Timing is everything. It is not so much about who you know, especially now with the Internet, because anybody can become a superstar overnight.

Timing is everything. It is not so much about who you know, especially now with the Internet, because anybody can become a superstar overnight.

I'm of the mind that your private life is private and you don't need to put everything out there about yourself - but on there, I describe myself as a citizen of the world, a man of music.

It's not easy staying relevant in the marketplace.

A friend of mine that happened to be a DJ at another club actually offered me a job [as a DJ]. I didn't think I could do it but he said, "You know all the music. You are at all the parties, and everybody knows you."

Well technology has changed a lot of things, making it possible for just about anyone to make music. But not everybody is a songwriter, so that puts me in a completely different ballpark than the other DJs out here that are writing and producing tracks. I don't stop at tracks, I try to complete the whole package with the song. So working at that level has put me in a completely different place.

I refused to be disrespected. So, at 16, of course, I was a gentleman about it, but I told them and it cost me my job.