DJ and producer Karim Naas is an electronic sensation. At just 20 years old, the young French artist has a repertoire and the success of an artist twice his age. After winning both a Soonvibes contest and a Bob Sinclar remix competition at just 16 years old, he went on to release multiple singles under the name Busta K, including an official remix of ‘Mi Gente’ which garnered huge amounts of streaming attention and millions of plays. Now in 2020, Karim releases under his own name, and already has a busy release schedule. ‘Threw a Party’, released in January received much attention, while new single ‘My Love’ is already causing mayhem out there. With multiple releases planned for the coming months, 2020 is set to be a stratospheric year for Karim Naas – DMCWORLD thought it about time to check in with the main man…
Hi Karim – welcome to DMC! Could you please tell us a bit more about yourself?
Hi, sure – my name is Karim Naas, I am a producer and DJ from Paris, France. I am 20 and started learning music more than a decade ago. Back at that time I used to listen to a lot of pop-rock bands like Fall Out Boy or Panic! At The Disco and from learning the guitar I really wanted to be able to play their songs. Then I started listening to other musical genres and began to make beats for rap artists, before switching to electro – it was 2013, a huge year for many electro artists such as Martin Garrix. I was inspired by that genre and really started to focus on making my own tracks. It was at that time that I decided I would become a professional musician, which happened in 2016 when I signed my first artist contract with a music label in France using the alias Busta K. I am now working as an indie artist, I have created my own publishing company – NAAS Music Publishing – and I continue to make tracks which I want to be a mix of dance, pop and urban music. I released Threw A Party feat. Kurtiz The Kid in January and my latest track, My Love feat. Bea Moon, was released on Feb 21st.
We’re loving your single Threw A Party! How did the creation process work for the record? How did you meet with Kurtiz The Kid
I went to the US last year and my team and I had a meeting with a music company in Miami which manages Kurtiz The Kid. They really loved the tracks I presented to them. They offered to put me in contact with him. I had this instrumental which I thought would be perfect for him – a mix of rap, club and dance music. Kurtiz immediately came back to me with amazing vocals and there was almost nothing to add or remove to Threw A Party, it was ready for release.
Listening to Threw a Party I notice you have multiple instruments and sound effects. What type of music do you like to experiment with?
When it comes to creating new songs, I want people to feel like they’ve never heard such songs before. That is why I love using multiple instruments and sound effects. That is exactly the case in Threw A Party, where I started using the tone of music instruments as a base, that I changed afterwards to create new and unique sounds.
You have multiple singles that have been released and official remixes; one of them is Mi Gente. To what extent is Threw A Party different from your previous releases?
With Threw A Party, I wanted to start a new chapter in my career. Now what matters to me is to make music that makes me feel good and positive, and that has the same effect on other people. That’s the reason why I decided to focus on dance music while keeping my universe which as I said at the beginning is made of different genres.
What are some things we can expect from you in 2020?
My newest single My Love was released on Feb 21st with the talented Bea Moon on vocals. I’m also working on multiple new tracks to be released further into the year.
