When I first got in the game, I came in as a DJ. I wasn’t really looking to be a producer. I didn’t even know what a producer was. Two of the first people that I met were Teddy Riley and Marley Marl.

It started at Disneyland, of all places. The park brought in a DJ to perform in sync with a light show built around Tron: Legacy. My teenage son saw stars. He already makes music on his computer, but ...