A dapper sense of style, which includes 24-carat gold microphones, color-blocked tuxedos, and cricket sweaters is only a small portion of why DJ Cassidy is such a recognized and famed figure in the Hip Hop. With a résumé that includes not only DJ’ing Beyoncé and Jay Z’s 2008 wedding, but even President Obama’s 50th birthday and 2009 inauguration, his importance permeates throughout the culture. It’s interesting though, to examine the roots of such a blossomed and esteemed figure, to learn the steps that galvanized such glaring achievements, and that’s exactly what DJ Cassidy does in his new annotations for Genius.

In commentary Cassidy recalls receiving Diddy‘s number as a college freshman:

He comes up to me on the way out and looks at me and he does kind of a triple take and he is like, “Where is the DJ?” And I said, “I am the DJ.’” And he said, “Who has been here all night playing all these old records?” And I said, “Me.” So he writes down his number and says, “Call me tomorrow.” I was a freshman at college, NYU, and I was so nervous to call him. Like, Puffy, he was the king of New York, you know? And I finally got the nerve to call him and I got his voicemail and it rang a few times and then it said, “God is the greatest, leave a message.”

He also talks about lying to R. Kelly to hit the studio:

I texted him and said, “Hi,” and I didn’t know what to call him so I said, “Hi, Mr. Kelly, it is DJ Cassidy. If you remember we met a year ago. I am in Chicago and I would love to come by the studio tomorrow. Can I?” Or something like that. And he wrote back right away, “Sure.” Of course, I was actually in New York and I was testing my hypothesis, which is that famous people don’t like the pressure of you flying to go see them, so if I was flying to go see someone I had to lie about why I was there.

Cassidy gives provides candid info about transcending the New York club scene to collaborations with R. Kelly, Jessie J, Chromeo and more in on is verified Genius page. Check out the interesting gems here.