J Phlip fell in love with house music when discovering the thriving underground house scene in Champaign. Music has always been a huge part of her life from playing instruments to singing and dancing in show choir to deciding to specialize in Audio and Sound Engineering as part of her General Engineering degree at the University of Illinois. DJing was simply the next step for her. "I found that dancing and listening to others spin music made me happy, no matter what was going on in my life. I wanted to be able to make others feel that way through my choice of music," she said. She found that being behind the decks was a comfortable place for her, even in front of others, and knew it was her following.
Local DJs, such as Champaign favorite DJ ImpacT influenced J Phlip. She in turn inspires other DJs and keeps pushing the local house scene forward. She currently holds one of the longest running weekly residencies in Champaign- for any genre. For over two years, house fans from around the Midwest came to Barfly on Thursday nights to hear J Phlip spin hour hours of her own style of funky, techy, jazzy, and deep house. Constantly listening to new tracks and digging in Chicago record stores, J Phlip always manages to impress even the most knowledgeable DJs with her song selection. Her Thursday residency in Champaign still continues, however it recently moved locations to Champaign's shiny new venue, Soma, where she spins alongside longtime friend and DJ partner, DJ Mertz. Besides her famous Thursday residency, she currently also holds a weekly residency at Boltoni, keeping her very busy at home when she isn't traveling to other gigs.
While her name is very well known locally, it is quickly spreading much further with her two page feature in last May's issue of BPM Magazine and her recent gig playing for over 2,500 people in the Dominican Republic. J Phlip thinks big and knows that winning the contest has opened doors for her, but at the same times she is well-grounded and ready to put in the work it will take to follow her dream of a career making music. As she prepares for her tour this fall with Colette DJ Rap, and Reid Speed, around the nation it is clear that J Phlip will be able to spread her sound across the world so keep your ears open!
Bio taken from www.j-phlip.com .