The Modline caught up with T.O.’s very own, DJ NaNa, when he stopped by Vancouver to play some shows for the Westcoast leg of his international tour. A son of two scholars and born in Ghana, NaNa is now a proud resident of Toronto by way of Waterloo, Ontario. With a wide exposure to a number of different cultures and their music, his vision behind the decks is as vast as the many cities that he has step foot in all across the globe. Talking to NaNa, I sensed his strong footing in music history, namedropping inspirations from every which genre but keeping his foundation in what he loves the most, hip hop. He’s already doing it on a global stage, but he’s still got the fire to take it to a higher plateau. With the release of his next studio album in the works, it seems he’s taking the “slow and steady wins the race” approach. Who can blame him? With all the garbage artists on the radio that get constant radio spins one month and go bye-bye the next, he figures that he’ll take the time to make an album that lasts, something that’s timeless. This time around he came to Vancouver to play a couple sets at Barcelona, Motel and Republic, hopefully you didn’t miss out on one of his parties.DJ NaNa’s Official Website@deejaynanaJustin: How did you first find your love for music?NaNa: Definitely was instilled by my parents.  My dad had an extensive record collection, my mom had a pretty decent 45 collection.  From Ghana the music is called High Life, so it’s an amalgamation of like pop and traditional African sort of sounds.  So a lot of High Life.  But my mom loved country music, like mad Kenny Rogers, mad Dolly Parton, mad flippin Johnny Cash. My pops listened to everything from Stevie Wonder to Bob Marley to Nat King Cole.J: So all across the board pretty much. Well we know you DJ all across the globe, what’s been your favourite place to play and why?N: I don’t know if I have one in particular, I gotta show love to all the places I’ve been able to go.  First time I ever played in Montreal was really dope.  I felt like I was walking on water.  People just showed mad love. First time I was out here, there was a festival like Canada Day where I was spinning.  That was crazy, that was real ill.  Recently been to South Africa, and they show loooots of love.  If they’re digging you they show lots of love.J: What kind of music are you playing at any given club?N: It’s literally a collection of all genres.  It’s a hip hop foundation, definitely stems from there because I’m a hip hop kid, born in the 80′s, an 80′s baby.  Heavy, heavily well-rounded in all of the 4 elements of hip hop.  But definitely, it veers into other genres, you’ll hear  some R&B, you may hear some House, some Dance Hall records but it has that hip hop foundation.J: Are there any particular records that are your go-to party joints to get everyone hype?N: In terms of what I’m digging, like they have all these different subgenres – movements like the Beat Generation or Future Funk or whatever.  A lot of glitchy, techy sort of sounds with that Dilla sort of influence and swing to it.  Cats like Flying Lotus, cat out of Montreal named V-Looper, just like instrumental-based sort of stuff with that head nod sort of vibe.  But a part from that cats like Rich Kidd, Art of Fresh and countless other artists.  Those are Toronto based artists, yea.J: So we know you’re not just a DJ who spins at events but you do produce your own music. Is there a difference in styles with the type of music you’re playing vs the music you’re making?N: Totally.  Totally.  Like when I’m DJing it’s one of two things.  I’m either being booked for the entity of what any particular genre has been able to build up or what they know of DJ NaNa; or DJing just an event where you have to go with crowd pleasers so you can’t necessarily veer into your own sort of tastes when it comes to listening to music.  As a producer, with the first few records that I put out, the intention was totally to create a new genre.  It wasn’t necessarily to fit in any box.  It was not to sound “polished” or whatever.  It was definitely thinking forward and doing something that hasn’t been done.J: I want to know what kind of influences you have, is it Dilla, Q-Tip, etc.?N: Rza, Primo, Pete Rock, Dilla, Quincy Jones, I don’t know if you’re familiar with old Motown sounds like Gamble & Huff.  There’s more, there’s other stuff but those are 6 names that I dropped there that would definitely be the people that have inspired me.  Rick Rubin.  What they’re doing as musicians, as producers and visionaries.J: They’re all pioneers in their own right.N: Exactamundo.  They’re pushing their own things.  And it didn’t necessarily fit into any box.  They’re a bunch of circles in square pegs.  They were able to carve their own niche.J: On a side note, I just want to ask you for myself, what do you think of ’40′ (Drake’s producer, also from Toronto)?N: I would love to meet him.  Rich Kidd is a dude who has worked with 40 many times over.  One thing that came out of a question from a previous interview was, “what was the thing that made Canadians different”.  And my answer was, “Depth”.  Canadians are rational, they reason, they think things through and each individual Canadian artist has their own sort of depth.  It’s just something else, their connection.  When I hear 40, like how he twists things, like there’s things that Rich has produced but 40 will come in and just chop up the arrangements and change the order of things, the amount of bars or whatever.  That creativity there is dope, like he’s creating his own formula.  He’s taking what they have and he’s expanding on it.  I hear that and it’s like “YO”, I would love to kick it for a minute and see his approach to things in the studio.J: Let’s talk about the new material that you’re creating for your next album.N: I’ve been secretly working on a new record.  All the other albums I put out before, I was totally doing what I was interested in, not adhering to anybody’s formula.  Now this time around I would like to have some records that become anthems.  I can’t say I’m thinking, “I gotta have the club banger” or “I have to have the radio hit”, but I definitely would like to have songs that are relatable.J: That can reach more people.N: Yea exactly.  So I’ve been really going hard with writing.  Now I’m planning it out.  Checking people’s beats.J: I think that’s how the best albums come together.  It’s like with Illmatic, that first album was 17 years in the making and the next ones weren’t touted as “classic” as that because they were so quick after.N: I hear you, and that’s a lesson to the youngins right now.  You don’t need to rush.  Stay in your lane, take your time and take it all in.J: Any memorable tour stories that you can divulge to us?N: See the tour stories are one of two things.  One you could force yourself to do things because you’re on tour.  ”On tour”.  Just because you’re on tour, you have to do certain things.  And there’s things on tour that JUST HAPPEN, hahaha, that you can’t really explain how it happened or don’t know.  But it’s just like, “Wow, is this what it is to be on tour?”J: You’re playing a couple clubs here in Vancouver, what else do you have planned down here?N: Got some recording to do.  Hopefully gonna connect with Red1, Moka Only, Chin Injeti.  It looks like Live Vision is hooking it up for me, keeping me busy.J: Last question, Do you have a quote or motto that you’re living by right now?N: I have a few.  I guess the first that just automatically just came to mind would be: “Never Expect, Never Explain”.  So never expect anything and never feel like you have to explain anything.