Afrojack

Afrojack, aka Nick van de Wall is a Dutch DJ from Spijkenisse, Holland is one of the rising stars of electronic dance music.

He started playing piano when he was only five. Being a very creative student, Afrojack spent most of his time listening to all kinds of music while studying. It was no surprise that it didn’t take him long to turn the tables and start making music instead of just listening to it.

At the age of 11, Afrojack gets hold of a program called Fruity loops. At this point in time his talent and passion for creating music truly surfaces. Rapidly acquainting himself with and appreciating Fruity Loops, it becomes his program of choice, which he uses to this day (he even named one of his first EP “Fruity“). Afrojack finishes school and decides to proceed with his musical career. Not being able to make a living out of it yet, he starts to work part-time in bars and catering. Now he has more than enough time to discover the club scene in Rotterdam, starting with his first night out in the old club Las Palmas when he was only 16 years old. After this, many club nights, side-jobs, small DJ-gigs for the fun of deejaying and a lot of studio time followed.

In 2006 he sets off to Crete (Greece) deejaying for five full months straight in every club that would have him, learning the craft and making his first ‘flight hours’. It was also in Crete where he landed his first small hit, called “Fuck Detroit“. When returning home to the Netherlands, he was fired up and started producing more and more tracks, determined to get ihis productions released on a label. With a little help from Sidney Samson and Laidback Luke, Digidance decides to give it a shot, and it worked; Afrojack “In Your Face” scored #60 in the Dutch Top 100 and #3 in the Dutch dance Top 30. Not too bad for the first release of an 18 year old kid.

In 2007 Nick starts performing under the name Afrojack, determined to try to make it to the top as a DJ and producer. Track after track and remix after remix follows and he even starts his own label ‘Wall Recordings’. Afrojack is rarely seen outside of his studio. When he’s not deejaying, he is producing and it starts to pay off. His tracks start being supported by international DJ’s like Josh Wink, Dave Clarke, Laidback Luke, Fedde Le Grand, Marco V and Benny Rodrigues.

In 2008 he hits the clubs with “Math” and “Do My Dance” and both tracks get picked up by every big name in the industry. Afrojack hooks up with the Partysquad to add vocals to “Do My Dance” and a couple of weeks later, the “Drop Down (Do My Dance)” co-op mix is born. This track hits the Dutch top 20 and gets crowned “Tune of the Week” by the biggest Dutch radio stations and even the biggest Dutch music television network “TMF”. Afrojack starts appearing at many important festivals, like Mystery Land, Tomorrowland (Belgium), Extrema Outdoor and Sensation.

The world heard more and more from Afrojack in 2009 and it didn’t take a long time for David Guetta to notice Afrojack’s talent. They decided to meet up in the studio, which resulted in “Toyfriend“, a collaboration between the two, and an Afrojack remix of Guetta’s track “Sexy Bitch“. Afrojack also played at David Guetta’s ‘F*** Me I’m Famous’-events.

With a peerless reputation as a producer , his signature style is bringing him the kind of remix requests that most dance artists will only ever dream of (Lady Gaga, Madonna, David Guetta, Duck Sauce, Example, Greg Cerrone, Kelly Rowland, Kid Cudi, Laidback Luke, Larry Tee, Princess Superstar, Sidney Samson, Steve Angello, Tocadisco, etc).

When Lady Gaga requested the “Alejandro” remix, Afrojack’s first thought was to concoct a trendy pop confection for radio consumption. But Ms. Gaga was more interested in pushing limits than maintaining the status quo. “First I thought, ‘Let me just give them a soft mix,'” Afrojack told MTV News. “And they were like, ‘No — we want that crazy Afrojack vibe.’ And so I went really crazy. I was even in the studio like, ‘This is pretty damn hard.’ I sent it and they were like…‘Yeah!'”

Gig-wise, he’s rocked the world’s biggest floors including Pacha Ibiza, Miami Ultra Music Festival and Electric Daisy Carnival in LA. Afrojack’s rise to fame as a producer has brought him a roll call of A-list champions – from Pete Tong to David Guetta, and Josh Wink to Fedde Le Grand, along the way collaborating with some of the world’s most respected producers and artists like David Guetta, Steve Aoki, Tocadisco, Gregor Salto, Diplo, Kid Cudi, Pitbull and Black Eyed Peas.

His most recent single, “Take Over Control” featuring Eva Simons, is currently one of the hottest club anthems on the planet, not least in the UK where it’s been championed by Radio 1’s Annie Mac and Pete Tong. The track hit No 2. on Beatport and has already reached over 1 million views on YouTube. It also have great remixes from Adam F, Drumsound & Bassline Smith, Ian Carey, Spencer & Hill, Apster, Barletta, Marco Belz, Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano.

Recently on his own label Wall Recordings Afrojack also released another big tune “Replica“, which immediately soared to Top 10 of most downloaded songs on Beatport. Filled with extremely fat basses, thick beats and high pitched leads, “Replica” has that clear-cut signature Afrojack sound the world has come to love. It premiered on Pete Tong’s BBC Radio 1 show and was instantly picked up by Tiesto, David Guetta and Sander van Doorn.