It's Grammy season-- that means great music, great artists-- but what does it really take to win a Grammy?
What is it like to win a Grammy?
[WEB EXTRA: News 6 talks with DJ Nasty ]
To find out, News 6 stopped by Power 95.3, where there's a Grammy winner in the mix.
Orlando hip hop fans are probably used to hearing a certain DJ on the radio.
"Orlando, it's about that time! You're now tuned into the 95 minute commercial-free power mix. This is yours truly, DJ Nasty, the Nasty BeatMaker, the Grammy kid."
DJ Nasty.
But he's more than just a DJ, and he can do much more than just spin records-- he makes them.
"If you want a smash hit, you got to get both of us, 'cause we are the Nasty BeatMakers," said DJ Nasty, during a studio interview with News 6.
DJ Nasty and his brother Lenny Mollings, a.k.a LVM, are a Grammy-winning producing duo.
So what exactly do music producers do?
"An artist comes to us and they have an idea for a song they want, we basically make it come to life," said Mollings.
"I like to start with the beat and once I'm done making the beat, that's when my partner becomes involved," said DJ Nasty. "He starts coming up with the melodies and the sounds, the guitars, whether we need, live drums and that's why we make such a good duo."
Such a good duo, that even if you're not a regular hip hop listener, you may have heard one of their trademark songs-- "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled featuring Ludacris, Rick Ross, T-Pain and Snoop Dogg.
"Of course, it's a no-brainer," said DJ Nasty. "My favorite record is 'All I Do Is Win', why wouldn't it be? Obama walks out to it, it's in every arena, the song never gets old. That record's going to feed our families for years to come."
For Lenny, his favorite record they produced is Lil Wayne's "I'm Me."
"It's nice and dark and I like dark music," said Mollings. "If you really listen to the song, take the vocals away, there's so many elements. It's pretty cool. You could listen to the song without the lyrics and like it."
And of course, DJ Nasty and Mollings are proud of their Grammy-winning record-- Ludacris' "Grew Up a Screw Up."
"We won the Grammy for 'Release Therapy' which was Ludacris' album," said DJ Nasty. "Basically, when you have an album in the nominations, it's the whole body of work, so all the producers on all the songs win when the album is a winner."
DJ Nasty said the whole concept for the song came from a Biggie Smalls lyric: "I grew up a screw up."
"'Grew Up a Screw Up' came about in that era right there where a lot of people were sampling the late, great Biggie Smalls," said DJ Nasty. "You know, of course, being a big fan of Biggie Smalls, and I came across a lyric he wrote on a record, 'I grew up a screw up'. And I said, 'It sounds like it would be amazing for someone to tell their life story.' So I took that line, put it together, put the beat down, started making it, said, 'Yo, you got to do something to this.'' My brother came in and started playing piano, putting chords down and it sounded like it was going to be a monster and we ended up getting a Grammy for that one. We not only produced it, but we came up with the concept and made the rapper's life easier. They don't have to wonder, 'What should I do to this song?' There's already a hook there, so they can just vibe off of and feed off that hook."
A hook that changed their lives.
"You go from super producers to Grammy Award-winning producers, that title stays with you forever," said DJ Nasty.
"It's icing on the cake," said Mollings. "We do this for the love of music, but to have this cemented as part of your name is pretty cool."
For anyone else that wants to make a hit song of their own, the brothers have some advice.
"You have to have the right people around you and you have to be willing to try something new," said DJ Nasty. "Inspire yourself to be great, to take it to the next level. Just be original, don't do the same thing everybody else is doing. I think the best thing is to get creative criticism and that's not always from the people around you. It's always cool to have criticism from people that don't know you."
"Get all the knowledge you can," said Mollilngs. "Be open-minded. And you got to love what you're doing. I mean, if I was just doing this as a hobby, I would still be doing it. So you got to love it. You can't do it just 'cause you want to be famous or make a lot of money, you got to love it."
