One thing that I learned in recent years from working more with other people is this idea that part of a producer's job is to make people comfortable and confident.

I'm still a hip-hop producer. I never put a label on what I can do as a producer or a DJ.

I've been doing it since I was prepubescent when I loved to scratch records and play good music. As it happens, you know I sort of fell into the mix. I really feel like I played a role in bringing dance music to America years ago.

There's a ton of amazing music that's not getting heard.

I think whether dance music had exploded in America, I still would've been a DJ a long time. This is my first love.

One thing that I learned in recent years from working more with other people is this idea that part of a producer's job is to make people comfortable and confident.

I was a bit of an outsider in the hip-hop world because I was a scratch kid and people weren't necessarily trying to hear that all the time.