Get to know the music mavens who’ll be curating your VNYL collection as we kick off our new essay series, #FirstSpin.

We love records. You love records. So let’s talk records.

Name: Fanatic
Position at VNYL: Music Curator
Hometown: Greensboro, N.C.
Current City: Hollywood
Music History: Grammy-award winning producer who’s worked with Michael Jackson, Beyoncé, Will Smith, Notorious B.I.G., Boyz II Men, Anthony Hamilton and Ma$e.
First Concert: Prince during his Purple Rain tour
Favorite Album: The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Are You Experienced

MY FIRST ALBUM: Prince’s Dirty Mind
I remember seeing the Dirty Mind cover in a record store and thinking how out there Prince looked— he was wearing bikini underwear and a trench coat! Any black artist that would wear that must have an element of rock to their music. I thought about Prince in the same vein as Jimi Hendrix—any time you mix rock with soul music, it’s gonna be good!

I used to put on the record and just read the risque lyrics over and over again. It was so visual—you could almost see the scene Prince was singing about. And I would always play side two first. The second “Uptown” came on, I was hooked.

Dirty Mind took me on a journey. As a young kid, I felt cool because I was listening to his song “Head,” but I wasn’t supposed to be. The whole experience, from the artwork to his lyrics to the music, made me feel like Prince was pulling me into this rebellious world that was so cool.

I played that album for months. I would invite girls over to my house after school, spin that record and show them the artwork on the inside sleeve. I felt like The Man, because I was turning these girls onto Prince. But looking back, I was basically promoting for Warner Bros.!

After buying Dirty Mind, I wanted every Prince album that came out, because for those 30 minutes, he had you locked in. Albums make you sit and take in the entire presentation, which then makes you invested in the artist. Streaming services and iTunes can’t give you that same feeling. They’re about the singular song, but there are so many more elements that make you really buy into an artist. Vinyl is the only way you can get that experience.

I’ve since built a huge collection of vinyl—over 20,000 records! A huge part of that comes from being a producer. I started out in hip-hop, and all we did was collect records. We were constantly going to record stores, thrift stores and yard sales to look for vinyl. At this point, I have a photographic memory when it comes to those album covers—I was studying as I was producing. When I worked under Puffy, he was impressed that I would choose a deep album cut to sample instead of an obvious hit. Vinyl is its own musical education.

Now that I’m a curator at VNYL, I’m excited to turn the world onto so many of the amazing songs and artists that had a huge impact on my career.

Got questions? Wanna chat with Fanatic? Reach out to the VNYL curator on Twitter, Instagram or email.

(Essay updated 3/10.)