In 1996, the head of Easy Street Records asked me to rework De’Lacy’s new song “That Look” after hearing my remix of “Hideaway” for DMC. He sent me the vocal parts only—I hadn’t heard the original and didn’t even know what key it was in.

I spent three weeks building the track from scratch. I made a cassette demo and took it to Winter Music Conference ’96. On the way to the airport, I played it for my friend Michael McDavid on my Sony Walkman. He loved it and kept repeating the hook the entire way. That’s when I knew I had something special.

Back in New York, I gave a DAT copy to Junior Vasquez at the Tunnel. Johnny Vicious soon asked to do his own edit with Tom Moulton. Within weeks, the record was creating serious buzz around New York.

Then the calls started coming from Europe. My attorney at the time, Kurosh Nassery, told me that labels including DeConstruction in the UK were interested. Easy Street eventually offered me a producer point and a remixer fee, recognizing that my remix had helped create the momentum.

Remix & Additional Production by Hani @ NUM Sound, NYC.