Imagine checking your email and seeing what seems to be spam from someone impersonating Disney. Now imagine they send a follow up because they haven’t heard back from you yet. Finally imagine you reply just in case only to realize it was, in fact, THE Walt Disney Studios contacting you to use your song in their summer blockbuster Deadpool and Wolverine. Well, musician Irv Da Phenom doesn’t have to imagine this because it’s his real life experience.
Mitchell Irving, Jr., professionally known as Irv Da Phenom is a Kansas City based rapper, singer, songwriter, etc., whose life took an unexpected turn after receiving an email from Disney Studios. Irv received a very cryptic and discreet email stating the entertainment empire was working on a movie, and they wanted to use a song from one of his mixtapes on a movie they were working on. The catch, though, is that Irv didn’t see that email until months later when they reached back out, this time saying, “We’re working on the new Deadpool movie, and we need your song!”
After verifying it was indeed Disney and that everything was on the up and up, Irv decided to agree to the request. The song being requested was “Red and Yellow”, a freestyle originally released in 2010 that was a play on Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow”, paying homage to Kansas City and the Chiefs. Because of this, Irv wasn’t sure how getting the song’s licensing would go for Disney, but they reassured him “We’re Disney. We’ve got this.” Long story short, they got the licensing and usage rights for the song, and not only was it used in the movie, it was THE song used in the movie’s teaser trailer.
I asked how he found out exactly how the song was used, and he said, “I was working at my tire shop, and all of a sudden, my Facebook notifications start blowing up, and all my fans were tagging me saying, ‘Bro, your song is in the new Deadpool trailer!” He said his mother happened to stop by right afterwards, and Irv showed his mother and daughters the trailer together. “I cried for like two, three days every time I saw it!” he exclaimed.
I believe in love and working hard, and I try to combine all that into music.
Irv Da Phenom is a singer/songwriter who is the oldest of five children. He grew up working at a tire shop with Midwestern values. “I believe in love and working hard, and I try to combine all that into music,” Irv added. He writes about love and the ups and downs and ins and outs of it. As an independent artist, he has to work harder to get his projects out to the world. So, if you love love and like working hard for what you believe in, check out his music. It may be the soundtrack of your life.
Irv Da Phenom’s new album, Big Lover, is out now and takes you on a ride of the ups and downs, and it drops you off at a place that we’re not used to, self love. “Especially coming from men, you know, feel like that conversation isn’t really had. It’s kind of like you just keep up the facade in this day and age,” he explained.
“The battle of the genders is bizarre. So, it’s anti all that. It’s really for people that, like the big lovers.”
Irv stated that his goal is to be the role model he wishes he had as a 10 year old Black boy who was into comic books and anime and all these different things that weren’t popular at the time. He wanted to tell our soulmates to continue to normalize going above and beyond and being truly passionate about your interests, whether they’re popular or not, and, most of all, love yourself.
Stay up to date with Irv da Phenom on Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok. Visit his site at irvdaphenom.com.
