DJ Tracy Young is a legend in Miami. Grammy-winner and personal DJ for Madonna is just the start to her résumé. Deco’s Alex Miranda is here with more.
Miami Music Week has DJs flying in from all over the world, but Tracy Young has been a star living right here in our Magic City for decades … and in the spirit of all things electronic action and music, we met up with her at her home studio to talk, a lot, about music.
For DJ Tracy Young…
Madonna (singing): “Time goes by, so slowly.”
Time must go by so slowly, because otherwise, how could she fit in so many accomplishments?
DJ Tracy Young: “I mean, yes, it’s a big deal. I won a Grammy — with Madonna.”
Yeah, that’s a Grammy.
Alex Miranda: “You’ve got to let me touch it, at least once.”
DJ Tracy Young: “You can touch it; I have to hold it. Look at my arms, chills.”
The first ever awarded to a woman in the Best Remixed Recording category…
DJ Tracy Young: “It’s not like, ‘OK, I can die now,’ but I can, it was like the ultimate…”
Alex Miranda: “Like, if you did die, it would be kinda fine?”
DJ Tracy Young: “It would
For her Pride Intro Radio Remix of Madonna’s “I Rise.”
DJ Tracy Young: “It was an idea that me and Madonna had together, because when I heard the lyrics, I was like, ‘This is a gay anthem.'”
Alex Miranda: “What does it mean to you yo have it?”
DJ Tracy Young: “Everything. I’ve worked my whole career to be recognized by my peers.”
Alex Miranda: “You’ve never dropped it, right?”
DJ Tracy Young: “Oh, no.”
Alex Miranda: “OK, good.”
But she has done this…
DJ Tracy Young: “Drove it through McDonald’s. I was like, ‘Your local girl did it!'”
But in a way, it all started with Miami Music Week.
DJ Tracy Young: “I’ve been part of it since ’94, when it was called Winter Music Conference. That’s actually how I fell in love with Miami and became a resident here.”
Alex Miranda: “What is the DJ lifestyle, by the way? I think a lot of people want to know: is it as crazy as it looks?”
DJ Tracy Young: “It can get crazy. Sometimes you start at 5 a.m. When I do E11EVEN, I start at 3 in the morning and go ’til 7.”
Oh, and by the way, we are in her home studio.
Alex Miranda: “We’re going to create another gay anthem.”
DJ Tracy Young: “Maybe you’ll get a Grammy now.”
Alex Miranda: “Do you take requests?”
DJ Tracy Young: “Yes.”
This is the same home studio where Tracy originally mixed that Grammy-winning song.
DJ Tracy Young: “This is my man cave.”
“I Rise” is just one of many official Madonna remixes over the last 30 years, commissioned by the Queen herself.
DJ Tracy Young: “Thank you, Madonna.”
Alex Miranda: “Thank you, Madonna. I wanna thank Madonna I love Madonna.”
Like, I mean, you know this one.
Madonna (singing): “I’m hung up. I’m hung up on you.”
That’s Tracy, too.
So here are some pearls of wisdom for up-and-coming DJs.
DJ Tracy Young: “I just would make sure that you’re doing it for the right reasons. I do this because I love music. The DJs that I know that I really love are the ones that started in a closet. It’s a grind; you have to love this.”
Tracy DJs but also performs on Twitch. Always looking forward. She says she’s excited about AI in music — with regulation, of course. You can find her on social media.
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