Isaiah Fenichel is a “retired player” with a self-assured attitude and a passion for music.

“My confidence and determination make me different. I feel that nobody is more confident than me,” Fenichel said.

The “retired player” who is now in a committed relationship does not believe there is anything he cannot do. He explained that when someone tells him there is something he cannot do his mentality is to take it as a challenge to accomplish what someone said he could not.

The Poughkeepsie, New York native was a very involved and talented child. He believed himself to be good at so many things like sports and music that he started to call himself a prodigy. “Prodigy” soon became his entertainment name.

Prodigy, 18, is a part of a rap group known as “Chosen Ones.” The rap group of 6 men ranging from 18 to 20 years old contains a mixture of interest. However, Fenichel considers himself to be the main DJ of the hometown group.

Fenichel became interested at a young age in spinning discs after a weeklong summer camp where he took a class on how to DJ. With the support of his mother and money saved from performing at events of up to 300 people he was able to buy and upgrade his own DJ equipment.

Due to a fire at his mother’s house he lost most of his equipment and has resorted to using his original turntables.

“Prodigy” now DJs at the Pace Perk Café, thanks to the help of a friend and Pace University professor Kathy Winsted. As the director of the Perk Winsted offered DJ Prodigy the opportunity of a musical engagement for a night which led to him having a paid DJ job at the Pace Perk Café every Friday night. Professor Winsted has also used DJ Prodigy’s services at an event in her church—an event which he called an “interesting” opportunity.

Fenichel enjoys spinning discs at the Pace Perk Café but would like to DJ on different days in hope of getting bigger crowds. He is also interested in performing for WPAW, the Pace University radio station, but got “a little side tracked” with school and was not able to get involved with the radio station. He has plans to get involved with the station during his time at Pace.

Fenichel’s favorite music genre is Hip-Hop. His favorite artists are Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, and “old school artists.” However, his biggest inspiration is his father. His father used to rap and was the person that introduced him to music. When he creates a new music mix he shows it to his father first for approval.

Although the Pace freshman thought of not attending college, he would not drop out of school because education is important and “if something were to go wrong I want to make sure I can still make money.” The business management major originally wanted to be an Arts and Entertainment major. He chose the business major because it was on the Pleasantville campus and he knew it would give him “experience in all fields in management,” which he feels is important since he wants to manage others.

“I am fascinated by words. I’m a show off, I like to have a big vocabulary so I try to write a lot and get better at it,” Fenichel said.

Fenichel feels that although his “cocky” ways can get him in trouble at times he has matured since being at Pace. He dreams of living in Manhattan with a wife and, possibly, kids. He would like to open his own record label with artists and employees under him to produce music. He hopes to be rich or financially stable to make sure “nobody has to worry about things” around him by providing for his mother and family.