Iman Tucker received a text message from one of his disc jockey colleagues in St. Louis, Missouri.
He needed Tucker’s team to supply sound for a proposed high school event.
When he opened up the address, he said he couldn’t help but laugh. It was to Seymour High School’s Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium. He graduated from SHS in 2012 and had played basketball in that gym.
“The first question he asked, ‘Why didn’t they just ask you?’” Tucker said. “Come to find out, SHS was under the impression they couldn’t afford my services or that I might be busy; however, it had been a goal of mine to come back in 2022, whether it be a sporting event, a school event or even a citywide event. Whatever came of the desire, I wanted a chance to come back as a thank you for the town that poured so much into me as I was coming into adulthood.”
They came to an agreement with a lot of compromise on each side and made it happen for Tucker to be the DJ at the winter formal dance Feb. 19 in the school’s auxiliary gym.
“I couldn’t have been more excited to do it,” the Carmel resident said.
While he was in town, Tucker spent some time the day before the dance to talk to students from the Seymour Middle School Sixth Grade Center in the Earl D. Prout Auditorium at SHS.
Principal Loriann Wessel had reached out to him shortly after learning he was serving as one of the pregame concourse DJs at Indiana Pacers home games this season.
“I knew I was going to do the formal at this point, so I thought ‘What better idea than to make a homecoming out of it and schedule the talk the day before the dance?’” Tucker said. “Thankfully, with all of the school’s hard work, they made it work out for my schedule. With so many friends and family to visit, it worked out perfectly to be home for a couple of days.”
The purpose of the talk was to be there for the young students, provide perspective and show them a good time, he said.
“Often, I find young people discouraged from following their dreams in lieu of paying the bills, attending a prestigious university or getting a degree to make those around them proud,” he said.
“Those things are amazing, and I celebrate that, as that was a big piece to how I got started in my professional career,” said Tucker, who has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Indianapolis. “However, I don’t think that you have to give up your dreams to also do those things as many around me have. What does it look like to do both? What does it look like to overcome doubt, insecurity and hardship and do it all?”
It takes effort, love and a commitment to the journey and path you’re on, and young people need to hear that more often, he said.
“It is going to be difficult, sometimes even embarrassing,” Tucker said. “I remember when I first got started, DJing on Facebook Live to get used to practicing and playing in front of people, I was terrible. It was embarrassing to go back and see. Yet, I did it. I kept doing it until it paid off, and that was six years ago.”
At the time, he said it felt like no one cared or he wasn’t good enough to make it, but he believed in the journey he was passionate about and kept showing up over the years.
“The right people cared and encouraged me and cheered me on,” he said. “I used the money I was making from my day job to fund my dreams. We get so used to giving up if things don’t work out on our timeline, but no. Give it your all.”
Tucker emphasized the habits you build by showing up every day.
“It’s the effort you put into your grades and activities that matter,” he said. “Those are going to be the things that allow you to build a platform that inspires someone. Work as hard as you can in school and allow those habits to pour over into your dreams. If your dream is to be a DJ, an athlete, a doctor, whatever it is, give it your all because it is possible. You just have to see the vision all of the way through no matter what.”
He also wanted to inspire those of a minority class.
“It can be challenging to see yourself become great if you have never seen someone that looks like you do it, so for their sake, to kill the excuses of income or race or struggle and believe that your life is bigger than the circumstance that has been placed in front of you,” he said.
Tucker remembers sitting in the auditorium seats to watch a play or listen to a speaker and feeling so out of touch, wondering if he would ever get a chance to influence or share what he was working on.
For a while, he said he wasn’t sure if his impact or voice would ever matter when he was a student because he didn’t know the way.
Now as an adult, he gets it.
“Be legendary, give it your best, work smarter and harder than those around you, find mentors, show up, be consistent. All of these habits will make you exceptional, and that will be the platform that allows you to show your heart and your perspective,” Tucker said. “If you don’t have that platform yet, either you haven’t given it your all or it’s just not your time yet, and either way, that is OK because at any moment, all of that can change.”
By sharing his story, Tucker said he hopes he inspired the students “to be themselves, to love people, to stop making your life about you and dedicate it to being great for those around you.”
“Make those before you proud and inspire those after you,” he said. “I hope that the life and energy poured into them will be used for them to follow their own individual dreams and make a difference. It can get dark in this world, and we need more lights. Why can’t it be you? Why can’t you be remarkable and be the best at whatever you’re called to do? You can. It just takes a commitment.”
During his visit, Tucker also had a dance contest with the students, gave out some prizes, brought students onstage to try their hand at DJing and perhaps most important, made kids smile.
“It was an amazing hour with the kids,” he said.
Wessel said it was a great opportunity for the kids to listen to Tucker DJ and speak about his experience growing up in Seymour and going through school.
She said Tucker challenged the sixth-graders to focus on what they are doing in the here and now.
“Iman also mentioned the multiple community members and school mentors that helped him push through the tough times of life (battling cancer and breaking his back) so that he can be the person he is today,” Wessel said. “When students got back to the Sixth Grade Center, they couldn’t stop talking about their new role model, Iman Tucker. Many students said that Friday was the best day of their lives.”
At the winter dance the next night, Tucker said he and his team curated a set to bring all of the students together, to be with each other for a few hours and just have fun.
“I had a chance at the end to share some words on my heart, meet some of the students, hug some of adults that did a lot for me growing up. It was amazing,” he said. “It felt like I was given as much love or more than I was trying to give out to the students.”
The homecoming was a special opportunity for Tucker to share the moment with his production team, Jesse West, Samuel Bokodi and Treyvon Matthews, and give them a chance to see where he came from, and he also liked giving back to Seymour.
“I’m not sure if they had ever had an experience like this one in the past, so to bring a new, fresh flavor into the gymnasium meant a lot to me, and I’m sure it did to them, too,” Tucker said. “Who knows? Maybe they’ll have me back for a Seymour sectional basketball game.”
Tucker hadn’t been at SHS in 10 years, so he said it meant everything to him to be back receiving nothing but love, warm well-wishes and smiles.
“One of my favorite events I’ve had the privilege of doing … maybe ever,” he said. “The homecoming just felt different. I can’t really explain how or why other than we got to bring our soul and flavor into a space that we came from.”
Besides DJing at Pacers games, Tucker said he got picked up to work Indianapolis Colts game day this past season.
His team’s goal was to get into five new major cities this year and start marketing and networking with agencies and venues. Their impact and experience started to get noticed nationally because they have events in Las Vegas, Tennessee, Chicago, St. Louis and California this summer.
“Working out some details to open for artists that come through Indy and Old National Centre, opening up for some of my favorite Christian hip-hop artists, all of the major marathons in the city of Indianapolis this season, the 500 Festival, I’m not sure where to even start,” he said. “So many things. It’s all moving so fast.”
Between now and April, Tucker said he will DJ at seven more Pacers games. On Monday, he has a performance in Nashville, Tennessee. Then March 3 to 6, he will work during the Great Lakes Valley Conference men’s and women’s basketball championships.
On April 2, he will open for hip-hop artist KB, and May 7 is busy with Rev Indy and the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon.