What the Cool Kids Love – July 2014

Touted as #thefuture by Dutch disc jockey Tiesto on Twitter, 10-year-old spinning prodigy and aspiring music producer DJ Kai Song has come a long way since his first gig at age 3—yes, 3—at the Children’s Museum of the Arts in New York. Back then he played every song from start to finish and his taste leaned more to classic rock. Now, the rising star—who’s played parties at Manhattan hotspots Pacha and Cielo and even released an album in 2012—prepares his sets by beat-gridding the tracks and setting his own cue points.

Sounds complicated, right? Not for Kai—it runs in his blood. Dad Lars Schlichting, a former DJ, taught him the ropes before he could speak in full sentences. “I love music, so when I deejay I get to do what I love while making other people happy,” Kai says. He also knows a thing or two about style. The future fifth grader has mixed for the likes of Heidi Klum at Petite Parade and he’s always dressed in comfy duds handpicked by his mom, Randi Song, who owns children’s store Half Pint Citizens in Brooklyn.

When he’s not rubbing shoulders with his heroes Skrillex and Tiesto, Kai spends his afternoons singing with the Brooklyn Youth Choir Academy, playing piano and soccer and taking music production classes at Dubspot. And he’s always on the hunt for the freshest tunes to spin. (FYI, he says Ed Sheeran’s “Sing” will be the song of the summer.) Luckily for us, he took some time out of his jam-packed schedule to give us insight into what one of New York’s coolest kids can’t live without.

—Lyndsay McGregor