Riccardo LeBron, professionally known as Anakim, is a music producer and DJ of Puerto Rican, Filipino, French, and Spanish descent that is forging a new lane in techno music with his emotional and intergalactic sound. His relatively short trek to success from crowded dance floors to the stages of Coachella and Insomniac Events is nearly unheard of. LeBron’s impressive rise to stardom is credited to the heart and commitment he has for his craft and the community that embraces him.
“I just wanted to dedicate myself to making electronic music to see if I could touch someone’s heart as much as those DJs that I saw back in the day and their music touched mine.”
LeBron’s wonderment with the “pure magic” of raving did not happen until he attended his first Electric Daisy Carnival on a friend’s request back in 2010. He did have preconceived notions about the style of music and the edm environment as a whole but decided to go anyway. Much to his surprise, LeBron was instantly entranced by the liberating atmosphere and the shared energy of everyone there. He felt as if he had stumbled onto an entirely different planet, and he had no intentions of letting that feeling float away from him.
“I’ve been really grateful to have found this community because it changed my whole life.”
What occurred next in LeBron’s career was entirely unexpected. He had graduated from UCLA and was actually finding some success in the film industry as an actor. He even scored guest appearances on shows like Big Bang Theory, Pretty Little Liars, and Castle. However, the frequent rejections and the incessant typecasting for stereotypical roles by directors was what ultimately pushed LeBron to fully surrender to his powerful gravitation toward creating dance music.
“I love electronic music. I love everything about the culture. Maybe I should just take a chance. Take a leap of faith.”
After dedicating 5 years of his personal time around the rave world, LeBron decided to apply for a highly coveted spot at the Icon Collective school of music production to pursue his passion professionally. After being accepted, the novice student immersed himself into finding his signature sound. His work was often misunderstood and sometimes discouraged by others. There were many pressures and influences of trap music with heavy bass from almost every other student circling him, but LeBron silenced the noise and focused on producing music that took him back to another planet.
“I truly believe in my sound.--- I didn't set out to do this stuff to be cool. I truly wanted to make a difference and show the world something that they had never heard before.”
Since his time at Icon Collective, Anakim has gone on to perform on some of the industry’s biggest platforms and open for household names like Deadmau5. The rising producer has also been awarded titles such as this year’s Billboard Dance Music’s Emerging Artist and won the 2019 Insomniac Events Discovery Project. Riccardo LeBron’s inspiring journey to Anakim is a unique story and one that encourages others to shoot for the stars. He is a bright artist that is on a selfless mission to take his fans to better, more loving worlds through his music, and there are no signs of his expedition aborting any time soon.
What to expect: Riccardo LeBron details his orbital journey to becoming the award-winning producer and DJ, Anakim. How did he go from dancing in the audience at his first electronic music festival to performing interstellar movie scores on the same stage years later? The artist opens up about his personal highs and lows in the film industry like getting a short film accepted into Cannes and later exiting the business due to stereotypical stifling and lack of fulfillment. He provides the behind the music details of his interesting professional name and offers reassurance to discouraged artists with out of this world aspirations.
Written by: Quenton McKenzie
