the game. I will share the game.
[00:48:09] Sidney: Absolutely, man. That's, that's beautiful. So we're gonna, uh, getting to getting towards the end here and we're gonna move on to the, uh, last section of the pod. He's prepared 'cause he asked me a question regarding your off air.
So I'm, I'm, I'm glad he did his homework. And it's just the, i, this, this portion just to get an idea of your taste. And you know, what, what, what, what, [00:48:30] what makes you feel something? What gives you a, a vibe? What's, what's memorable to you? And I'm curious, man. So, uh, first question is, um, you've made a lot of references to, to, to many things previous, but I would ask that you reference things that we haven't mentioned just to, just to expand the horizons even more.
But the first, but the first question is, uh, favorite album of all time?
[00:48:51] Chris Mitchell: Sydney. I'm gonna be honest with you, man. When you sent me this question, I'm like, oh, why is he doing this to me? Uh. There's so many albums I like and [00:49:00] love, but there's one album that comes to mind. It's a gospel album, uh, from Tremaine Hawkins.
So for the benefit of the listeners here, Tremaine Hawkins is the former wife of Walter Hawkins. Walter Hawkins. He was the creator and founder of the Love, uh, lover Alive Choir. The Hawkins family are gospel royalty. Edwin Hawkins wrote, oh, happy Day. That's Edwin Hawkins right there. So we don't need to go no further.
The levels are set. Yeah, the Hawkins are is is them. [00:49:30] Right. But the reason why I love this live album by Tremaine is my mom used to play a lot. I mentioned the fact that she was a choir director. She used to play on VHS. So this is before cassette and cd. This is video cassette, the big black joints. And I remember being a kid.
The music was incredible. There's songs on there like Cheer Up, praise the name of Jesus, the Potter's House, which is a duet with her and her husband, Walter Hawkins. But Sydnee, the fact that Jesse Jackson opened up this gospel concert, I'm like, oh, she [00:50:00] must be important. Important, like, oh God, a budget.
Jackson, either, you know, budget or important. Jesse Jackson came, right, dude. She had Stanley Tontine on the organ. She had Carlos Santana on guitar. She changed her clothes four times in one show, so that let me know. I'm like, hold on. She's important. And it's an album that I've listened to repeatedly over [00:50:30] the years.
Um, you know, it's an album that reminds me of growing up. It reminds me of my mom and, um. It's such a pure and raw performance. The vocals are all on point. I don't even think there's a studio version of this album. They went and sang it one time and they nailed it one time. Tremaine Hawkins live album. It was originally released in 1990 and it's on Spotify and Apple Music.
Check it out.
[00:50:53] Sidney: Okay. I will, man. I'm, I'm gonna get you the auto, like things that you mentioned. I always ask the guest to just include it in like an email [00:51:00] so I can just make sure I, I can find it easily and all that good stuff. So, um, and for, and what that album was for you? The Share My World Album by Mary j Bli was to me, reminds me of.
Going on family vacations. This is when everybody drove anywhere. People weren't flying like that. We, we, we would drive to Atlanta, go to Braves games, we drive, go to Disney World, go to the beach. But that album is just something that sounds out in my mind. So it's a,
[00:51:23] Chris Mitchell: it's a great album. I love the song. Um, I can love you with Little Kim.
That song is, uh, you know, in terms of hip hop, r and [00:51:30] b collaborations, that's one of the best. Lil Kim. Yeah.
[00:51:34] Sidney: Yeah. That album No, no Skips literally no skips. My,
[00:51:38] Chris Mitchell: my wife is a big Mary J fan, but her one is my life. That's her joint.
[00:51:42] Sidney: Oh yeah. That's, that's, I'm gonna have to get that one on vinyl because that, I don't, I cannot find the she my whirl when on vinyl at all.
So I'm gonna have to settle for my life, unfortunately. Which is also great. It's also great, but it's very different. It's, it's a little more hip hop than the shamar world. Shi world was more pure r and b
[00:51:56] Chris Mitchell: for sure. And if I ever see the, my, uh, share my world vinyl. [00:52:00] Here in the uk I'll pick it up for you and we'll sort it out.
[00:52:02] Sidney: Oh yeah. Appreciate it man. Alright, next question. Uh, favorite music producer
[00:52:07] Chris Mitchell: two come to mind? DJ Premiere and Pete Rock. So, DJ Premiere has worked with Biggie nas, Jay-Z. He was half of gang star with Guru he is. When people think hiphop music, they think DJ Premiere. DJ Premiere has soundtrack much of my young adulthood and childhood, you know, a DJ Premiere beat.
When you hear it. Here is [00:52:30] someone who can work with most def and then turn around and work with Christina Aguilera, him, Pete Rock. I say DJ Premier and Pete Rock. 'cause it depends what day you ask me, man. Like Pete Rock has produced for nas, um, common. Lords of the underground, uh, Freddie Fox, you know, the ne everyone, dude, everybody.
But I wanna throw a wild hat in here, a wild card rather Greatest of all time producers. A gentleman by the [00:53:00] name of Jim Johnston. So if you grew up watching wrestling, Hulk Hogan's theme song, ultimate Warrior, Jake, the Stick, Roberts, all those, all those theme songs were produced by the great Jim Johnston.
It's the undertaker theme song. There's nowhere on earth you can go and you hear that boom, you know, it's the undertaker. Jim Johnston, Jim Johnson created music around characters and themes that became so synonymous with them that even when you don't see them, you just hear the music, you know who it's for.
[00:53:28] Sidney: Well, okay. All right. [00:53:30] Next one is favorite film score or soundtrack.
[00:53:33] Chris Mitchell: Okay, so my favorite film soundtrack is Soul in. It's a soundtrack, uh, based on a documentary about a basketball coach. I think his name is Kenny Rogers. Let me double check. The soundtrack is so good. I only watched the documentary maybe a couple of years ago, Kenny Jones, and it talks about his relationship with his basketball players, particularly Ed Booger Smith.
So the soundtrack was released on loud records in 1997, and it's a who's who of underground hip hop at that time, [00:54:00] MOP, common OC organized confusion. Dead prayers made some of their early, made some of their earliest appearances on that project. Source money. It is the, the soundtrack is so good, Sydney.
It's like an album. The soundtrack is so good. You don't need to watch the documentary to appreciate the album. It's amazing. I love that album.
[00:54:20] Sidney: Those standalone. Yeah, those the ones that can standalone. That's how you know the know they're legit. So I'll, I'll definitely check it out.
[00:54:26] Chris Mitchell: It's one of those Soul in the Hole.
Cool.
[00:54:28] Sidney: Soul in the hole. Got you. And [00:54:30] last one, favorite TV theme song, and I saved that one for last. A little more, a little more whimsical.
[00:54:34] Chris Mitchell: Four. The wire, way down in the hole sang by Dimar. I never really got to the Wire. That's one of the ones that I, my man. The Wire. The Wire will affect you in way. Listen, season four.
The Wire, where they looked at the school system. Dude, that finale. I cried, man, because I know people who turned out like each one of those kids.
[00:54:53] Sidney: Mm-hmm. When they shut the school down,
[00:54:57] Chris Mitchell: shut the school down, one of them turned into a killer. One of them turned [00:55:00] into a drug addict. You know, one of them found their way out and ended up, you know, doing well academically.
I know though. I know all those characters, man. I know. Yeah, some, some people make it out, but unfortunately everybody doesn't. Right. So, you know, season four, way down in the hole, it's like an r and b. It's very soulful. You know, sometimes I just listen to that theme song and don't even watch an episode. I just listen to the theme song.
[00:55:22] Sidney: Okay. That's dope, man. Well, uh. I appreciate you sharing your taste. Definitely some gems in there. Things I'm gonna check out that I was not [00:55:30] aware of. But before we wrap things up completely, can you just share a piece of advice for anybody who's looking to, uh, use, use the media or use a, a media platform or some type of platform to try to build from something for themselves and express their creativity and be a great, great storyteller, man.
Piece of advice would you give? And then after that, just share where people can find you online, um, how they can support what you got going on and how they can stay connected with you.
[00:55:59] Chris Mitchell: Okay. [00:56:00] So the piece of advice I would like to share with the audience is something that someone shared with me, even though they didn't share it as a piece of advice, they said it, but I stuck with it.
I took it and I ran with it. Um, a gentleman by the name of Sean Satara, who's a journalist previously wet up complex, he said to us on Breaking Atoms, he said, follow your own curiosity. And that's what I'm gonna share with the audience, follow your curiosity. There's things that you are passionate about, things you are interested, things you are curious about.
It may not [00:56:30] necessarily be the flavor of the month or the talk of the moment, but follow your heart and your passions, wherever it may lead you. The reason why I'm here talking with you, Sydney, is because one day Summit and I decided to tell the story of an album that we were very passionate about, which was Reasonable Doubt.
And here we are talking. Making podcasts, doing audio. You know, later on this year, I'm getting on a plane to come to the States to talk about podcasting because I wanted to tell the story of an album that I really loved. Um, [00:57:00] I mentioned before I produced a series called Redemption Man, which is about a man who walked through the streets of West London, carrying across.
No one knew who he was. It's been a question that's been on the back of my mind for 25 years. I followed my curiosity and I made a podcast about it. I'm still working on on the rest of the episodes, but the pilot was good enough that I've been shortlisted for the Wickers. So in three weeks I'm going to Sheffield to pitch in front of a live audience, hopefully to win 15,000 pounds at least, to produce the rest of this series.
This is all just me being curious, dude, there was [00:57:30] no plan, no long-term strategy. I'm just curious. I'm nosy, you know, I wanna know stuff. So my thing is to follow your own curiosity and be open as to where it will lead you.
[00:57:40] Sidney: And I, that's damn near gospel right there. I don't know if I can say damn a gospel in the same sentence, but it's damn near gospel because that's literally what happened in my case as well.
So I, I don't think that can steer you wrong. I don't, it may, it may, the, the evolution of it, it, it may, it may take you down d down many roads and paths, [00:58:00] but. There's a reason that curiosity is there. So,
[00:58:02] Chris Mitchell: absolutely. And when I don't follow my curiosity and when it starts to get thought out and strategic, it goes wrong, follow your curiosity, be smart.
Be be aware and be mindful and be responsible, but follow your own curiosity.
[00:58:15] Sidney: Absolutely. Absolutely. Can definitely attest to that. All right, man. How can uh, people find you on the internet? And the socials and all that stuff. And, uh, connect with you if they like reach out to you.
[00:58:26] Chris Mitchell: Yeah. So I'm on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.
You can find me at I [00:58:30] am Kinetic. That's I-A-M-K-I-N-E-T-I-K. And you can find, break the atoms on all the social media platforms. Break the atoms and just search breaking atoms wherever you listen to your podcast, if you like. Really good hip hop conversation. Uh, our thing is we break it down to the very last compound.
We don't just talk about music and hip hop music, we talk about. You know, the social issues, the political issues that surround them come from the music as well. So it's like an audio version of the Source magazine if you're old enough to know what the source is.
[00:58:58] Sidney: Okay, cool man, that's, I'll [00:59:00] check it out.
Uh, I'm definitely gonna listen to the type, into the part after this conversation, but I appreciate you coming on, man, especially with the, the time zone difference. I know that can be a little tricky, but this is a great interview man, and uh, for everybody listening, I hope you got out. I hope you got a lot out of it.
And, uh, we'll catch you on the next episode.
Thanks for listening to today's episode, and please don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. If you want to know more about me, visit sound by sid.com. And I'm Sid Evans [00:59:30] Jr. On Instagram and Threads. If you want to know more about the podcast, visit sound by sid.com/podcast. And if you'd like to see and hear more from our guest, subscribe on YouTube at Beyond the Threshold Pod.
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