Mark Ronson Shares His Favorite Songs, From Aaliyah to Lil’ Kim

Mark Ronson, fresh off the release of his memoir Night People: How to Be a DJ in ’90s New York City, offers a glimpse into his music tastes and shares his first impressions of Aaliyah’s music in a new episode of Rolling Stone‘s Song Shuffle.

The DJ and production mastermind started the Song Shuffle game with the classic “One in a Million” by Aaliyah, discussing how impactful the song’s album of the same name completely blew his mind the first time he heard it.

“I remember, I think the year that I started DJing, Aaliyah’s first single ‘Back & Forth’ came out. And it was a great party song and people loved it, but ‘One in a Million,’ it was from her first record working with Timbaland and Missy [Elliott],” Ronson explains. “Shit just fucked everybody’s head up because their production, this was like the future, her voice, the way she looked.”

Ronson continued by recalling the first time he played the record at home, and how “terrifying” it felt to know that he would have to remix the slow yet beautiful song into his sets.

“I remember … putting it on my record player and sitting on the edge of my bed. The 808s were like rumbling, I had these cheap ceramic tile floors, the bass was shaking, the crickets were singing, and then she comes in singing,” Ronson says. “It was so modern and crazy, like scary.”

Ronson then continued by playing Soul for Real’s “Candy Rain,” which he says helped him “bond” with Bruno Mars when they first met. He also played “Crush on You” by Lil Kim. “It’s one of those records that are just club crack,” Ronson says of the Kim joint. Ronson also played songs by the Brand New Heavies and encouraged people to listen to “Suzanne” by Raye, which he co-produced.