DJ NARD: An Ever-evolving Student of His Craft [SwanoDown Report]

Written by Imani Wj Wright

I've been in the world of music for close to 20 years now. I've seen several types of personalities, and varying levels of skill. And let me tell you, as you can imagine, I've seen some terrible people with lots of talent, and some great people who lack in the talent department. But when you want to talk about someone who has all the pieces, one of the first names that come to mind is Lenard Dailey, aka DJ NARD. 

Have you ever started talking to someone, and instantly knew you were in the presence of a special person? That's DJ NARD, or as some affectionally call him, Nardi. If you've ever attended an event where NARD was spinning, you'd be amazed by his humility. He's a mastermind with keeping events jumping, or keeping events even-keeled, he knows how to assimilate to the mood. You cannot understate that trait for a DJ. 

“When reading a room, I look at the people. I see how people are reacting to the music that I’m playing. You’re dealing with different crowds every night. At any given event, you may not know what kind of crowd you’re dealing with, so you play different music to see how people are reacting to what you’re playing. And based on how they’re moving, you keep that certain tempo… I’ll throw in a song to see if they’re going to bite on that, and I’ll keep music based off what I just played,” NARD explained. 

However, NARD also touched on the fact that sometimes there will be people who are absolutely loving the music, but may not dance and show their enthusiasm. He mentioned that there may be times you deal with that and think you may not be doing a good job, so you can't fully rate the quality of your set on everyone's reaction.

NARD is a resident DJ on Thirsty Thursdays at Corinthian Lounge & Resturant in Baltimore, MD. And to no surprise, he rocks the house.

“It really comes down to music. You have to make sure you have all the music. I think that’s very key, and very important that you have all the music for a specific event. Especially for specific customers, I make sure that I have the genres that they like, favorite artists, and favorite songs to make sure that the event is to their expectation… That’s who I’m doing it for. I even have back up music just in case something changes,” NARD exclaimed.

Keep up with DJ NARD here!