My early days as a DJ back in the 1980s were some of my favorite times in my career, because I got to play all styles of music from Italo disco to house and from new wave to reggae. I tied them all together with my trusty Roland 808 drum machine. This was the beginning of electronic dance music as we know it today. But I had one big problem — I was super shy. I couldn’t even look at the crowd! All I did was look at the turntables and the mixer.

I recall when I was the resident DJ at The Playground in Chicago — where I played for 1,500 kids every Friday and Saturday — reaching a point where I had the most amazing revelation. As I was going through all the technical aspects of DJing, I had no idea that a lot of girls would just stand in front of the DJ booth and stare at me. When I finally looked up, I realized that I had absolutely nothing to be shy about. Girls love DJs. From that moment on I stood tall in my skills and embraced the attention that a DJ commands.

I remember playing MayDay in Berlin, Germany for the first time back in 2000. I closed it out following Jeff Mills, Carl Cox, Marusha and WestBam. Talk about being scared. Not because each one my peers is an amazing, legendary DJ, but because they all played fast, hard techno! Now I play a very diverse cross section of styles of electronic dance music, but never hard techno. As a matter of fact, WestBam — one of the founders of Mayday — was very adamant that he wanted me to play whatever I felt.

ART of the DJ live in Arcata, California in May, 2014

Well, going from 145 BPM to 125 BPM is a huge jump for any style, but I was up for the challenge. As I played my first track and watched the ecstasy-induced crowd go from a frenzy to a cool groove, my spirit relaxed. The process took about five minutes, but as I looked at WestBam and saw him nod “I told you so,” it was the most amazing feeling. Further proof that all styles of music are universal. It was definitely one of my most memorable sets of all time.

In 2010 I started incorporating live visual elements into my sets to enhance the experience. I remember the first time I utilized the Roland Visual Sampler system and ran my documentary “The Real Story” at King King in Los Angeles. The crowd was fascinated because I was DJing, but the visuals were telling my story at the same time. They didn’t know whether to dance or to watch. Having that kind of control over a crowd is stimulating, to say the least.

The 2014 Chosen Few DJs event — the largest 100% pure house music celebration in the world, boasting over 50,000 in attendance — was my favorite by far. My performance utilized my own edits of house favorites and new tracks blended together. I even had a hype (wo)man in my homie, the incomparable, beautiful, talented and sexy LisaRaye!