THE BOY CALLED MIX
Here I am thinking of an extremely catchy way of starting my introductory post without even realizing I have started already. My story is nothing special; No! It is indeed something really special and I will prove it to you. My name is James Mix Iribom and I am a teacher by nature; I was born with the desire and ability to seek knowledge for the sole purpose of dispersing it out onto others. I was originally just called James, but in the cause of life, I discovered a variety of versions of me that compounded into the identity called Mix. Pay close attention.
I was born in the city of Jos in the late 90’s on the 8th of August on a cold rainy Saturday evening. How do I know this? I do because my mom made it her duty to give me a full documentary of my birth because among all her kids, I was the child that suffered her most during labour. I don’t know about you but to me that alone is a sign of greatness. I grew up in an extended family with cousins and uncles that I loved so much and they took good care of me.
Baby James barely six months’ old, does he look like a trouble maker to you?
Baby James, his brothers and cousin
As a child I was rough, stubborn and very adventurous. I watched a lot of Jackie Chan movies and I was inspired to practice the stunts I watched him pull. So I did a lot of gymnastics, hiking, tree climbing and really dangerous plays; like running on blocks at the top of an unroofed building. I fell down once on my head and I was treated by an uncle before my mom got back home from work. And when she looked at me she asked why my head was looking like a cube. I guess the fall briefly transformed me into Sponge Bob.
I was a geek, a brilliant kid in school and was very out spoken. But then a lot changed when the bullying started. I later changed schools and found out I was among people with very opposing views to mine. I argued a lot, was targeted by many and became a victim of word bully; what made it so difficult was the fact that those bullying me were all females. Later on the boys joined in too and so I got into fights every now and then. This resulted in me becoming a lone wolf; I was still a capable person but also an easy target.
The bullying continued in secondary school for about two years until I learned to use that big brain of mine and my unlimited access to ladies to convert all the bullies into close friends. Due to my geeky nature, I was good at making sketches and doing anything drawing related so I was a technical student hoping to study architecture. But right before I finished high school, all that changed because I found music and I fell hopelessly in love with it. At the time, I lost interest in education; I just wanted to make music. So I kept writing and composing and I believe that was the season when James met Mix for the first time.
A Picture of Mix auditioning for a talent hunt after high school
I didn’t get to study Architecture because I got a low JAMB score and of course this happened because I didn’t think I needed to go to the university at the time. I thought I would have made it as an artist already so I won’t have time for school but I was wrong. I worked in a hotel as an unpaid intern for a year and then I got into the university to study Mathematics. Music in school and Mathematics didn’t go so well, my mates disliked me a lot; they called me unserious and they antagonized me every chance they got. Of course I didn’t let them get to me, I had good grades but musically I was unsuccessful because though I knew how to make good music, I didn’t have the network I needed to get on stage often and make myself look and sound like I’ve made it in life. Turns out I’ve been nurturing a low self-esteem.
One day I got drunk and got into serious trouble. Fraternity boys were after me for some reason. I fled school, wrote a couple songs and thought hard about my life. The preceding events led to my head being bashed with a bottle, which resulted in me getting stitches and I had shave all the hair on my head. I was bald for a period of time.
A picture of me after my head was shaved due to the stiches I got
During that period, I made a decision to leave my department and switch to something more practical, a course I could enjoy. I also took a bold step by organizing a music show to display my first Christian E.P (Extended play). The event was successful, because I had help from a new Christian community I joined; YWAP (Youth With A Purpose). The community helped me polish my music and gave me a platform to share it with people occasionally.
Art of my first Extended Play, Identity of a living Testimony
A shot with Friends from my new community YWAP after my EP concert
Me in my first YWAP Boothcamp (This was a turning point for me) 2017
After this I changed a lot, I guess you can say this is when both James and Mix discovered Konstant. This was the version of me that became more confident, hit a 4 point plus GPA, fell in love with an amazing girl named Temi and met the most amazing friends alive. It was at this period I learnt that good people exist and true love is not a Myth. Thanks to Ma;am Gift, Ochofire, Anna, Sylvia, Temi, 6ix and many others who taught me these things by literally living them out.
I, two of my brothers and Anna at my mother’s 60th birthday Celebration.
People who taught and showed me love in school (Ochofire, Ma’am Gift, Treasure)
One among the two ladies is my best friend Sylvia and the other is Temi, the love of my life
In 2020 I was going through my documents when I found an old photo of my dad at a very young age. I thought to myself “this picture would make an amazing art work”. The only problem was, all my life I was good at drawing cartoons only; and every attempt to draw a human being was unsuccessful. But then I remembered my Introduction to Technology teacher telling me it is much easier to do a picture enlargement using grids. So I made a grid and made an attempt to make a sketch of my dad and it was successful. This boosted my confidence and all through the corona lockdown period, I made sketches on auto pilot. I still make sketches today. I’ve been trying to master the art of biro sketch. I keep getting good and I will only get better.
How it started from a trial sketch of my Dad’s old picture
These are my most recent works, done in late 2025
When I was rounding up from the university, I broke up with the love of my life, our relationship became redundant and stunted, I was focused on the future and she was living in the present. Now that I look back at it, I was just impatient, because the problem we faced was something that could have been fixed with time and effort but I was naïve. I felt she was pulling me back spiritually and I wasn’t strong enough to push us both front spiritually. I needed a partner who can help me hit the brakes if I’m driving too fast; but she wanted to be a passenger who just goes where ever I lead. The thing is, as a youth with sexual needs and a strong desire to please Jesus; I had to choose to either play both sides or let one go. And I did the latter. I know it sounds silly, but that was the cause of our break up. Afterwards I got baptized in my church.
A declaration of faith in Christ Jesus
I served my country by teaching in a school and I had amazing students. Afterwards I trained as a minister for 9 months under my Pastor in my church.
Me during Pastoral training at The Flaming Word Church Jos
The more I saw myself tilting towards the life of conventional ministry and pastoral work, I lost my peace. I wanted to make music built on biblical principles and not the conventional church music. But there was no place for such a kind of music in conventional ministry. So after learning so much from the church, I left the training.
Me working in church, some days before leaving my training
I was equipped with skill, passion and the word. I left my home city and travelled to another city with the sole aim of making money so that I can use it to sponsor the kind of music I was called to make. And I decided to stop at nothing until I achieve this. So I learned how to use bandlab to record and mix music; I also practiced editing videos on a lot of video editing softwares, I did all this to make up for my lack of income to sponsor music.
Me and my producer friend making music
And then I later tried trading on binary options, but it flopped continuously and I lost a lot of hard earned money. Then I decided to go on break and pursue more sure means of getting income and so I enrolled as a teacher in a school nearby.
A selfie of the staff of the School I work at. The colleague in green introduced me to hive.
I heard about Hive from a colleague at the school; where I work as a biology teacher. I was excited about the whole thing because I have been posting my music clips on a lot of social media platforms and manage to get only a handful of views without a single hope of making any money from it. And here I am hearing that I can make money from doing the exact same thing I was doing before. Immediately I asked him to link me up, I was more than ready to put in my best into Hive because first, I would get access to a community that is already interested in the content I make depending on the niche I choose and secondly, If they like what I’m doing I am going to be compensated. Sharing my music and knowledge to the world alone is its own reward; getting paid for it is a beautiful bonus.
This colleague of mine referred me to his up-liner 
I am excited to be part of this beautiful community; I am dedicated to giving you good music and sharing my world with you as you share yours with me. I hope we have a lasting impact on each other as we go further. You can call me Mixiribom. I am a Rapper, Singer, Writer and Teacher. Thank you for letting me be a part of the Hive family.
