LITTLE LOUIE VEGA

I think it's healthy to have a lot of different styles within a genre. It makes it much more interesting.

I always think about making a CD you can hear in your car, your house party, with wonderful energy for all.

Dance is merging with the more mainstream hip hop/R&B scene, and there will be new ideas and sounds.

When I'm not working, I'm having fun with my son. We do lots of kids' stuff.

House music is like going to church - it touches you. There's something really magical about it that pulls you in, and you just want to keep learning more about it.

At a time when club music has gone more electronic, I've gone the other way: organic and world music.

People are digging into house music even from other genres.

House music is the root of all electronic dance music.

'Nuyorican Soul' has a lot to do with our lives, growing up in New York, listening to all different styles of music, hanging out with all different kinds of people.

At rehearsals, I began conducting the band, counting them in without thinking. I guess it came from watching salsa legends like my uncle and Tito Puente, who was very much the leader of his band on stage.

I love deejaying, of course; that's where my heart and my passion is.

I get inspiration from all kinds of things: I can get it from hanging out with my son, from hanging out with my wife, from checking out different artists, from hearing something at a party.

The good thing about 'Nuyorican Soul' is we get a little bit of everybody liking it.

'Dance' got on WBLS and over 25 urban AC stations. I never had a record on urban AC and gospel stations before.

I'm definitely looking forward to DJing in Scotland again. There's always fun and a great party vibe.

I want to record many albums, have a healthy record label with talented artists, keep building my publishing catalogue, and maintain our culture with good music that will be remembered for years to come.

To me, there's a lot more bottom and 'dirt' with vinyl. When I say dirt, it's good dirt. You need that raw sound in the clubs. To me, a CD is too clean.

I collect many hats, but I do like Bailey's Hats, and I order them online.

My abiding childhood memory is watching my uncle perform to thousands in Madison Square Garden. He wore a white suit and came down from the ceiling on a rope, and the crowd went crazy.

Every time we play our music in clubs, there's such a strong reaction.

Look at Daft Punk and Kanye West. The song 'Stronger' was inspired by a Daft tune. Once the hip-hop scene opens up to all the great music that came out of dance, it will continue to spread to the more mainstream audience.

I always want to make my records sound great so they'll stand the test of time, and that takes a lot of work.

For me, family has always been one of the key reasons to make music.

Dance music always goes through its changes; many styles come have their light and go back to the underground 'til it happens again.

We'd take records you'd never hear in clubs and make them into club tracks. We were doing B-sides on records that had nothing to do with the songs, and calling them Masters at Work dubs.