About DJ Nate Da Great

Hey Nate, What kind of music 🎶 do you play?

My crates are deep and diverse. You’ll hear me play a lot of Disco, Boogie, Soul, Hip Hop, Latin, Dancehall, Reggae, International grooves, Future beats, Funky house and more — Basically, whatever resonates in the moment.

What I play depends on the event. For dance parties, I play the classics, which I’ve come to realize are really just modern-day hymnals. They are a commonality. They ground the party and create a familiarity that brings people together. But, I also like to keep it creative and interesting and experiment with lesser-known songs that I really love.

I do, though, love those events where I can break the chains and get really creative with the music.

Where does your taste in music come from?

It all starts with Hip Hop, breaks and turntablism. I’ve studied Hip Hop’s lineage and legacy for over 30 years. In that time, I’ve learned that Hip Hop’s roots run deep and it’s impact is vast. Most if not all current pop and dance music draws it’s roots from Hip Hop and/or music of the diaspora and therefore originated in Africa. So, it’s my love of Hip Hop music that has laid the ground work for my musical taste. But it has also humbled me and made me realize and acknowledge this music’s true origins, lineage and legacy.

What are some of your career highlights?

I really love to hear stories about how I’ve impacted other people’s lives or inspired them in some way. Every once in a while I’ll run into someone that tells me how much they used to enjoy listening to J-Swift and myself (The Super-Friends Radio Show) on WRPI (Troy, NY) back in the day, or other DJs might tell me how they’ve drawn inspiration from me in some way. Hearing about how I’ve positively affected other people is one of the most rewarding aspects of my DJ career.

With that said, though, I’ve been involved in some really amazing events such as:

• 9 years with The Beat*shot Music Festival in Albany, NY
• 5 years with the Electric City Couture Fashion Show
• work with the Charmed and Dangerous Burlesque Troupe
• opening sets for internationally known artists such as Shaggy, Bootsy Collins and Ghostface Killah
• backing artists such as JB aka Dirty Moses, J-Live, Akrobatik, C-Rayz Walz, Moses Rockwell
• Great-Mastr events with my brother from another, DJ Trumastr
• the Beat*Shot Radio Takeover Podcast
• The Superfriends radio show with DJ J-Swift on WRPI (Troy, NY) (1998 - 2002)
• The P5 radio show with Jeff Foss on WRHU (Hempstead Long Island, NY) (1992 - 1996) which featured some of the dopest DJ’s, including DJ Johnny Juice, DJ Spinbad, DJ Kool G, DJ Tough Tom, DJ Slynkee and DJ Skribble.

What do you like most about DJing?

☝️ Positively impacting and inspiring others. Playing music and geeking out over music and turntablist stuff like scratching, vinyl collecting and equipment. Finding those gems that bring a party to life even when people have never heard the song before. In general, just having an opportunity to be creative and create a joyful experience for myself and others.

What do you like least?

It’s not always fun and games 😆. My biggest pet peeve is abusive “requesters” that shame me, criticize me (un-constructively), browbeat me, make demands of me or harass me. Yeah, the struggle is real 😞. (Polite, friendly requests always welcome.)

It’s also disheartening when people just assume that what us DJs do is easy or unworthy of reasonable/fair pay.

Besides Music and DJing, What do you do?

I’ve been a coder for probably 20 years now, mostly focused on websites and web-based apps. I love learning new technologies and web frameworks. For example, I built this website with Gatsby JS and Storyblok, just to learn about Gatsby and headless content management. I’m always happy to share my knowledge and give advice.

I also love woodworking and wish there were more hours in the day to build things.

How can I learn more about you?

Just ask 😃