Naseem Johnson a.k.a. DJ Yung Nas is a Disc Jockey & Producer from Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. Born on March 4th, 1999. Nas started DJing at the age of 17 at house parties before eventually moving up to DJing at college parties and clubs. He has DJed for several internet radio stations which include Philly Jamz 95.3 FM,
NYC’s Way Up FM & Chicago’s Fusion Radio. Getting his inspiration from DJ Diamond Kutz & DJ Camilo he practiced his dj scratches everyday until he felt he was ready to post his videos on social media. He now posts his DJ videos on Instagram & Tik Tok and currently DJ’s for The Lion 90.7 FM WKPS while attending Penn State University to pursue his career as a TV & Radio Personality.
Below you will find my interview with DJ Yung Nas and learn about what inspires him, his techniques as a DJ and more.
Pyro Da Arsonist: You were inspired by DJ Diamond Kutz & DJ Camilo. What was about them that inspired you?
DJ Yung Nas: What inspires me about DJ Diamond Kutz & DJ Camilo is the way they DJ. I like their style. DJ Diamond Kutz plays music at a fast tempo giving it energy, making it more
hype. DJ Camilo is different, he makes every song sound fire. He also doesn’t stay in
one genre, he’s very flexible with his music. He plays Hip hop, Afrobeats, Latin,
Reggaeton, etc. Just listening to them a lot inspired me to become a DJ and create my
own style.
Pyro: Mashups are not easy to get right so what is your thought proces when creating a mashup and do you mashup different genres of music together?
Dj Yung Nas: When making mashups, the first thing I do is look for a good instrumental or acapella. I do this just by scrolling through my library and listening to songs. Once I do that, I check the bpm just to make sure the sounds are not far off so that I’m able to mix them. After that I then practice the mashup of how I want the mix to go and then once I’m ready, I
begin to make the video. I have not attempted to mash up different genres of music
together but I am definitely planning on making one in soon.
Pyro: What artists would you like to produce for and why??
DJ Yung Nas: An artist that I would want to produce is Dababy. I like his flow on his music. I think he is
a unique rapper and it would just be a crazy experience to produce for someone like him.
Pyro: Do you think at this point in your career you can handle the pressure of DJing for a station like Hot 97 or Power 105? If so how would you convince them to hire you?
DJ Yung Nas: At this point, I am very confident that I can DJ for radio stations like Hot 97 and Power 105 because I have experience DJing On-Air and I also play the same music as them. I am currently DJing for The Lion 90.7fm Wkps every Friday at 11pm so I can finally say that I have experience DJing on local radio. Me actually going to power 105 or Hot 97
would mean a bigger audience. How I would convince them to hire me is that I would say
I have DJed on radio stations before, Two internet ones and one local station, I’ve also
worked at Cumulus Media in my hometown, and my mixes have gained a lot of attention
on mixcloud and soundcloud so I’m pretty sure if they actually listen to mixes they will
enjoy them.
Pyro: What would you say makes you stand out as a DJ?
DJ Yung Nas: What makes me stand out as a DJ is my progress from when I first started. I have been a DJ for sometime now but I have not been uploading my dj skills until the summer of 2019.I always felt that I wasn’t ready because when I watch other DJs, their scratch skills and mixing techniques were far too advanced and that its not possible for me to get to that level in my career especially on a Pioneer SB2. What made me change my mind was that I didn’t have the finances to get turntables and a high quality mixer so I decided that I was just going to have to make it work with what I have until I was ready to
upgrade. My first couple of videos I was doing regular transitions and scratches, now I
am doing combos and mashups. I have progressed so much within that time and I
believe that’s what makes me stand out.
Pyro: What do you feel about those who say that Controller DJ’s aren’t as skilled as Turntable and Record DJ’s?
Dj Yung Nas: People who say that DJs who use DJ controllers are not as skilled as DJs who use vinyl are crazy. What some people need to realize is that it’s not about what equipment you have it’s how you use it. All equipment has its pros and cons. I have watched youtube
videos of people making insane routines on DJ controllers and vinyl. Both can get the
job done if you practice enough. Now Is it hard to scratch and do certain things on a
controller than vinyl, maybe. It may require a lot of practice and it’s possible but that’s not
the case. Everyone has their own style of doing things the way they want too and that’s
all that matters.
Pyro: If you had a chance to put together a track with 3 major artist who would be on the record and why?
DJ Yung Nas: 3 Major artists I would choose for a record would be Drake, Young Thug and Quavo. I chose them because anything that they drop especially as a single is a banger or
something people can vibe too.
Pyro: What sets you apart from your competition?
DJ Yung Nas: What sets me apart from my competition is my creativity and passion. When I make videos I try to add at least one new thing to the video whether it’s a scratch or transition method, I never try to do the same technique every video. I may have multiple videos with the same concept but in each of them there are different ways of how I do things, whether it’s the beginning, the middle or end of a routine, I try not to do the same thing. Another is the fact that I’m doing these routines on a small DJ controller. Some people think that you need turntables to make cool dj routines for Instagram and by me
uploading my videos to instagram, I’m trying to eliminate that. I had no training only
youtube and it took time for me to progress and it can be the same for everybody else if
they put their mind to it.
Pyro: When it comes to your music library, how do you go about building it? Is there a research involved or is it off ear?
DJ Yung Nas: When I build my music library, it’s 50/50 research and off ear. The Research part is me looking to see who is dropping music every Friday at 12, another is going through my record pool seeing what is downloaded a lot and what is trending. Every song that I
download I listen to it first because I want to make sure it fits with the type of music I
play. I always ask myself, “will this keep the party going or will it die down if I play this”? I
can’t just download every song because at that point i’m just wasting storage for songs
that i’m only going to place once. So it’s very important to know your taste in music and
what you want to play.
Thank you for sitting down with us. We appreciate your time.
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