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His crazy Caribbean style definitely shines through his music selection, his energy, and his food. DJ Nasty Naz’s professional career in the music industry as a tour chef, tour hype man and a tour DJ has allowed him to work with artists like the Black Eyed Peas, The Game, Akon, Wyclef, Danny Fernandes and Sean Paul to name a few. This attitude of continuously being on the grind has pitched this Trinidadian-born entrepreneur into a class of his own, with not only being a top DJ in the East Coast, but to having an award-winning restaurant in Fredericton, “Caribbean Flavas.”
His skills in the kitchen have allowed him to cater for a number of groups, including Akon, Sean Kingston, Girlicious, Hedley, The Trews, and even rock and roll legend Leonard Cohen. DJ Nasty Naz Flava of the Week will be a weekly column where Naz takes readers inside his world of cooking, performing and rubbing elbows with the stars. For more information on DJ Nasty Naz, visit www.djnastynaz.com, Join the “fan page” www.facebook.com/djnastynaz Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/djnastynaz. Or, to taste d’island life, visit Caribbean Flavas on 123 York St. Fredericton.
Somebody call N-A””Z… he’s got them shawtys fire burning in tha kitchen… whoaaa… Haha, how about I just stick to the cooking and leave the singing to the professionals, a customer told me this week. So much for me putting on dinner and a show.
Oh well, the reason I was singing that song is because I am on tour AGAIN with Jamaican reggae/pop sensation Sean Kingston (‘Fire Burning’), and triple platinum R & B singers Danny Fernandes (‘Private Dancer’) and Karl Wolf (‘Africa’).
This is the second time on tour with these acts, and so far every venue has been sold out. So with that whole island vibe, I decided to do up a Jamaican dish, in light of ma boi Sean Kingston.
Ingredients for the Salt fish Fritter
– 1lb of soaked, washed and stripped cod
– 2 chopped garlic cloves
– 1 red bell pepper, sliced.
– 1 tspn of paprika
– 1 red onion chopped sliced
– ½ cup of all purpose flour
– 2 habanero chili peppers
– 2 large tomatoes
Directions
1. Wash and dry the salt fish.
2. Use your hands and shred the salt fish finely and set aside in a mixing bowl.
3. Cut the onions, garlic, habanero pepper and tomatoes in to fine pieces.
4. Combine the onions, garlic, pepper and tomatoes.
5. Cook this seasoning thoroughly in a frying pan (skillet) using a small amount of oil.
6. Add flour and water to the salt fish and make a thin batter. Stir this batter till it is smooth.
7. Combine the fried seasoning and paprika with this batter. Mix batter.
8. Dip a large spoon in oil and “spoon scoop” thin batter into frying pan.
9. Deep fry in a frying pan till brown and crisp on both sides.
10. Drain on paper towel and serve, with a side of your favourite chutney.
I decided to put my little recipe into a ‘song.’ Now remember to sing it to the tune of Sean Kingston’s ‘Fire Burning.’ I’m not saying I’m gonna win any Grammies here people, but you can certainly try… ha.
Can you say REMIXXXXXXX …
Shawty got that super thang
with tha pepper its hotter than the sun in Spain
Got me soon as I walked through the door ..orrr
My mouth started water-ing
The way she dropped it low that thang
Got me wanna eat more and more ”
She roll it, shape it, and drop it in tha oil,
That salt fish frit,
Got a candle, or a match to get that fryer lit,
Now take my BMO card or my CIBC
Shawty that fritter is HOT like the fire,
HOT like fire
Somebody call N””A-Z
He got them Shawty fire burning in tha Kitchen
Whoa
I gotta cool her mouth
It will burn the roof of your mouth, in the kitchen
Whoa
It’s fire burning, fire burning in the kitchen
That little fritter’s fire burning in the kitchen
It’s fire burning, fire burning in the kitchen
That little fritter’s fire burning in the kitchen
Fire burning fire burning
That taste is a masterpiece
You can place your order every couple days
But ain’t no doubt you’ll eat it before you get home… home…
I’m afraid it’s not made with eggs
So all you vegans, yup, that’s what I said
Once they taste it, it will be in kitchens all over the world …world
She roll it, shape it, and drop it in tha oil,
That salt fish frit,
Got a candle, or a match to get that stove lit,
Now take my BMO card or my CIBC
Shawty that fritter is HOT like the fire,
HOT like fire
Somebody call N””A-Z
He got them Shawty fire burning in tha Kitchen
Whoa
I gotta cool her mouth
It will burn the roof of your mouth, in the kitchen
Whoa
It’s fire burning, fire burning in the kitchen
That little fritter’s fire burning in the kitchen
It’s fire burning, fire burning in the kitchen
That little fritter’s fire burning in the kitchen
Fire burning fire burning
Somebody call N””A””Z
Now even though Sean Kingston usually eats my mom’s homemade Coconut Bread, I guess I will be making some Salt fish Fritters for him this time around. Okay I gotta bounce outta this kitchen now, because my customers in the restaurant are looking at me funny, as I am singing while I’m cooking. Make sure and look out for me while on tour in a city near you with tha Crew… come up and say ‘Hi’ even.
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]]>Dj Nasty Naz has been featured in the “Caribbean Belle” Magazine – one of the top Caribbean Magazines, which has started to take over not only the Islands by storm, but North America as well. He is featured as one of the Caribbean’s “Movers and Shakers”. This is for the April 2009 Issue, with an extensive write up, with how he got started, right up to some advice he gives to aspiring DJ’s.
Check out the link to read more.
Caribbean Belle – The Caribbean’s Mover and Shaker – DJ Nasty Naz
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Fredericton DJ serving up a menu for Cohen http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2008/05/22/nb-naz-cater…
22/05/2008 11:19 PM
Fredericton DJ serving up a menu for Cohen
Last Updated: Thursday, May 22, 2008 | 12:04 PM AT
CBC News
A Fredericton restaurateur has spun his way into catering for Leonard Cohen and his crew while the
singer-songwriter tours the Maritimes.
Naz Ali travels North America spinning records in clubs and concert halls when he isn’t operating his
restaurant, Caribbean Flavas, in Fredericton.
Also known at DJ Nasty Naz, Ali’s job in the music industry has led him to rub elbows in L.A. and Miami
with some big stars.
“The light bulb went off in my head and I thought, I can cater and chef and DJ at the same time, so that is
what I would do,” Ali said. “I would DJ during the concert and as soon as the concert is done, I would throw
back on my jacket and start cooking up a storm for these artists.”
Ali started catering for the stars about three years ago and his clients have included Snoop Dogg, Akon and
the Pussycat Dolls, as well as Canadians the Trews, Hedley and Bedouin Soundclash.
Ali was recently asked to make lunch one day while Cohen and his crew were performing in Fredericton.
The musician liked the food, and a single meal led to several others, Ali said.
“By the third day he is in love with the food, his entire crew loves the food and he makes a joke to … his tour
manager, ‘We should take Naz and his family on tour with us,'” Ali said.
The request was no joke, and on Monday, Ali packed up his dishes, cutlery and Cohen’s favourite ingredients
to travel to Moncton with the crew.
Cohen, a Montreal-born singer, songwriter, poet and novelist, was inducted into the U.S. Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame in March, and the day after the New York gala announced he would be embarking on a tour,
including major stops such as three days prior to the Montreal International Jazz Festival (June 23-25), four
dates in Toronto (June 6-9) and a headline slot at Glastonbury Festival in the United Kingdom (June 29).
It is Cohen’s first string of concert dates in 15 years, and includes many smaller, more intimate performance
dates in Atlantic Canada, Ontario and Quebec.
Ali said he hasn’t yet been asked to stay on tour with the musician but he’s prepared to serve as Cohen’s
personal chef for as long as he’s needed.
For now, he’s adding a photograph of Cohen and an autographed menu to his restaurant’s walls, which are
already plastered with images of celebrities.
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]]>By LAVERNE STEWART
stewart.laverne@dailygleaner.
THE DAILY GLEANER/STEPHEN MACGILLIVRAY PHOTO
FULFILLING WORK: Naz Ali runs his downtown restaurant, Caribbean Flavas, and is also a DJ — DJ Nasty Naz — who often records live shows for syndicated radio programming heard in Toronto, Calgary, the Netherlands and New York City.
He loves to feed you — body and soul.
The lunch crowd at Caribbean Flavas is just leaving and Naz Ali is able to leave his openconcept kitchen and come into the dining area for a chat. He’s been up since dawn. Ali won’t stop until sometime in the wee hours of tomorrow but he’s not complaining. Ali loves the crazy hours he keeps.
As a restaurateur and DJ, he’s having a love affair with his dual careers. Because he often works 18-hour days in demanding, albeit fulfilling occupations, he doesn’t have time for a relationship presently, he says. If and when it does happen, it will have to be with someone who is involved in some way with the industry and who understands the demands on his time.
“Food and music are my girlfriends,” says Ali.
The reality of Ali’s life is far from his boyhood dreams. As a kid growing up in Trinidad, he wanted to become a marine biologist or a pediatrician and he never would have considered leaving his tropical island paradise home for a life in this city. Then he was offered a university scholarship but declined it. He was offered a second time and agreed to come to the University of New Brunswick’s business program but just for a semester, he thought. That was five years ago.
He’s still here.
New Brunswick winters can be brutal but the warmth of the people in this city and this province are wonderful, he says. While at university, Ali had a business plan to open a Caribbean restaurant. His professors dismissed the plan, telling him it would never fly in this city.
Not dissuaded, he went looking for seed money. He knocked on the doors of business development agencies and banks but couldn’t get financing. So he went to family and friends who were happy to back him. Ali was determined to prove the naysayers wrong. And he did.
Caribbean Flavas has been awarded BEST Restaurant in the Province and also been given top marks by Where to Eat in Canada.
In the past three-and-a-half years, his restaurant has gained a who’s who clientele, he says. Artists such as Snoop Dogg, Akon, Russell Simmons, Rihanna, Eva Avila and members of the group Hedley have all enjoyed his food.
“Anybody who’s anybody comes to my spot,” says Ali.
He first became interested in food while watching his mother prepare meals at home. The first dish he made on his own was a curried chicken. The real pleasure in preparing food for others, he says, is watching people’s facial expressions as they take the first bite. Long after the restaurant closes for the day, Ali is still working.
But he turns his attention to music.
After a quick shower and a change of clothing, he becomes DJ Nasty Naz and he’s off to his nighttime gig.
You will find him at Nicky Zee’s and The Back Nine several times a week, spinning music for large crowds who are hungry for R&B, reggae, hip hop and urban beats. Often when he is there, he is recording these live shows for syndicated radio programming which is heard by over one million listeners in Toronto, Calgary, the Netherlands and, as of this week, New York.
He will soon be off to New Orleans and New York City to be a part of what he describes as ‘an elite DJ coalition.’ “They invite key people in the industry who’ve been making changes. “All these artists e-mail or text (message) me with their new songs the labels don’t even know about yet. Myself and other people listen to them and make suggestions about changes they could make.
“We set trends.”
Ali says one of his biggest thrills was being invited to Alicia Keys’s office with his family.
They met through her record label, he explains. “I was just hanging out with everyone. It was crazy. Then her manager invited me to go to her birthday party a year-and-a-half ago. I couldn’t go because of (university) exams. I had to say ‘Wish Alicia a happy birthday for me.’”
Ali got his start in the music industry after hanging around DJs in Trinidad at radio stations and concerts. “I would get in their faces. So they let me become their crate boy carrying their music in milk crates to concerts.”
His musical break came at a concert when the DJ left on a break but couldn’t get through the large crowd in time to change the music. So Ali stepped in to fill the dead air.
“So I put on a record and started scratching it. The crowd went crazy.”
He’s been a DJ for artists such as Lauryn Hill, the Fugees and Shaggy. When the dance parties are over and Ali finally goes home, he remains awake chatting with music artists on MSN.
His mentor, he says, is music and fashion industry mogul Russell Simmons.
About four months ago, Ali says, he asked Simmons how he measures success. “He said, ‘Naz, if you find a job you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.’” If this is the measuring stick of success, then Ali is already hugely successful as the co-owner of an award-winning restaurant and an internationally known DJ “I get paid to party. I can’t see anything better than that.”
But Ali is a driven man wanting more and determined to get it. In 10 years, he says, he wants to expand his business with restaurant franchises but he also wants to find more time for himself. Ali says if he had to choose between food and music, he would pick the music. He says he has chosen to remain in Fredericton because he is established here both as a chef and DJ.
If he were to move to a larger centre such as Toronto it would mean starting over. Now, whenever a DJ is needed in Atlantic Canada, he says he has made enough connections in the industry that he will get the call.
When the Black Eyed Peas and the Pussycat Dolls performed on P.E.I. last summer, he was there.
It was fantastic, he recalls, to hear some 40,000 people screaming his name. And he says it’s especially satisfying to know those artists appreciate his work. He recalls the American Music Awards, during the Black Eyed Peas’ acceptance speech when they mentioned his name, thanking him for his work.
Ali hasn’t returned to Trinidad since moving here in 2003. But his parents and sisters are here with him, working at the restaurant so he says he doesn’t miss the island life. The atmosphere at Caribbean Flavas is definitely tropical. Bright hues of blue, pink, yellow and orange are on the walls. Views of the ocean and a tropical beach can be seen through faux windows. “I have created my own little island here.”
Having his family live and work with him is wonderful.
In Caribbean culture, he explains, families stay together for life. “Family is huge. We work, eat and pray together,” he says. Leaving the business in the hands of his parents and sisters affords him peace of mind whenever he is away. With so much on his plate is he worried about burnout No, he says.
“This is not a job. It’s a passion.”
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