If Asia Shabazz is DJing your event, you know it’s about to be a vibe.

Having DJed for eight years now, Asia is the true definition of a music lover. In her own words: “Music is my canvas, then singing, dancing, DJing, producing are all my different paint brushes that I get to pick up.”

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Asia has been in the music industry her entire life since the young age of three. First starting with dancing, she eventually joined a girl group where she realized she wanted to be on stage as an artist. In fact, Asia was Stevie Mackey’s first vocal student ever, a full circle moment as Stevie is now one of the most well-respected vocal coaches, having worked with the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Selena Gomez, Lenny Kravitz, and more.

Asia started professionally DJing when she lived in New York, right after she had signed a record deal as a recording artist. But while she had a standout single with Fetty Wap, she realized she was unhappy, and all that glitters isn’t gold. Growing up with Hollywood in her backyard, Asia knew the artist thing wasn’t for her. 

Thankfully, DJing would be her saving grace. Joking that God is her manager, Asia handles all her bookings herself, stressing the importance of relationships. She recalls the moment of having 12 gigs in a span of five days – all while also being a mom!

Asia states, “Relationships have gotten me everywhere in life. Be a good person, and walk with integrity. Who you are, how you show up, and your skill sets is what’s gonna pay it forward.”

Now, she’s paying it forward by offering her own personalized “how to DJ” course, for just $29.99. This isn’t something she’s doing for money, but rather wanting to give game to other aspiring DJs — the same way her mentors were able to teach her.

We spoke with Asia Shabazz in downtown Los Angeles to discuss her background, how she got into DJing, her first gigs, offering DJ courses, and more!

Talk about offering courses to teach people how to DJ, so necessary!

To break it down, I get so many people that ask me all the time, or say: “You’d be surprised, but I’ve always wanted to be a DJ.” Everybody. For me, I’m like, “So do it!” At one point in time, I also wanted to be a DJ, and so I learned. The point of that was to create a space, something you could learn at your own pace. Do it at your own time, your own leisure. Because we live in the city of Los Angeles, we’re balancing out a million things so you can’t necessarily hone in and only focus on this one thing. We gotta pay our bills, we gotta do our jobs. Most people who want to learn have other jobs or have other things, so I designed it to be very simple. Go over the basics of things and really be able to go at your own pace. 

I broke it down into five different segments. The first segment is your ‘why.’ Why do you want to do this? Because my mentor taught me a long time ago: “If you don’t know where you’re going, then how are you supposed to get there?” Your ‘why’ is important, because that’s also gonna push you to do things when you don’t feel like doing it. With DJing, what’s your point? Do you want to learn for fun? Do you want to make money off of this? What kind of money do you want to make? Do you want to be in the clubs? Do you want to do festivals? Do you want to just play with your friends? 

All that’s good to know so when you’re learning, you can navigate. Because that also determines what music you want to play. You’re starting at the end, then working your way backwards. One segment where I drop BPM Supreme is in the utilizing your resources segment. I talk about where you get your music from, even the community of DJs. Me being a female DJ, I started professionally DJing when I lived in New York. I had just come off of having a record deal being an artist…

Wow! Didn’t know you were a recording artist.

I wanted to stay in New York, but the label was putting me up. How am I gonna afford this? 

I had already learned how to DJ in LA from Casanova, Nitrane, Goofy. It was really Nitrane, I really got to give it to him. Do you remember when Hit-Boy had his house off of Tampa in Woodland Hills? It was like a Motown house. 12 bedrooms, every bedroom was a studio. You’d walk in and you wouldn’t know who was in there. J. Cole could be upstairs, Jill Scott could be downstairs. Music heaven. Naturally, they had turntables there. You know how rockstars live? 

They’d have parties throughout the day, throughout the night. Nitrane would always be there playing. I had a fake DJ named the time. I’m DJ Asian Persuasion. I’d literally get on the decks and want to learn. Nitrane was the only one out of all of them that would show me: “This is how you press play.” When Hit would have parties, I’d get on for 15 minutes. “Put me in!”

So I learned naturally when I was an artist. Fast forward to me living in New York, I wanted to stay in New York. I didn’t have any money because they were putting me up. We had just done a promo run for the single with Fetty [Wap]. One of the label reps, she had the idea. She’s like, “I know what I’m gonna do: I’m gonna pitch you as a DJ now. Now we can get you booked as a DJ.” We just came off this run with Fetty, so all the promoters were like, “ Hell yeah, she DJs too?!” That’s how I started it. That’s how I got my in with DJing, because I leveraged that. 

It was cool too, because I was in New York and not necessarily in LA. It’s hard being in LA, growing up in LA, because we evolve all the time. We go through so many different things when you’re young and in this industry, it’s almost like having to always having to prove yourself. People knew me as a dancer, so when I wanted to be a singer, they’re like, “Okay gir” It was cool that I was in New York doing the DJing thing, because I didn’t have to answer to my people in LA. I was already doing it, so all they could see was what was on Instagram.

That gave me the cheat code to crossing back over to LA DJing, because they already saw me DJing in New York. I started getting booked. At that time, I was going back and forth between New York and LA. I got my first residency here in LA, it’s taken me all over the world.

Where was your residency?

My residency was at Zen Lounge. Do you remember Zen Lounge? It was off of Ventura Blvd. Tichina Arnold owned it (Gina from Martin). It was an R&B brunch, that was my very first residency, That kept me consistent out here, it worked. It ended up working. 

What was your first gig and how much?

Oh my God, I’ve lived so many different lives. I’ve had a baby by now. My first DJing moment here was Taco Tuesday for Stevie. I had already been DJing in New York, but that was my first, official.

And what a beautiful crowd to DJ for!

And it was my dream. That’s my love language: ‘90s R&B. This is exactly what I want to be DJing anyway. I’m trying to think of my first New York gig. I remember! It was the 40/40 Club, Jay Z’s place.

That was your first gig? Were you nervous?

Hell yeah. I still get nervous, to be honest. DJing is more than just…we’re also tech. We’re AVs too, what if something’s wrong with the equipment? For me at least, I like to know my shit. What I’ve learned throughout the process of being a DJ is, I didn’t want to be a pretty girl DJing. I wanted to know my shit, I wanted to be respected. But 40/40, Jay Z’s nightclub, that was my first one. It was playoff season, I got booked to literally play in between the games. Every time they did a timeout or commercial, then I’d DJ for an hour after. It was fun.

What is your setup?

At home, I have turntables. However, and I talk about this in the DJ course as well, I look at the setup as your instrument. It’s yours. The older folks will say, “Oh, if you’re not teaching on turntables, you’re not a real DJ.” I don’t believe that. Nowadays, it’s so much more than that. We’re vibe curators, we set the tone for that. My flex is I can DJ on anything. I really don’t care. It could be a controller, it could be CDJs. Whatever. 

Biggest pet peeve as a DJ? 

Song requests. [laughs] Even when it comes with a check or money, it’s so annoying. For me, I’m taking people on a ride. I’m not just a jukebox, I’m telling a story in my night. I’m talking about the Princess being rescued from the castle, and you just brought up Mario Kart. You know what I mean? 

Favorite song to drop in a set?

Ooh, it changes. I like to throw people off. I like to throw a record out there that’s probably not in alignment with what they probably were thinking, but it’s so familiar. It could literally be like an Anita Baker “Sweet Love,” or a Usher “Bad Girl” type of moment. Because it’s like “Hold on,” but then: “Oh, this is my jam.” It allows me to have control over the crowd.

Do you have a booking agent? Or do you handle everything on your own?

Everything myself. God. When people ask me, “Who’s my manager?” I always say God. That’s how I get all my, you know? I’ve tried it in my personal experience.

That’s even more dope that you’re handling all these relationships yourself, because you get some fire gigs.

I do. I’m really grateful. That’s why I’m like, it’s God! It’s because of my background. I have new clients obviously, but a lot of them came from my past lives as a singer. As a dancer. They find out, “Oh, you’re a DJ too?” It gets me in the room, then my skill set has allowed me to keep the relationship and gain more.

How many years has it been DJing now?

Eight. 2016 will be my 10-year mark. Let me say this: it’s eight professionally, but I learned 11 years ago. But I didn’t get my first payment until 2016.

Do you have the wildest show you ever DJed?

Hmm, there’s been so many. Honestly, DJing has taken me all around the world. I’ve done some really cool things. I remember I was in Ukraine, and a guy got on stage. We brought them on stage to dance, him and his girlfriend, he ended up proposing. It was really tight because it was a turned up ass crowd, but he used it as a moment to propose. That’s tight. That was a fun moment.

What advice do you have for aspiring DJs who want to do what you do? 

Just do it. Don’t overthink it. Nobody cares until everybody cares, so just do it. You put one foot in front of the other, and purchase my DJ course. [laughs]

How much is it? 

$29.99.

Wait, why is so cheap?! 

Because here’s the thing, thank you. But it wasn’t for me to make money. It was really because I wanted to give the game. If I would’ve had that, if somebody would have said “Hey, here!” Did what Nitrane did for me or did what Goofy did for me, it would’ve been way easier. Now, the internet is in the palm of our hands. Just do it, get out there and do it. You don’t have to start big. You can literally start, spend $29.99, get my course and do that.

About the Writer

Shirley Ju is a Los Angeles-based journalist and on-camera host with her own show called Shirley’s Temple (with a focus on mental health). She lives, breathes, and sleeps music, and if there’s a show in LA, you can find her there. Born in the Bay Area, the Hyphy movement is in her blood. Shirley contributes to several publications and also books for B-Real’s podcast. Follow her at @shirju on both Instagram and Twitter.