#27 – How to Master Moving People Through Music | DJ James Nasty - The Truth In This Art: Stories That Matter

Episode Transcript
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Rob Lee (00:11):
And we're back. Welcome back to the Truth in this art.
These are conversationsconnecting arts, culture, and
community. These are storiesthat matter, and I am your host,
Rob Lee. Today, we're going wayback to beginning of the series,
and I'm joined by a guest fromthe very first episode of this
podcast.
My guest excels at producing andDJing Baltimore club music while

(00:33):
maintaining roots of turntablismand open format DJing. Please
welcome James Nasty. Welcomeback to the podcast.

DJ JAMES NASTY (00:41):
It's so great to be back here. You're you're

Rob Lee (00:44):
the first you're the first person. First guest. And
so as I defamboy myself, I liketo go to the the dulcet tones
because folks are like, hey. Icould fall asleep to you
talking, Rob. So I'm just gonnabring it down.
But, but it is definitely greatto have you back on. And, and it
just speaks to this this thingwhere I've been playing around
with, reputation and identity.And when you're able to talk

(01:07):
back to, like, the folks thatyou had on, it's like, one, it
was a good conversation. To, youknow, this person doesn't hate
you. So it's great to go to, totie it back in or it hasn't been
canceled.
You know what I mean? Becausethere's some people.

Oh, actually, I'm a name came to my head
immediately.

Rob Lee (01:27):
Off mic. But but even even this, like, in being very
limited in this sort ofpreamble, but being very limited
in who I wanted to interview, II was, like, questioned. I was,
like, would James even wannacome back on? Because that was
that was sort of the thinking.And, like, who could I get?
Because there were some no's,you know, as far as people that

(01:48):
I reached out to, and then therewere, like, some really, like,
strong yeses. And then folks whoare like, hey, man. I know I
haven't been on before, but ifyou can move away from what your
goal is of running it back withfolks and just have me on
because I need to promotesomething. I was like, I don't
really know if I wanna do that.I'm gonna stick with sort of
this plan because it's achallenge, you know?
And, you know, so before we goany deeper, I wanna go into sort

(02:13):
of this question for the legendthat is you, or this request.

Okay.

Rob Lee (02:18):
For the listeners who might not know who you are, and
I don't know what is going on ifthey don't

Where have you been?

Rob Lee (02:24):
Could you introduce yourself and tell us what you
got going on these days?

My name is James Nasty. I've been DJing in
Baltimore primarily and beyondfor fifteen years now. Also a
music producer mostly known formaking Baltimore club music,
but, again, no genres no genresoff the table when it comes to

(02:51):
just making music that feelsright. Currently, I have a
residency at the Royal Blue,which is the first Saturday of
every month. I also, put on anevent called Estatic Dance
Baltimore that is, like, asubstance free, all bodies
welcome, sort of, like,therapeutic wellness sort of

(03:14):
dance situation.
Sure. I describe it to somepeople. Like, if you just kinda,
like, have a dance party byyourself in your house, in your
pajamas, in your underwear, inyour whatever, and you've ever
wanted to do that in a group ofother people where, like, no
one's gonna talk to you and allthat, you just wanna, like,

(03:34):
dance out some stress aroundother people that are looking to
do the same, that's what thisevent is.

Rob Lee (03:39):
Nice.

And that's the first Friday of every month from
seven to ten.

Rob Lee (03:44):
I I feel like there is a a song that comes to mind
where you talk about, like, sortof dancing something out. You
know? Dancing one's pain away. II immediately.

Yeah. Yeah.

Rob Lee (03:57):
So so fifteen plus years. Because, you know, we
always have to add the plus atat a certain point. Like, you
know, I'm almost 16 plus rightnow in in this sort of space.
And, you know, always lookingfor for inspiration as I touched
on a little bit, you know, beingable to go back to folks and
seeing, like, what's new in youryour world over the last five to

(04:22):
six years at at this point.That's the thing that's very
interesting to me because it's achallenge and because, you know,
it's a challenge in a couple ofways.
It's a challenge in reallytrimming it down and, like,
making sure you're not askingthe same question, but also, a
challenge in, like, you know,was the first one even good? You
know, like, doing doing that alittle bit as well with some of
the guests. And, in limiting thenumber, like, having parameters

(04:46):
as a person that's anindependent, I just kinda do my
thing. But now it's just, youknow, you gotta work within
these parameters that you'resetting yourself. So checking in
with yourself and keepinginspired in that, that challenge
has me inspired.
So for you, it kinda is a asecond part to that initial
request. What's inspiring youcurrently?

Before I answer that, I just wanna say that
first episode was legendary inmy mind. I don't care what
anyone else says. I'm glad thatyou're still doing this.

Rob Lee (05:17):
Thank you. What

was the question was what still inspires me?

Rob Lee (05:22):
Yeah. What's inspiring you currently?

I still I mean, I'm gonna forever be just a fan
of music in the way it moves allof us.

Rob Lee (05:34):
So the so the music and sort of

it's And in the nursing home, I'm gonna have,
like, I made this playlist onSpotify or whatever the, like,
2075 version of Spotify is. YouYou know, I'll be in the nursing
home, like, making Spotifyplaylists for all the old ladies
in the nursing home. You know?

Rob Lee (05:53):
I can't help but see, like, the turntable somehow
attached to the walker. I Idon't know why.

Oh my god. Yes.

Rob Lee (06:02):
I mean, I I'm just gonna have, like, you know,
maybe one of those, what is it,the larynx machine, like, the
the voice thing. Like, you know,welcome to the podcast. It's
like, this is where we're at,guys. This is this is where
we're at. We're still doing itand being inspired.

Maybe by then, we'll all be telepathic and
we'll even need to use vocalcords.

Rob Lee (06:22):
This is true. This is a good point.

Yeah. Yeah. So that's always gonna be part of
who I am. A few things havechanged in my life since the
first episode. One is I foundsobriety about sixteen months
ago, which,

Rob Lee (06:41):
Congratulations.

Needed needed to happen. You know? The lifestyle
of being, you know, professionalentertainment can I mean, we've
seen people on, like, muchhigher levels of this industry
just get completely taken awayin in all that? And I just hit a
point, like, a year and somechange ago, I was like, I can't

(07:05):
keep doing this. I left town andran away to Asheville for a year
to try to find a betterrelationship with the substances
around me, and instead went inthe opposite direction.
Came back here after that year,and in my first two weeks back,
I was like, I left town. I did alot of growing, and I'm back

(07:28):
here. And I'm just really notgonna let myself go back to the
person I was and the lifestyle Iwas living before. This, like,
ecstatic dance event has helpedme find a great outlet Yeah. To
share music with people in a waythat doesn't involve me being
around alcohol and for peoplewho don't.

(07:50):
I have a lot of other friendswho have found sobriety that are
like, I wish there were soplaces for us to go out and
dance. I'm like, I got somethingfor you, actually. And also,
once I removed all the substanceabuse from the DJing, from the
gig life, like, I found arenewed love for music. Okay?

(08:10):
Went back to, like, I do thisbecause I love music.
That's something I lost yearsago when I started doing my
first few gigs at, like, Sonarwith Steve's promo or, you know,
the first few nights I played atAutobar before that became a
whole thing. Yeah. Like at somepoint, it became not just about,

(08:32):
hey, I do this because I likeplaying music. It was also like,
man, all this stuff is free. Iget all this attention.
There's just so many otherthings involved that at some
point took priority over. Like,I'm doing this because I
genuinely love music and believeI was put here to, like, be a
channel, be a vessel for musicto get from some place to

(08:54):
people.

Rob Lee (08:56):
No. That wow. Thank you thank you for for for sharing
that. And I think when it comesto to growth, and it's it's not
not the same, what I'll sharehere that, you know, in the last
year, I've last year plus, I'velost about a hundred pounds

(09:17):
just, you know, doing justdifferent more so just being
aware of food in in a differentway. Not having yo.
I can't turn it off. It it wasnever that as much as, yeah. I'm
just gonna kinda eat this andjust not really doing the
mindful thing. And it helped,you know, especially early on.
You know, the clarity was there.

(09:37):
The mindset was different andhaving sort of I've always I've
always been a very, you know,focused individual. I get a lot
done, but I see the differencenow than what I was doing then.
I was just getting throughstuff, just kinda having poor
eating habits because this andother things were taking
priority, but now I sort ofprioritize my time a bit better.

(10:00):
I've seen that shift, and that'snow implemented into how I go
about doing this or my day jobor just just life in general. So
that degree of clarity, but alsohaving a regular thing that I am
doing every day that is for me,and that's that, you know, that
morning walk, getting outhitting that three and a half,

(10:20):
four mile walk, and then hittingthe gym, it is a different vibe.
It's a different energy. Kind ofnot the it's not the same as,
you know, finding sobriety, butit is a a thing that I relate in
that it's a degree of clarity,and it helps you at least it
helped me kinda realize certainthings about myself and certain

(10:41):
patterns I was, you know, goinginto. And, you know, I also in
that time, I was very, early on,especially, very much no
carbohydrates, 1,200 calories,just bugging out.

Yeah.

Rob Lee (10:55):
Yo. I'm six four. You you need to figure this out.
Right. Then learning and growingand learning and growing and
building off of it.
And the the other thing I wouldsay in that regard as well is
not knowing where I fit. Ididn't know how people received
me. Right? And when you kindalook different, you know, there

(11:17):
have been some folks who pop offand they're not like folks like
you and I, but that was, youknow, and Rob, you've lost some
weight or just commenting on mybody just randomly and like sort
of art folk and so on. And I'mlike, this is a very interesting
time for me.
So add it to that clarity andthat awareness, I suppose.

Yeah. I experienced a little bit of that
too. Like, as soon as you stopdrinking half a bottle of
tequila a day, random, roughly,like, your eating habits change.
Like, I'm in the house way more,so I'm not just having, like,
dinner at the bar on a Tuesdayjust because I'm already there.
And just, like, you know, thecaloric intake goes down when

(11:57):
you're not drinking half a like,I lost some weight.
Yeah. And I can I know it shootslike that feeling, like people
commenting on your body likethat? And it's like, I don't
this is weird. Like, I thinkthis is just a compliment, and
this is coming from the rightplace, but, like, also, like,
ugh. Like Like what?

(12:17):
What? You feel real comfortable.You know?

Rob Lee (12:20):
Yeah. Because I'll I'll even say, like, just out of
because I, you know, I I'm verymuch, like, I do things in my in
my own way, and and I'm gonnamove into this this next
question in a moment. But kindof do things in my own way and
just certain things justnaturally fall off. Like I
showed this, like, I love CheezIts, right? I mean, it's been
like in two years.
I was like, I don't even look atthem or even early on because I

(12:44):
was not really touching carbs. Iwasn't even drinking. And I
don't, you know, like, drink toexcess or anything along those
lines. But, you know, it's justlike, oh, I can, you know, have
this and and kinda keep itrolling and just really looking
at and kinda litigating sort ofmy relationship with any of the
things that I incorporate intomy life. And I need to fix the

(13:06):
energies and all of thatdifferent stuff.
Yeah. Absolutely. So Growth.

Look at us. We're both growing and

Rob Lee (13:15):
Yes. Yeah. I just wish this part grew a little bit
more. Because it's not there. II want you to barbershop earlier
because I was like, look.
I'm talking to James. I can't,you know, go in here with, like,
stubble. Just got the DMX head.It just wasn't working. And DMX
head might have to coin that.
Yeah. So specifically to, like,your your work and how you go

(13:40):
about your work. You you'vetouched on professionalism even
in the the the first podcast andin this one, so maybe that's in
the lane. But what would you sayone of the biggest lessons is
you've learned related to yourcraft in the last five years
from from the conversation wehad previously to now? You know,
sort of maybe what creativeapproaches have you moved away
from, and what ones are you, youknow, kinda exploring right now?

When I started DJing the ecstatic dances, it's,
like, kind of like a ninetyminute two hour set. And it
starts from usually, like, apeople that are, like, seated on
the floor and you've gotta kindof build you're, like, building
energy to, like, this, like,this, like, feverish pace

Rob Lee (14:24):
Yeah.

In in ninety minutes. And it was just, like,
a different format than, like,you play at a club and you're
the guest DJ, and you just stepup and you play for an hour and
ninety minutes. And it's usuallylike peak hour or whatever, and
you just get on and you do you.You play the records, people
know you for playing, you playall their high energy music,
boom, that's it. Or a place likeRoyal Blue where it's like start

(14:48):
to close, you're playing a fourhour set, And it's like a
different form of, like, coaxingpeople to the dance floor.
And, I think I've taken allthree of the different sort of,
like, the three different sortof I don't know what the right
word for this is. Three distinctdifferent types of sets and just

(15:11):
being able to take pieces ofeach one to sort of craft even
more unique experiences. Yeah.Just like having an
understanding of, like, agreater mastery of moving people
with music, I think is theoverall and just like how and
when to use music that isfamiliar to people versus when
you're introducing new music topeople versus when you might be

(15:34):
playing something that iscompletely instrumental that has
like no no real hook to itthat's just just there and just
like pure energy. And as far asmusic production, there's just
always changing technology, newplugins, new little techniques
to do stuff.

(15:55):
And that's just, like, sometimesthat feels impossible to keep up
with. At this point, like, I getmy ideas down on tape. If I'm
collaborating with people, I gettheir ideas, and I'm just
shipping it off to someone elseto do the mixing and the
mastering and the technicalpart. And I'm just like, that
doesn't sound good. Can you tryit again?
Like, oh, that sounds great. Howmuch do you need me to send you?

(16:16):
Like, you know, that's theluxury of, I guess, like, being
deeper in this and having betterconnections to people and also,
like, having more more moneyavailable to outsource those
things. A lot of that is the,like, money that I'm not
spending on tequila and wings.

Rob Lee (16:33):
Right. Right. No. That that that makes that makes a lot
of sense. Yeah.
When you when you get into, youknow, doing doing this, like and
I talk about the volume and allof that stuff that I do, and
I've been doing it for as longas I have, how do you do it?
There's no way you could do it.You're just one person, and you
have a job. It's like well, thejob funds a lot of this for one.
Two, I have an editor.

(16:55):
I haven't produced. I'm like,Yo, can you take care of that?
And here's some notes. But I goin there with sort of this
perspective of I know what Iwant to know what I need that
we're able to work on the fly.And that's kind of what you're
what you're touching on there.
It's like,

Yeah, Yeah.

Rob Lee (17:08):
Listen to this. It's not quite where I want it to be.
Can you look at this specific,track and this specific, like,
like, level right here, maybetweak that enough, and it makes
it easy, you know, for the Yeah.To interpret what needs to be
done and to get that back toyou. And, technically, you're
involved, you know, because it'scoming from you, but it's like,
you guys are doing a mixingmastery.

(17:30):
All of this is up here, and I'mbuilding it out.

Yeah. I think that is but that should be the
natural progression in thisindustry. Like, when you look at
the big artists, like, they haveyou know, everyone has a team,
and they have a bunch ofdifferent people who have
specific roles so that theartist can focus on being the

(17:54):
artist first and foremost. Andeven though I haven't reached
that level, like, I have reacheda place where I do have enough
income to outsource certainthings to people.

Rob Lee (18:06):
Yeah. Instead

of instead of fully relying on it all myself.
Like, oh, okay. Well, I have Ihave the ability to do it all so
I can save money by just doinglike, I don't need to save the
money now. Like, just spend themoney. It'll come back.
If it doesn't come back, like,you're onto the next project,
and you just gotta keep going.You know?

Rob Lee (18:25):
And and again, I think it's the agile thing where, you
know, I look at, like my my jobis in, data. Right? I'm an IT
person. So, obviously, chat GPT,AI, you know, all of that stuff
has been a a piece of it. And,you know, being dipped into and
experiencing it and and thinkingof how to use it as a tool
versus how to just make my lifeeasier by having to do all of

(18:49):
the work.
And that's what I look for inhow I structure some of those
relationships is, like, I needto be involved as the person
doing the interview. I can'thave someone else do this. Like,
welcome to the truth and thedesire, and it's someone else
talking to you. It just doesn'twork. But or or even when it's,
you know, the questions and theinsights and what's being driven

(19:09):
at, it's just like you can'tautomate that or have someone
else doing it.
So from from my lens, the sortof I'm the creator in that
regard to I have to be involved.But as far as some of the
packaging of things, someoneelse can can do that because it
frees me up to go out there andmaybe do some of those gigs. It
frees me up to build out sort ofthose next level of questions.

(19:31):
And as you you touched on, moveto the next project because
Yeah. We're sharks, baby.
We're sharks. We gotta alwaysmove.

Yeah. We

Rob Lee (19:39):
I just described this as a shark. We're sharks that
are growing, James.

We're growing sharks. Yeah.

Rob Lee (19:45):
But I wanna go back a little bit. You you touched on,
you know, sort of, like,residencies and and recurring
gigs. Mhmm. What what'ssomething that you you look for
in a gig and on an opportunitythese days? You know, let's talk
about the red flags.
Let's talk about the greenflags, because I I get offers

(20:06):
all the time to do differentthings, and I'm like, I have
some considerations. I need mygreen M and M's, damn it. So
what are your your your greenflags and red flags? What do you
look for?

I think overall, my approach has always been and
what I've ever what I've alwaystried to share with, like, the
next generation of DJs orwhatever is just like you have
to have the balance. Like, ifyou wanna do this full time,
there has to be a balance of,like, gigs that make you money

(20:40):
and gigs that are artisticallyfulfilling. When you find
yourself going too far in onedirection or the other, like,
that's when everything starts tounravel for you. I guess we'll
start with the the money gigsand then move more to the
artistic fulfilling. We'll savethe better for last.

(21:02):
This whole time, through throughmy DJ journey, I've always DJ'd
weddings. I've never reallyadvertised myself as a wedding
DJ, like, on, like, theWeddingWire or any of those
websites. A lot of it has justbeen referrals from people or I
get emails a few times a yearfrom people like, oh, you're my
favorite DJ to to go see atRoyal Blue. Like, I don't know

(21:25):
if you're, like, too cool to DJa wedding or whatever, but we're
looking for a wedding DJ. AndI've never been too cool to DJ a
wedding because I'm still just alover of sharing music with
people.
And that's just a differentvenue in a different moment that
calls for a different type ofmusic and, like, a different a

(21:45):
different experience. Weddingsalso pay very well. Maybe I
shouldn't tell everyone that,but I'm trying to keep that
balance, you know? But, yeah,it's can't be too cool to DJ a
wedding until you're like Idon't know. Who's a big name DJ?

(22:07):
I don't wanna drop any big nameDJ names right now, but, you
know, unless you're one of themwhere you got a booking agent
that's getting you 4 to 5figures a night, like, you can't
be too cool to DJ a weddingevery now and then. Right. You
know, you get a deposit when thecontract is signed. So you get
half the money, like, upfrontmonths before you even gotta

(22:29):
play. And then even the nightyou play, you're probably gonna
walk out of there with enoughmoney to pay your rent for two
months.
Like, yeah. Four weddings a yearand pretty much my bills are
set. Like, the basic level, youknow, maybe that's oversharing
what my expenses look like rightnow. Well, no. Who cares?

Rob Lee (22:50):
That's the insight that we we we look for and Yeah. You
know, so do these conversationsbecause, you know, in in in give
me a moment, but I I think of,you know, that was a gig I did
at the end of, last year. And Idon't even do gigs. You know
what I mean? Like, oh, here's anopportunity.
And it was kinda like, whatwould you like for it? And I

(23:11):
always run into this thing ofsetting sort of parameter of
what it is as I would imagine alot of, like, artists roll fall
into because, you know, there'sit's it's not it's the wild,
wild west when it comes to,like, hey. I'm a podcast. This
is what it's worth. It's like, Iam not gonna send you anything.
I've got nothing for you. Ican't say it's gonna be this

(23:32):
influential. It's gonna get thismany downloads. I'm like, I can
make you an interview. I can doa podcast.
Mhmm. And what you choose to dowith it is what you choose to do
with it. But with it, I got a,you know, pretty much the
largest piece of money that I'vegotten for doing podcasting from
that gig, and it was, you know,a few hours on a weekend back in

(23:58):
August. And, you know, it was itwas cool. It was good.
And I was able to, you know,one, have that challenge. And as
you you were touching on sort ofthe the gigs that pay, but also
the the gigs that are creativelyfulfilling. Right?

Yeah. I was

Rob Lee (24:13):
able to maybe blend the two. I was like, this is gonna
be challenging. This is anon-site thing, and this is a
gig. So it's like, how much ofme am I really gonna put into
it? It's their parameters, but Ican make it work.
And so it was little littlegreen flags, little red flags,
but ultimately, it was a thingthat worked for me, and it was a
it was a good situation.

Yeah. In the middle ground would be somewhere
that's like a royal blue type,like a residency, a regularly
occurring thing. Somewhere whereI got I'm not just playing,
like, the music I produce, notjust like some club James Nasty
shit. It's just like, I mighthave to play some sexy red. I

(24:53):
might have to play some BrunoMars.
You know? At this point, when Itake on a residency like that,
I'm looking for a place that ispaying guaranteed money. I know
I know my worth. I know thatpeople are gonna come to see me
play, and I'm not gonna work forjust 10% of the bar because

(25:14):
that's what most last time Ichecked, because I haven't
really had talked to a lot ofvenues in town. Right.
But, like, the last time I wasreally looking around, most
places are just paying 10% ofthe bar still, and you're just
basically a glorified liquorrep. Now, we'll come back to
that. Yeah. So it's like that'sa red flag for me. I don't want
to be working for a percentageof the bar at this point.

(25:39):
No. I walk into a venue and I'mlike, you're paying me x amount
of dollars to entertain thepeople that are in the building.

Rob Lee (25:48):
Yeah.

First and foremost. You're paying me to
entertain the people in thebuilding because I'm gonna keep
them here the whole night.They're not gonna be like, oh,
this DJ is trash. Let's goaround the corner to the crown
or whatever. Yeah.
You're paying me to be here anddo that. And also, there's a
thing and again, I might begiving away too much, but who

(26:11):
cares? What I learned from somany years of DJing for bar
percentages is this thing that'scalled, like, flipping the room.
Are you familiar?

Rob Lee (26:21):
No. No. Please.

Alright. So flipping the room, you're there,
and you're DJing. And there's abar, and you've got a room full
of people. To maximize barsales, every twenty minutes or
so, you might need to go in ahard different direction
musically.

Rob Lee (26:37):
Oh.

So the people that are vibing to the music
right now, they kinda stop andthink, like, the vibe change.
Oh, let's just go to the bar andget a drink. And then you're
kind of looking at the peoplethat have been standing at the
bar, and you're like, well, letme reel them into the dance
floor. Like, on a good night, Ican divide a room into three
distinct different groups ofpeople by race, by gender, by

(27:03):
whatever. I can just divide theroom into three.
In an hour, I can kind of, like,pull a group of people in and
send a group to the bar everytwenty to thirty minutes.

Rob Lee (27:12):
Moving people with music. That was the thing you
said.

Yeah. And that's, you know, that's, like,
professional top tier shit. Ilearned about that also from
just, like, listening to thepodcast from, like, the bigger
dudes that are, like, doing thisshit in Vegas and places like
that, the Vegas and Miami bigroom type shit. But, yeah,
that's when I go to a venue.Like, this is what you're doing.
You're paying me because I'm aprofessional at getting people

(27:39):
in the place, keeping them heretill the lights come on, and
maximizing bar sales withoutbeing invested in taking a
percentage of those bar salesfrom you.

Rob Lee (27:50):
Yeah.

So that's the middle ground in a place like
Royal Blue or whatever. I guessthe red flags from them from
it's not from Royal Blue becausethat's, like, the great it's a
great setup. I love them. But inthat, like, four hour club
residency, a red flag, the firstone that sticks out is an owner

(28:15):
or a manager that's trying tomicromanage what you're playing.
They're just, like, kind of inyour ear, like, hey, you're
playing too much rap.
We get that a lot, you know,especially like Fayette Hill,
Fells Point, you know, theplaces where they still don't
really want us at. No. You'llget that, like, oh, you're
playing too much hip hop. Andthat's fucked up because it's

(28:36):
only that only happens to youwhen your skin is brown. Because
I've gone to some of these barsand see white boys and they're
playing Waka Flocka Flame at10:30, and nobody's telling them
to switch it up.
Right. So that's a red flag, youknow, when someone's trying to
micromanage your selection inthe genre you're in a play.
Venues that just have areputation for being funny with

(28:57):
the money, obviously, is a redflag. Venues with heavy handed
security Yeah. Is also a redflag.
You know? If I'm playingsomewhere and, like, you know,
if there's not already a strongreputation of that place having
heavy hand heavy handedsecurity, If I see some shit
that looks off with thesecurity, I'm like, you know
what? I might need to startplanning my way out here and

(29:19):
finding somewhere else to go gowork with. Yeah, there's just a
right or wrong way for a venueto treat their patrons. And I've
been far too many situationswhere I've seen patrons being on
excessively treated poorly forthe fact that these are the
people that are keeping yourdoors open.

Rob Lee (29:36):
100%. And, you know, I think, you know, as you you were
touching on or I'll I'll I'llsort of add to, I suppose. If
folks are coming there based onyour rep, your name, your music,
your ability to move people withmusic, then, you know, you to to
the degree in which you can, youdon't wanna have them folks

(29:59):
coming in to check you outultimately to encounter that,
you know, people being treatedexcessively, people being
treated like poorly because it'sjust like this is a bad
situation. This is a badcircumstance. I I remember it
was, years ago when I was doinga different podcast, right
before I actually started thisone.
There was a, it was an oldtheater. I was doing a live

(30:22):
podcast and and it was in a verythe the lighting was
questionable, this part ofDowntown Baltimore. It was like
Lexington. And it was, like,super dark. Everything was,
like, kinda closed, but we wereopen.
So folks are pulling up. Theysaid, yo, is this a real place?
And I was like, I'm just gonnahang outside just as a, you

(30:43):
know, forbid as people areshowing up as a sign of, like,
look. It's fine here. It's safehere.
We're all good. Because I thinkthat, you know, I take on a lot
of sort of responsibility andand not burden, but I would just
say responsibility when someoneis going to a thing that I'm
involved in. I want folks tohave a good time to the degree
in which I can control that. AndI'd imagine it's a similar thing

(31:05):
when you're like, I can controlthis thing. And if this place is
weird or if this place, youknow, as far as to protect you
know, you wanna cover yourselfprofessionally, but Yeah.
You wanna cover the reputationof what your brand is, is James
Nasty, of the venues that youwork with.

Yes. It's absolutely. It's a % of
responsibility. Like, if it wasjust on a personal level and you
invited a friend to a place,you'd want them you'd be
inviting them to somewhere safe.Like, so you just because
they're strangers, like, doesn'tmean you get to ignore the fact
that you have a responsibilityto make sure that people are

(31:40):
safe while they're, you know,within your control.
Like, you're not gonna havecomplete control over
everything, but you wanna invitepeople into a space where
there's the least amount of riskof something harmful happening.

Rob Lee (31:52):
Yeah.

And, yeah. That hasn't always been something
that I did. You know? I lookback. It's been, like, ten years
now.
But, like, I look back at thatexperience with the Autobar and
their security and everythingthat played out there, And I
sometimes wish that I'd walkedaway a lot sooner instead of

(32:14):
being, like, stubborn ass Jameswho was like, I can get them to
change. I'm gonna change thesystem from within the system.
They fuck their system. Fuckthem. You know?

Rob Lee (32:27):
Yeah. It's it's

And I'm grateful that there wasn't, like, more
real harm caused. Yeah. But it'sjust it was just some awful just
there weren't enough venues thatwere open to having folks like
us in this part of the city. Soit was like we were just
fighting to, like, still havethe space for that, but it
should've just been like, youknow what? We'll just go find

(32:49):
somewhere else.

Rob Lee (32:51):
Yeah. I I I had this

And it was a blessing that the crown came
along right around the same timeto be a better option for the
people. But

Rob Lee (33:00):
100%. And Yeah. I have this this sort of belief, like,
you know, we have differentplaces that they and and we're
seeing at a very high levelright now. And sort of the
discourse around things, just inthe news, just there's always
some story. And it's sort of thefolks that are in power, right,

(33:20):
have belief that they controlsort of the wave.
And that's Yeah.

Kind

Rob Lee (33:24):
of not not the case. It's just like if folks were not
doing the sort of individualthing and doing a more community
centered thing, even to a higherdegree than just so you can't do
it 100%, but he is, you know, alittle bit more of an effort to
do more of, like, if we say,look, we're just gonna take 20%
of who's gonna go to this venueor who's gonna buy from this

(33:46):
place. You know, they have thosegoofy, we're gonna do a
blackout. We're not gonna buyfrom this place during this
time. It has to be, you know,sacrifices are made and so on,
but it has to be a concerted andongoing effort to actually show,
like, there's some impact.
And I think a lot of times, wedon't stick to things long
enough to actually demonstrateand and show setting that you

(34:07):
actually affect change. Before Imove into this next question,
I'll share, you know, a a red ared flag, actually, that, you
know, it was a venue locally. Iwas doing a I try to do things
from a cultural lens. It's notpurely just a podcast. I'll do
movie nights and so on.

(34:27):
And I think, like, I'm a movieguy. I enjoy a good movie, and I
enjoy talking about movies. AndI like to use, you know, my
connections and my friends andhaving those folks come on
because I know a lot of peoplewho have a lot of different
interests and a lot ofbackgrounds that are pretty
diverse. And, you know, I I didthis series of, you know, sort
of black movies at, at a venue.And and it was it was cool on

(34:52):
the onset.
And then, you know, you havepeople you touch on a
micromanager thing. You havepeople who insert themselves in
the thing. And I'm like, I don'trecall talking to you about any
of this. And it was just like alot of, well, we just want to
make sure that we're getting thebang for our buck here. I was

like, you are a library. Okay.

Rob Lee (35:12):
You're a library. Like, you know, you need people to to
pull up and, you know, so getdown to doing we're going to do
four different movie nights, andthey were going to be monthly.
And I realized they weren'tpromoting it. And this is going
to sound wild, but I don't talkto workers. I usually I have a
connection with, like, the bossof the boss, you know.

(35:33):
So let me just run this overthere to the to the boss, to the
CEO of the whole situation.Yeah. Just let me just how you
guys normally treat dot dot dot.And just here's the emails of
kind of what I'm hearing. So Isend this after, because I
wasn't going to do it at first.
I send this after, you know, thethe the flags are moving from a

(35:54):
pink to maybe a little, and thenit just got real red. I was
like, oh, this ain't gonna work.I decided to cancel my fourth of
the my my fourth of the fourmovie nights. I did three, and
then we had those weird, firesfrom Canada, and the air quality
was really bad here that reallyset the stage for you.

Oh, yeah.

Rob Lee (36:16):
And I had, I had some breathing challenges. And I was
just like, yeah. I don't thinkthis is gonna work. So, you
know, I was just like, I'm happyto postpone it if we can figure
out another date. Blase blah.
Trying to be gracious. Givinglike three, four days notice.
Right? And I get like a nastygram back from the person as if
I weren't for them. Oh, no, no,no, no.
You got this wrong. I was like,You must be mistaken. So send

(36:38):
this to the CEO, the wholerundown. And the CEO is like,
looks like this person may needto relearn their job. You're a
valued member of our community.
You're doing this for us. Andwe've dropped the ball because
we've not even promoted it,which is probably why not that
many people has come out. And Iwas like, oh. So, you know,
there's there's that. Now thisis the thing that's really funny

(36:59):
about it.
This past weekend, I go therewith a few few folks who are in
the, the comics realm andthey're therefore talk. And the
person who was talkingparticularly spicy to me
realized she'd never seen me inperson. She's like, oh, you're
Rob. And I was like, I am.You're the person that was real
spicy to me and reached out.

(37:19):
Yeah. We would love to work withyou again on some programming. I
was like, no.

That's a that's a strong no for me.

Rob Lee (37:28):
Avenue flight. Yo. It it it's it's that growth thing
again. I was like Yeah.Opportunities are sparse, but
this one doesn't fit.

Mhmm.

Rob Lee (37:37):
So moving into this this next question, and I saw a
post from you. This is actuallygenerated from a post that I I
saw maybe in one of your storiesor what have you. And, you know,
I I got from it that sometimes,DJing can feel like a job, and
other times, it doesn't feellike a job. So what makes it
feel that way, and how do youget the most out of an

(37:58):
experience that might feel moreworkish than, hey, man. I'm
creating and having a greattime?

It still kind of touches on that whole balance
of, like, I'm here because thispays well. It's not really you
know, the musical constraintsare already sort of set in
stone. Like, oh, we need you tojust play some background vibing
music for two hours, You know?Or a wedding where, like, you
know, you're pretty muchplaying, like, wedding

(38:26):
standards, wedding hits mixedwith, like, the custom requests
from the the newlyweds. Youknow, there's not a lot of
wiggle room to, like, go intoleft field.
You gotta kinda just, like,stick with what you know works,
and the only real creativity youhave is, like, how you're
weaving all those songstogether. And, yeah, that can

(38:48):
feel like work. And the exactopposite is where I get booked
and I'm just allowed to bemyself and sort of, like, play
what play what feels right forthe occasion. You know? Your set
is about, like, the space andthe people.

(39:08):
Like, some music doesn't soundright in a room for 500 people.
Some music doesn't sound rightin a space for 50. Yeah. Just
being able to use all of yourcreative muscles to take people
on a musical journey. Like, thatis when it never feels like
work.
And those are some of the times,like, I'm not really so
concerned with how much I getpaid. It's like, I just want to

(39:30):
do the thing.

Rob Lee (39:32):
Yeah.

Another part of it that it's more another part
of this is now that I don'tindulge in any substances. I
don't get to have that escapewhere, like, you get to the club
and you have your two to threeshots of tequila before you even
start DJing, and you get tokinda turn off all your problems

(39:56):
that were going on outside, andyou get to just party with
everyone. But there was a periodin my career where my mentality
was like, I don't care who showsup tonight. I'm gonna be the I'm
gonna party harder than anyoneelse in this building. And that
was sort of the energy that Igave.
And I think some of those nightswere so legendary because of the

(40:19):
example I was setting. Like, oh,we're just free to to really
take it to this level in here.Like, it's okay because he's
doing it. And he's comfortable,and he's having a good time, and
we all feel safe having a goodtime along with him.

Rob Lee (40:31):
Right.

And it's harder to get into that mode and, like,
be enjoying yourself and beingpartying being party mode
completely fucking sober.

Rob Lee (40:41):
Right.

You know? If you're in a shitty mood and you
show up to the bar or the club,you know, it takes a lot more
work to change your mood to getinto a space where you're ready
to perform for others and helppeople celebrate life and dance
their pain away or whateverwhatever the moment calls for.
You know? Yeah. So some of thesome of those nights, like,

(41:05):
yeah, it feels a little morelike work when you're like, I
don't really feel like being ina partying spirit right now, but
I know that that's what thepeople who came here need.
They need the release, and Ijust gotta find it. I just gotta
find it. And you're just like,it's an uphill battle, like, I'm
just not finding it. Like, whereyou find it for a little bit and

(41:25):
then someone walks in the roomthat normally if you were drunk,
you're like, whatever. I don'tcare you're here.
But instead, you're like stonefucking sober, stone cold sober,
and your ex walks in with hernew fiancee and they're just
dancing on the dance floor infront of you. And you're like,
bro, this is mad disrespectfulthat you would come to my place
of business and do this. And,like, I don't know how to, like,

(41:47):
be okay with this and, like,still keep a party going for
everyone, but you know what? Theshow must go on, I guess.

Rob Lee (41:55):
It's it's working so many, many different muscles to
just figure it out. As you said,the show grow goes on and old
saying one monkey don't stop inour show. Yeah. You know, I
remember, you know, early on,talking about sort of growth and
all. Remember early on, I wouldgo into these conversations

(42:18):
kinda, like, nervous and, like,hey.
You know, like, yo, yo, am Igonna say something that's wild?
I'm gonna say something that'sstupid, or is it just I'm just
gonna, like, literally just farton the microphone? Just
literally it's just my mouthjust and I think, you know, as
time goes on and kind of havingthat that dump, that that
feeling, taking in all of thestuff that goes in before the

(42:39):
conversation of had a bad day atwork or there was something
goofy that happened at home.Like, oh, I got a leak. That's
weird.
Or whatever the thing might be.And having all of that going in
and then trying to have aconversation and then thinking
about it, I'm like, well, if Ihad this, there's a possibility
that the guest did as well. Sotrying to empathize a bit more.

(42:59):
Yeah. So, you know, as you couldprobably, you know, notice in
the beginning before I put onthe recording, you know, I'm
giving you all of the prep, butwe're just kinda, you know,
shooting a breeze a bit.
Yeah. And I find, like, folksneed that a bit because there
were a few live interviews at,at Big when I was doing it where
where we did ours. And I had acouple of guests come in. They

(43:21):
they, you know, have the anxietything, and I I do as well, but
have anxiety. And they came inand definitely pulled out a
bottle.
And I was like, no. I'm I'mgood. You whatever you need to
do, but I'm good. And, you know,I learned that early on. It's
just like I had a when the oldwind up space existed, I was
doing a live pod like, a podcastfestival, and, you know, it's

(43:44):
the thing, the allure.
The bartender that was there waslike, oh, you're the talent. You
drink for free. I was like, oh,free?

Oh, free? Let me get

Rob Lee (43:51):
let me get that double. Let me get that double shot of
that whiskey. Great. I get onstage, forget all of my stuff,
and I'm the person that'srunning the show. I'm not, like,
the crew.
I got money. I'm like, neveragain. I can't have that just
from a professional standpoint.Yeah. And I felt embarrassed and
all of that stuff, and I wasable to right myself, but I was
like, I can't be in that spotbecause I was good at leading

(44:14):
into it.
Everything was prepared. All thenerves are kind of abated.

Yeah.

Rob Lee (44:18):
But, you know, having that, I was like, yo, this just
wiped my memory briefly. Whatare we doing?

I, I've got a story that kinda relates to
that. But first, hold on.There's two things I was gonna
say. Shit. Oh, I was gonna say,I definitely had a few drinks
before that podcast that daybecause I was like, man, I'm I'm
kinda insecure about my talkingvoice.
I don't know what to say. Like,am I gonna fuck this up? Like,

(44:45):
whatever. A couple of shots oftequila. I'm gonna get in the
zone.
When was the last time you wereinterviewed? Have you ever been
on the other end of the podcast?

Rob Lee (44:57):
Yes. I I've

You have?

Rob Lee (44:58):
Been interviewed. I had this running bit. Every January
20, I would always have a personinterview me for my birthday.

Bro, I wanna interview you next year.

Rob Lee (45:08):
Okay. You're you're the guy then. You're the guy.
Because last year, it was,wordsmith, and he and I have the
same birthday.

Okay. He said, I'm

Rob Lee (45:15):
interviewing you for our birthday. I was like, don't
say r. That's mine.

This is my moment.

Rob Lee (45:22):
But it's it's definitely an an interesting
sort of switch. I will say thatmuch. I'm like, oh, but, yeah,
you're you're you're the guy.

Perfect. Perfect. I gotta survive a whole
year now. Damn. I have a storyabout, oh, man.
There were a few times. I I wasa really big cannabis guy until
my my DJ journey started. Kindalike I was one of those people
where one day I just woke up,and whenever I smoked or

(45:53):
whatever, it's just my heart. Iwas like, man, am I having a
heart attack? Am I dying?
I would just get really anxious,and I was just like, I don't
enjoy this no more. But over thecourse of my career, like, I
dabbled. And there were twothere were two instances where
somebody gave me an edible rightbefore I went on stage.

Rob Lee (46:14):
Oh, no problem.

One night was at the auto bar, two for Tuesday,
you know, downstairs. I I don'tknow. You know, it's like 300
people in there, 400 people. AndI'm on stage, and I think they
told me to only eat, like, halfof it. And I was like, whatever,
man.
It's just I I wasn't reallythinking, and I ate the whole
thing. And it just hits me justlike, wow. It hits me. And I'm

(46:38):
standing on stage, and I'mlooking out and it's a type of
stage fright that I had neverexperienced in my whole life.
I'm like, what am I doing uphere?
All these people are here and II have to be I'm in charge of
all, like, what the fuck? And Istarted, like, hyperventilating
a little bit and just freakingout. And, like, the music is

(46:58):
playing, and I'm, like, so deepin my head right now. I have
completely left the room. I'mjust in my brain, and the song
is running out.
And I'm watching the songrunning out on the screen. I'm
like, what do I even play nextright now? Shit. The song runs
out and there's a brief pause,and I gotta get to the next
song. And I'm right back in myhead, and I'm like and I'm like,

(47:20):
oh my god.
I've kinda forgot how to DJright now.

Rob Lee (47:23):
No. So

I'm like on my phone and I'm like scrolling
through my phone. I'm like, whatdo I do? I'm like, why do I have
my phone in my hand? And Ilooked out in the room and, DJ
Pancakes was there, and DJPancakes saved me in this
moment. Because I messaged them.
I was like, yo, can you come onstage for a second? And they

(47:44):
come up on stage, and I'm like,yo, I'm having a moment right
now. Like, I've literally forgothow to DJ. Can you just, like,
can you just do this for asecond? I'm gonna, like, go
outside and try to, like, getback into my body and
everything.
And they were like, yeah. I gotyou. And I ran outside, took a
few deep breaths, like, walkaround the block, and came back
inside and was, like, able to,like, finish the show. And a

(48:12):
similar thing happened at thecrown shortly thereafter
because, of course, like, thatJames, you couldn't tell him
nothing. He never learned hisnever learned his lesson.
And that time, like, it was onlyan hour long set. So the the
edible doesn't hit me untilafter I'm off the stage. And I
was, like, wandering around thecrown, and I run into an ex. And
this is maybe a month after wehad broken up. This was still,

(48:36):
like, the you threw me out.
We broke up, but maybe I stilllove you phase. And I I see her
in public, and I'm like, oh mygod. And the edible hits me, and
we're standing at the bar, andwe're talking. And again, like,
I've just, like, left. I've leftreality, and I'm in my head.
I'm like, man, I might floataway. Like, I feel like I'm

(48:56):
about to float away. So I was,like, literally holding on to,
like, gripping onto the bar,staying trying to, like, stay on
the ground on planet Earth. Andjust, like, shit got so weird.
And I think that was the lasttime I ever ate an edible.
I was like, no. Alright. Lessonlearned. Lesson learned.
Cannabis and me are just notgonna it's just not gonna work

(49:19):
out.

Rob Lee (49:20):
The the edibles the edibles is a thing. I I have
this video from years ago withan ex where it's just kinda like
her gone away party 04/20, and Iused to, like, make edibles,
what have you. Oh my god. I'm anidiot because I'm a fat man who
still likes to lick the bowl.And I did it the right way.

(49:40):
I did the whole method. Right?And I'm like Oh god. I am a
crazy person now. And I remembershe was like, yeah.
We should go get some food. AndI was like, sure. Let's go do
that. And we went over there toParkville while this just these
brownies are baking. So we got,like, forty minutes to get there
and get back from, you know, I'mover there near near Morgan at

(50:03):
the time.
And we we made it. It was fine.But I just remember going there
and speaking so quickly to theChick fil A person, you know,
making my order. I was like, yo.You talk fast, son.
I'm I'm just, like, a differentcreature. So we get back. She
went to KFC. So he went to twodesperate chicken places. And I

(50:24):
put the GoPro on, and we werejust making fun of each other's
eating habits while eatingthese.

She was like, are you gonna make

Rob Lee (50:34):
the funfetti cake as well with weed in it? I was
like, I am not. So, yeah, it itit was one of those things. I
was like, I am painfully highright now. I was like, I can't I
can't fade it.
I can't do this. Yeah. So, yeah,edibles was not for the long was
not for the long for me.

They're dangerous. They're so dangerous.

Rob Lee (50:56):
So I I got two I got two more real questions, and I
got a few rapid fire questions Iwanna rock with you.

Yeah. Yeah. Alright.

Rob Lee (51:02):
So this next one, in because he and I share a
birthday, I had to shout about,and the late David Lynch. He
said that everything that helearned, to paraphrase, he
learned because he decided totry something new. Do you have a
recent example that comes tomind that you've, like, learned
something new by just kind ofexperimenting, you know, in
music, taking risks or justtrying something different?

I mean, every night when you're DJing, you're
trying new new blends. You'rediscovering new, like, oh, these
two songs work together.

Rob Lee (51:34):
Yeah.

You know, new new little routines. Like, I
have I have quite a fewdifferent routines that I can
always pull out that I know,like, I know they can get a
reaction from people. But everytime you're like, oh, wait. This
goes with this. Like, whetherit's like some tone play or like
some some word play of, like,two different songs or I mean,

(51:56):
we're to the point now where Imean, I'm not sure how old you
are.
I'm I'm in my forties.

Rob Lee (52:03):
I turned 40, recently.

Hell, yeah. Welcome to the club. You made
it.

Rob Lee (52:07):
All I get is knee pain.

We we deserve a trophy. Like, if you're a black
man, you make it to 40, youshould get a trophy. Absolutely.
I swear to god, you know, like,you're playing life on hard mode
and you get to 40.

Rob Lee (52:18):
Right.

I what was that? Why did I say this? Oh, because
now we're getting to a pointwhere, like, the new R and B and
rap shit is sampling the shitthat we were listening to in
grade school or, like, early inhigh school. So now it's, like,
always just these routines of,like, do you play the new song
first and then the OG? Do youplay the OG first and then the

(52:41):
new one?
With all the technology thateveryone has axe to access to
access to now, There's all kindsof crazy remixes and edits where
you can like plan the originalinto a remix, or the original
into this remix, or an edit. Sothere's always this new ways of

(53:02):
turning a familiar hook, afamiliar something into a longer
piece of musical experiencewith, you know, a variety of old
and new original remixes.Something else I tried to see
what was something else. I thinkjust putting myself out there

(53:24):
and going off into this weirdworld of ecstatic dance Yeah.
Was also something new that I'vetried since we first spoke,
since we last spoke, that I justdiscovered, like, it just works.
It just works for me.

Rob Lee (53:41):
I love it.

The time the, like, the time frame of, like,
ninety minutes to two hours isthe perfect set time to, like,
start, build something, resolveit. The music I get to play in
those type of events is also,like, a type of music that I
really enjoy playing, that Idon't get to play at a place

(54:03):
like Royal Blue, or I don't getto play if someone books me to
play, like, the James Nassyproductions and music that fits
that. And you just get to playfor such an eclectic group of
people that are just there todance, and they're there to
dance feverishly. They don'tcare how they look doing it.

(54:25):
They don't care who else iswatching them.
They're not there to, like, meettheir future ex wife. They're
not there for anything. So I'mhere to just dance and just
express myself. I'm so gratefulthat I discovered, like, that
part, that that avenue toexpress myself as an artist.

Rob Lee (54:47):
That's, that's really that's really good.

Yeah. I you know, the story, you know, the
story has been, like, James andhis substance abuse problems.
Then also we talked about howencouraging other people to
drink is also a part of thecareer and, like, making money
to support myself. And anotherreason that ecstatic dance was,

(55:11):
like, such a great thing to tofind is because, you know, I
felt a lot of guilt for thosethose nights where it was just,
like, me and the microphone.It's like, don't forget, the
more you drink, the harder youparty.
Shout out to my bartenders. Takecare of my bartenders. And
that's not necessarily true thatthe more you drink, the harder
you party. It's just like one ofthose industry things that I

(55:33):
would see DJ saying that I alsoadapted, that I learned that
works really well, especially inthe realm of, like, yo, I need
y'all to spend a lot of money. Ineed y'all to get we need to
rank 3,000 at the bar tonightbecause rent's due in two weeks,
and I'm 300 short on rent.
So, you know, let let's all goget some shots at the bar type
shit. Yeah. And, you know, whenyou when you've been at this for

(55:57):
sixteen years, you see a lot ofpeople on both the performing
and artist side of things andalso the performer and also the
not performer, the attendee sideof things. You see a lot of
people get lost in substanceabuse and sometimes they don't
get a chance to bounce back fromit. You know what I mean?

Rob Lee (56:20):
Right.

And, it's been good to find a place to express
myself artistically where peoplewho don't want to be a part of
that can can be there. And justlike another way to share my
talents with people that'suplifting uplifting, you know?
Going to the club is not alwaysan uplifting experience, you

(56:44):
know? If you're a woman, yougotta worry about men grinding
up on you without using theirwords. You gotta worry about men
putting shit in your drinks andand all of that.
I've got stories. And also it'sjust like, you know, there's
certain venues in certain placesin the country where there's a

(57:04):
reputation where it's likepeople don't really dance.
Right. I play I played an eventone time where I swear to God
there were only women dancing,and it was just a string of men
standing at the bar justdrinking and staring at them.
And they get kind of all, like,were dressed they all came out
dressed really well.
And it was kinda like a weird,like, sneaker flex. Like, I
don't know if there had been,like, a sneaker event in town

(57:25):
before or something, but butit's just, like, my memory is
just, like, a row of dudes atthe bar that were kinda all
standing positioned in a waywhere, like, their left foot
was, like, all, like, was pokedout. So it was, like, a line of
dudes, like, all kind of flexingtheir sneakers at the bar,
staring at women dancing. I'mlike, y'all came out to do this
for real? And who knows?

(57:46):
Like, maybe when I'm 85 andmaking playlists in the nursing
home,

Rob Lee (57:51):
it'd be like,

this is the best type of DJing I have ever
discovered. You know? I'm justopen to open to new new avenues,
new venues to share music withpeople. That's good. Yeah.

Rob Lee (58:07):
So I got I got this one last last real question.

Okay.

Rob Lee (58:11):
And I'm curious about it, in that the sort of
Baltimore scene, the musicscene. Mhmm. How has it changed
over the last five years? Ormaybe even how would you look at
it from when you you got startedto where you're at now? Like,
what's the musical identity?
Like, what does that look likenow versus, you know, when you

(58:33):
got started, you know, sixteenplus years ago?

When I started, it was the peak of club music.
You know? Rest in peace to kSwift and the movement that k
Swift was the the queen of. Ithink as my my stock rose, it

(58:57):
was sort of in the aftermath ofthat where club music didn't
have a strong identity and havea strong leader to say. I think
there were a lot of venues wherepeople weren't playing club
music or just wasn't really alot of DJs just didn't embrace
the sound.
And, it's great to see thatthat's back, that there's a new

(59:21):
generation of DJs and producersthat are really championing the
sound. You know, there arenights when I'm playing at Royal
Blue and White Women will comeup to me, like, are you gonna
play some club music tonight?I'm like, yeah. Oh, we're back.
We're back, baby.
Or, like, I'll go out and seeguys. Like, shout out to, like,

(59:42):
Cade Young and Sdot and Tromat.And just, like, these younger
guys, like, they're playing thehouse music and club music in
the in not the Crown Dam andRoyal Blue from start to finish.
And, like, people are vibingwith it from start to finish.
And, like, that feels so goodto, like, see that happening

(01:00:02):
right now.
I think we lost a lot of formalvenues in the city, and there
was a resurgence of undergroundevents happening. That's also a
beautiful thing to see because,you know, I think that's an
important part of creating safespaces for for marginalized
people is you're not dealingwith establishments that are

(01:00:25):
usually owned by white men thatare concerned about protecting
their investment maximizingalcohol sales first more than
they are about creating safespaces for for other people to
be present. You know? Yeah. Aresurgence of underground
events, Club music DJs are backand are some of the most popular

(01:00:51):
DJs in the city right now.
That's really all I can speakto. I don't know too much else.
I haven't I haven't been goingout like I used to to really
know what else is going on.

Rob Lee (01:01:01):
No. But that's

DJ JAMES NASTY (01:01:01):
I left town for a year, like, when COVID, quote,
unquote, ended. So, like, youknow, I don't really have I
can't really speak to more thanthose two those two things.

Rob Lee (01:01:16):
No. But that's but that's good, though. I mean, I I
see it and I'm tangential. I I II can move around a little bit,
but it's a lot of arms and legshere, and I take up a lot of
areas. I'm just excuse with mymovement.
So I am I'm not out there toooften, but, you know, it's it's
good to hear that there is a, ahealthiness that's that's there.

(01:01:38):
And I you know, the undergroundpiece, the sort of being able to
have younger, you know, DJsplaying and acknowledging the
music and the sort of connectionhere because like with anything,
if it comes from maybemarginalized groups, somehow it
gets branded that, oh, weactually are the people that did

(01:01:59):
it, and it's no respect andconsideration for the folks that
actually were the groups and thefolks behind it. So I'm glad
that that's being carried on andthat sort of lineage is is next
stage.

Yeah. Yeah. I to go along with that, to say,
like, house music has alwaysbeen black people music. And
it's great to see, like, howmuch this younger generation is,
like, this is our music. We'reback, and we love this again.
And because then for a littlewhile, it felt like this city

(01:02:33):
and the city was just, like,people just wanted to hear rap.
They just wanted to hear hiphop. They're like but they
didn't wanna hear house musiclike that. There was this or
even club music. There was,like, this sort of stigma.
Like, oh, this is like EDM. Thisis like rave white boys with
glow sticks type music. Youknow? And, which is crazy

(01:02:55):
because, like, Deep Sugar is thelongest running event in this
town. And

Rob Lee (01:02:59):
Right.

You know? That's never that's never not been
there for the people. Yeah.Just, you know,

Rob Lee (01:03:08):
we're back. It's just

We're back, baby. We're back. We're making
we're making house music. We'remaking club music. People are
dancing to it.

Rob Lee (01:03:15):
It's almost in the best interest of the folks who see
the value and who want it, whowant to oh, that's Jersey Club.
That's such an interestingSpotify playlist or whatever the
thing is not to give it its dueto tell you that, oh, yeah. We
don't like that. That's weirdmusic. That's for this people.
That's not cool. Just play thisrap music. Just play something

(01:03:36):
that's not of the culture orwhat have you. Don't even
incorporate that. But to seethat we're kinda bucking against
it because when you see sort ofthese crossover songs that when
you know you know, you're like,no.
No. This is this is ours. Whyare you crossing something else?
Yeah. And it's it's there.
So, you know, to to sort ofsummarize and or just put a pin

(01:04:00):
on it, Just really happy thatthat that's happening and, you
know, sort of thatacknowledgment and just folks
occurring, the torch.

Yeah.

Rob Lee (01:04:20):
I want to move into the rapid fire portion. I got three
of them.

Okay.

Rob Lee (01:04:24):
And as I tell tell people all the time, don't
overthink these. It's like whatI said, what I said.

Okay. So like true false questions?

Rob Lee (01:04:31):
True false. They're kinda like what was the first
thing that comes to mind?

Okay. Okay.

Rob Lee (01:04:37):
What is one song that never gets old for you no matter
how many times you hear it?

Damn, man. You're gonna do this to me? You
know, I might as well just startwith it. It's Bruno Mars in Lady
Gaga, Die With a Smile. Eversince that song came out last
summer, like, that has had sucha stranglehold on my existence.

(01:05:05):
I learned how to play it on theguitar. I've looked at the music
theory just like I've pickedthat song apart in every way you
can as a musician and also just,like, gotten emotionally
attached to it and so do manydifferent ways. It's just, like,
still. If it comes on, like, I'mjust it just takes me there.
Wherever that's wherever thereis, it takes me there every

(01:05:27):
time.

Rob Lee (01:05:28):
It's good too.

Yeah. It's good too. Yeah.

Rob Lee (01:05:32):
So this one is and I'm curious because I do this
myself. Do you have a preferredflavor of seltzer water? Because
I feel like I drink much moreseltzer water now that I look at
calories differently, and you'reyou're not dealing with the the
the the booze or what have you.You're you know? So water

(01:05:52):
doesn't water water is not sexyby itself.
It needs to be elevated. Itneeds to have a nice to it. Is
there a salsa flavor that youprefer?

I'm gonna go with some sort of citrus flavor.
Maybe like a grapefruit or alime or a lemon.

Rob Lee (01:06:05):
Okay.

Not not an orange. You know? It's like a
lot of times, like, theartificial orange flavor. It's
like if I want that, I might aswell just drink an orange soda.
You know?

Rob Lee (01:06:14):
Exactly.

I want a I want, like, a little grapefruit
essence, a little lime essencein it.

Rob Lee (01:06:20):
I like the I'm allergic to cherries. Right? So I can't
have the real thing, which is areally weird thing to be
allergic to. Right? That andpassion fruit.
Those are the two things. It'slike, you wanna take our rod?
Here you go.

Passion fruit. Cherry fruit. Cherry passion
fruit. Okay. Got you.

Rob Lee (01:06:36):
So whenever there's and I've if there's been a few times
at the the job recently thatthey've had, like, the black
cherry lime, like, Waterloojoint, delicious. No notes.

I can get down with that. Some black cherry
lime.

Rob Lee (01:06:53):
Yeah. So so here here's the last one. Here's the last
one. Okay. And conversely, youknow, sort of the the the one
track that, you know, never getsold, what's the one that's a
really popular track?
You're like, I will not playthis. I I can't. I just I I have
just I just won't.

No. I don't know if there's anything currently
that I feel strongly against. Iwas very I still am. I'm very
anti ACOM.

Rob Lee (01:07:24):
Really?

I have I have always found Akon's voice very
abrasive. I know. And I startedDJing, like, in, like, the mid
to late two thousands when,like, Akon had that string of
hit records.

Rob Lee (01:07:39):
He did.

And I remember, like, my first my first, like,
open format gigs were at thisbar in Fells Pointe, card
cheerleaders, where the Rockwellcurrently stands. And that was
when like Akon was so big andlike, just like people asking me
to play these records. Like, Ifucking hate having to do this.
Like, how do I get away withoutplaying Akon tonight? Like, I

(01:08:01):
hope I hope he was writing allthose records because I can look
at them and be like they werewell written, but, like, I just
wish he'd found someone else tosing those hooks.
Because just, like, the timbreof his voice is very abrasive.

Rob Lee (01:08:15):
I hear you. That's

I don't know if there's anything current. I'll
say Taylor Swift, not because Ithink Taylor Swift's music is
inherently bad. I just thinkthere's a demographic of people
who ask for you to place TaylorSwift

Rob Lee (01:08:32):
Mhmm.

Religiously that are kind of annoying and
entitled and not able to readthe room and understand, like,
hey. This might not be themoment for this. Right. Or,
like, the people that don'tunderstand is just because
you've asked a DJ to play a songdoes not mean he's gonna play it
and he's entitled and you'reentitled to have him play it,
and it doesn't mean he's gonnaplay it next. Like, it's always

(01:08:54):
a suggestion.
It's never a request. And I wishthat we could somehow pivot to,
like, this have this culturalshift where people don't even
talk about a DJ request. Peoplecome in like, yo, like, do you
take requests? I'm like, I takesuggestions, never requests. And
some people are caught offguard.

(01:09:14):
They're like, I'm like, what areyou thinking? Like, what do you
want to hear? You can tell mewhat you want to hear. There's
no guarantee that I will playit. I will do my best to play it
if it fits the vibe, where weare, who's here, and the type of
time of night it is.
But there's a a world of TaylorSwift fans that just, they don't

(01:09:36):
get it. They just come in andthey're Swifties, and they're
just like, I can't have fun ifI'm not dancing to Taylor Swift.
If I'm going to play

Rob Lee (01:09:45):
like this and move my hair around.

Yeah. They're like, will you play Taylor
Swift? I'm like, I might. Like,I'm gonna do my best. I'll do my
best.
I understand that people loveTaylor Swift. Like, I'll do my
best. It's not gonna happen inthe next five minutes. I don't
know when it's gonna happen.Like, I'm playing dance hall
right now.
This is not Taylor Swift time.No. You know?

Rob Lee (01:10:03):
That transition will be wild.

Right? It's fine. How how do you get from
Taylor Swift to I mean, I coulddo it. I already have this
string of songs lined up in myhead, but, you know. And, yeah,
it comes down to, like, who youare, like, how you talk to the
DJ, how you express what youwanna hear.
Like, I'm gonna meet you there.If you're an entitled piece of

(01:10:26):
shit, I'm gonna be a piece ofshit back to you. I'm not gonna
play your song. I'm gonna playthe exact opposite.

Rob Lee (01:10:32):
I mean, hold on. I I just have to say this and then
I'm gonna wrap up because thatthat was really good. And so two
things. One, you actuallysomehow got a rapid fire
question in there. You answeredthe rapid fire question.
Because that was in myquestions, rapid fire of what's
the etiquette. So that's greatthat you answered that without
even getting it. Right?

And the

Rob Lee (01:10:52):
other thing is I was thinking of, like, you could go
from Sean Paul to Taylor Swift,you know, just shake it off, you
know, from, you know, this is Iwas like, that's an easy and I
was like, nope. Nah. I don'teven wanna I don't even wanna
entertain it. I was justthinking of it, though. We when
you said, like, yeah.
You know, I can absolutely doit.

I could do that.

Rob Lee (01:11:09):
You can. You're you're super talented, so obviously
Yeah.

Yeah.

Rob Lee (01:11:14):
So that's pretty much it for today's proceedings. So
there's actual two last realthings I wanna do. One, one,
thank you so much for coming onback onto the podcast and
staying on the podcast.

Having me. Give thanks for giving me a chance to
redeem myself and also interdeltlike, I feel like I'm a
different person now. Like,thank you for giving me a chance
to introduce who I am now toyour listeners that have been
here for the whole journey andanyone else that may find this
podcast from us sharing it. LikeYeah. I haven't been leaving the

(01:11:45):
house very often.
There's a lot of people that Ihaven't seen. There's a lot of
people who maybe still think I'min Nashville or don't even know
that I left town. Just don'tknow who I am right now, and
I'm, you know, grateful for thisopportunity to hopefully
introduce who I am now toBaltimore and beyond.

Rob Lee (01:12:05):
Thank you so much. So I'm gonna hit it with the, if
you can share with the folks,you know, where they can follow
you, website, social media, allof that good stuff to stay up to
date on all things James Nasty.Please, the floor is yours.

I'll start with, like, Instagram. My handle is
James Nasty. Mostly, I just usereels. Or not reels, stories.
You could find me on TikTok.
I'm mostly just doom scrolling.I don't post very often. I still
have a Twitter account. I don'tuse it for anything. Same with

(01:12:42):
Facebook.
Yeah. Just Instagram, man. Ifyou want to find out more about
Aesthetic Dance, there's anAesthetic Dance IG, which is
just at Aesthetic DanceBaltimore. I still have a hot

(01:13:04):
sauce company. We didn't talkabout hot sauce this time.
I still have a hot saucecompany, the Jones Falls sauce
company. That used to be likemuch more of a seasonal business
and then through COVID, Ideveloped a new sauce that I am
producing year round. It'scalled Cabernet Aero. It's very
delicious. It's, availableonline if you wanna go to jones

(01:13:27):
falls sauce company dot com orthrough the Jones Falls Sauce
Company Instagram.
It's also available if you wannabuy it retail at Chuck's Trading
Post in Hamden. I've also beendoing, like, private label
sauces for people if anyone outthere wants their own custom hot
sauce for an event or forthemselves. When we talked last

(01:13:48):
time, we talked about how, like,I rationalize making hot sauce
as sort of like my artist'smerch.

Rob Lee (01:13:56):
Yeah.

And so there are other artists that have
approached me, like, yo, I alsowant a hot sauce that, like,
would be, like, my artist'smerch. And I've done, like,
custom hot sauces for people'sweddings as, like, wedding
gifts.

Rob Lee (01:14:06):
So

I still found ways to make hot sauce in in my
time.

Rob Lee (01:14:12):
That's that should probably be a a conversation we
have because I tend to I'm aspicy individual outside.

I feel like you need a hot sauce. Okay. It's a
limited edition special release.You know?

Rob Lee (01:14:22):
Yeah. The truth on your lips. That's great. Yeah.

I think that's that's it. If anyone out there
is interested in hearing themusic I produced, Spotify is a
great place to find it. Bandcampis even better.

Rob Lee (01:14:39):
And there you have it, folks. I wanna again thank James
Nasty for coming back onto thepodcast and running it back to
the very beginning. And forJames Nasty, I am Rob Lee saying
that there's art, culture, andcommunity in and around your
neck of the woods. You just haveto look for it.

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#27 – How to Master Moving People Through Music | DJ James Nasty

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#27 – How to Master Moving People Through Music | DJ James Nasty