So how did you get into DJing?

My father was a working DJ. Nobody special, weddings to clubs, just didn’t matter. I remember growing up and having my video games set up on one side of the wall and his record room was on the other. I’m just hearing all this music and hated it. But as I got older, I grew to love it, I guess.

When did you buy your first record?

My parents divorced when I was 12 and, coincidentally, my mother’s first boyfriend was a radio disc jockey. So she went from one DJ to another. He knew that I liked music, so he gave me four or five records. I remember one of them was "Crooklyn Dodgers," one was "House of Pain," "Who’s the Man?." Those were my first records.

My father never really wanted to teach me how to DJ. He thought I was too young or whatever. And my mother met this guy, Ted Lange, the brother of Isaac from "The Love Boat." So, he ended up teaching me how to DJ. And then my father found out, and he was like, “You're coming up for the week, I’m going to show you what’s up.” It’s almost like my father taught me out of hatred.

Your father and your mother’s new partner, they were playing to make rent?

My father quit DJing before I was born to be an insurance salesman. So anything he was playing around the house was just for fun at that point. It was anything form the new Human League record to Loose Joints "Is It All Over My Face" to disco to new wave to jazz to experimental. He was really well-rounded. I remember, it was 1988, what album did he buy me? Boogie Down Productions' "Criminal Minded" and N.W.A.’s first album because he thought, “Oh this is what everyone’s listening to, you might like it.” And I’m all of 8 years old, like “What the fuck is this shit? Why they cursing so much? Why they so mad?”

I just want to cover that, because it sounds like it was a major influence

I still think my favorite record to this day is "Is It All Over My Face." It showed me that there’s more to dance music than just dancing. There can be. You can get a feeling. That’s always really stuck with me.

Loose Joints ‎– Is It All Over My Face

So, you moved from Washington, D.C. to New York…

When I got to New York, it was September 2, 2002, my 20th birthday. I had all my records, I had a day job, I had an apartment, everything looked smooth sailing. And then three weeks later, my apartment burns down. I lose all my records. I had to start completely over. I lost all my clothes, shoes, everything. Fucked up.

But I knew that I wanted to be here bad enough, I stuck it out. I was DJing just to make it by, doing Top 40 and hip-hop gigs, whatever I could, for a good 7 or 8 years. It was the summer of 2008 and I had all these Top 40 gigs, and I was making good money, but I hated it. So I just quit all of them and started delivering pizzas on a bike on the East Side of Manhattan just because I needed to start over. It was one of the most amazing moments of my life. I was on a bike, had no worries, was able to pay my rent. I had food because I was working at a pizza spot, had my tips to spend to go out. I felt so free.

I thoroughly think if you want to make it doing what you want to do, you have to be in a situation where you’re not stressing money. You have to be able to take chances.

So when the opportunity came to DJ in the back of Roberta’s, it just sounded like a good idea. Whereas before, I might’ve been like, “How much money are we going to make doing this?” It was only supposed to be a one-off. I think about 20 people came. But there was this undeniable vibe, this vibe that I hadn’t really experienced in a while. We ended up doing maybe six or seven that summer. It was still the best party ever, people dancing on tables and drinking straight out of the frozen margarita machine. It was how it’s supposed to be, man.

Was that vibe reflective of Bushwick at that time?

When we first started doing it, I was like, “No one’s going to want to come out there. Nobody hangs out in Bushwick. Who the fuck.” Our last party of our first year, there were 50, 60 people. Our first party of our second year, there was 400.

I still think my favorite record to this day is "Is It All Over My Face." It showed me that there’s more to dance music than just dancing.

What do you think is your role in the party?

My role is no more important than the people that come to my party. I used to have a party called Big Fun in the Lower East Side at 205, and I used to give people whistles to blow because I wanted the people to be just as loud as the music. I think it’s a back and forth. It’s a give and pull. It’s a relationship. I’m no more important than the people who come, for sure.

Is there anyone you’ve seen who you think is doing cool things? Anything that's influenced you?

Everybody influences me, I don't think there’s any one particular person. Even people I don't like influence me. It’s just one big organism and you take what you can out of it.

I spent a lot of time in Mexico City recently – I had a girlfriend out there – and just the vibe that they have out there, it’s pretty incredible. They’re showmen. They’re in the crowd, they’re dancing, there’s lights. That’s what I aspire to be: a showman. I don’t want to just be behind the DJ booth playing records. If there’s someone I saw recently who I was blown away by, it was definitely Matias Aguayo. Him and his camp, they just kill it so hard.

A1 x Lloydski

What's been your worst experience as a DJ?

I was at this club, Lotus, in the Meatpacking, this Top 40 club, playing at prime time, killing it, had all these people in the booth with me. And I wasn’t paying attention, and I turned the master knob all the way down, thinking it was the booth knob. Music’s playing in the booth, so I’m still jamming out, and the entire club is quiet. There must have been 1,500 people there. The security guard is flashing the light at me and I’m like, “Yeah, this shit’s cray! This shit is awesome, right?” And he’s like, “No, there’s no sound!” So I’m like, “Oh, shit,” and I turn the house up right on count, and everybody went crazy. Even the worst situations, you have to laugh at them. Beause we’re just DJing, you know, at the end.

With new technology making DJing easier, what do you think about everyone becoming a DJ?

I’m down for technology. But if you’re using it just to be lazy, you’re missing the point. Flash drives only make me a lazy DJ. Everything mixes well, it sounds awesome, but there’s no oomph in it for me. There’s not that thing I enjoy. So I like to play records, I just do. I’m not one of those “records sound better than CDs or MP3s.” When it comes to the sound quality in these clubs, I don’t think you can tell the difference anyways. I just like the idea of spending a whole day pulling your little bag, and getting to your gig, and making that bag work no matter what

I think it’s a back and forth. It’s a give and pull. It’s a relationship. I’m no more important than the people who come, for sure.

You mentioned earlier a moment with a girl getting her first record. Could you retell that?

Last Saturday was Record Store Day. Me being the skeptic that I am, I’m like “What is this? Every day is Record Store Day." I was at Turntable Lab around noon, I was jamming out in the store. While playing, there was this little girl who was all but 8 or 9. She goes over to her father and she asks her father what record I was playing. The father comes over, asks what record I’m playing and I told him the name. He wrote it down. As they were on their way out, I grabbed the little girl and I gave her the record. And this is how I knew it was the right thing to do: She immediately tried to give it back to me. I insisted, and she took it. She was so happy. Just like my mother’s boyfriend, he gave me those records and it was all downhill for me. I couldn’t stop. I remember my first records and I know she’ll always remember that record. I’m just glad I was able to give it to her and be a part of that moment. That was really fucking awesome.

What do you think are the top three record stores in this city?

A1, for sure. A1 has always been there for me. Whenever I’m broke, I text the owner, and I’m like, “Yo, I need some money right now.” And he’s like, “Bring over some records.”

I’d say Turntable Lab just because I worked there for four years. Even when my place burned down and I was homeless, they still had a job for me. I’ll never ever be able to repay them for that.

If I had to say another one, I’d say Academy. I’ve found records that are worth $200 in the dollar section. Going back to A1, one thing I love about them is no matter how much money you have, if you just went in there to spend 10 bucks or 1,000, you could walk out of there feeling like a millionaire. Their records are priced to sell. If you want to get on your hands and knees and go into the cheap bins there, they have so much dope shit. I think that’s the definition of a great record store.

Tiki Disco

What would be your dream place to play that you haven’t played before?

I would’ve love to have played at the Music Box where Ron Hardy played in Chicago in the '80s. It blows my mind the stuff they were doing back then. I just want to be in that room and hear what he’s playing. I don’t actually want to play, I think that would ruin it. I want to be in that room when all of that is going down for the first time ever and just sit there with my mouth on the floor. I think I’ve had a pretty good – so far – career. I’ve done some awesome parties. I’ve had some amazing, magical moments. I’m pretty content. If there’s anything better out there, fuck man, I’m all ears. But I’m pretty happy as is.

The mix you’re playing, how did you approach it?

I didn’t pay more than a dollar for any of the records. I think the best records are dollar records, the records that people overlook. On my hands and knees at A1 or Amoeba or somewhere like that – those are the records I sit at home and listen to. Especially the last record, "Tarantula." That’s probably my number one favorite song of all time. I can’t tell you why.. You know that one song, you can’t explain it, but it hits you in that way. Then you try and play it for other people, and they’re like, “Yeah, this is cool.” And you’re like, “You don’t understand. You don’t understand.” I just wanted to make a set of songs like that.