Source: Carol Williams / Chevrolet
We hear it almost every weekday morning like clockwork. “Morning, everybody it’s DJ Envy, Angela Yee and Charlamagne Tha God and we are The Breakfast Club. We have a special guest for you this morning…” We all “sing-along” to the catchphrase that starts off some of the best interviews in Hip Hop. I had the chance to catch with one-third of the popular Breakfast Club morning show DJ Envy who has partnered with Chevrolet’s award-winning Discover the Unexpected program to give students of HBCU’s a head start into a career in journalism.
The program took 6 journalist majors from different HBCU’s on an unexpected journey of professional and personal self-discovery while gaining new tools along the way. They visited places where Black own newspapers used to inform their community and taught the fellows more about journalism then at the end of the program the fellows received $10,000 in scholarships and certificates of completion.
“I didn’t have that opportunity when I graduated from Hampton.” Envy goes on to point out that a big reason he agreed to join forces with Chevrolet on this program was they picked students from Hampton, Howard, Grambling and other HBCU’s to get this head start on their career. “I absolutely positively wanted to be part of this. Also, the fact that they got a brand new Chevy Blazer that was relaunched and we haven’t seen them in years and I thought that was really dope.”
Envy, a queens native, feel in love with cars growing up on the rough streets of the New York borough. He would see the biggest pushers and bad boys driving around in the nicest cars and he would play the “That’s My Car!” game, where kids would shout out and acknowledge the best cars they’ve seen as theirs. Luckily for Envy, a neighborhood friend showed him he could get those cool cars another way. He credits DJ Clue to showing him the ropes about becoming a DJ. So once he started doing well, he started buying all the cars he wanted as a child and the passion for fly cars stuck.
Envy went from selling mixtapes to the radio after the government started cracking down on the mixtape business. So he transitioned into radio and even though he reports on the news, and interviews the biggest rappers, actors, and politicians in the game he doesn’t consider himself a journalist. “I just consider myself a real talker. I didn’t go to school for journalism, I went to school for business management and marketing.” Envy was a very successful DJ, but when the game changed he decided to make a plan for his future. “I couldn’t sell mixtapes forever!”
So Envy learned everything about the radio business he could, from the microphones to the soundboards and after realizing he wouldn’t get his dream job on Hot 97, he went over to Power 105.1. He started in afternoons and then reluctantly went to mornings and the rest is history.
Now with Chevrolet, he is sharing his knowledge and using his brand to give back which is a very noble thing to do. To find out more about the Discover The Unexpected Program click here.
DJ Envy Is Helping Black Journalists Discover The Unexpected was originally published on globalgrind.com
