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'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.

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.

Now I'm able to play on the main stage and play my own tracks and the crowd likes them. I feel like a lot the other DJs play a lot of the same songs, and not to knock them, but it's important to me to go up there and sort of sneak in a bunch of stuff the other guys aren't playing.

The lifestyle is strenuous on the body, but it's stimulating to the senses and the mind. So there's a give and take. There are days the flights knock me out, where I feel like the human punching bag that is being on planes every other day. I think people sort of glorify it, like "Oh, you're at parties and there's booze and girls." But it's still work.

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