Mark Ronson on His Front Row Seat to 90s Hip-Hop History

The Run-Through with Vogue

Vogue

Fashion & Beauty, Arts

4.1 • 764 Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Long before his collaborations with major artists like Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse and Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson was sneaking into nightclubs with his friend Sean Ono Lennon at 12 years-old. As he grew up, his status as a night person solidified when he became a DJ in hip-hop clubs in New York City. “It's so exciting that people are suddenly coming because they love the music that you've made,” Ronson says.

Ronson explores his love affair with the music as he sits down with Vogue’s Senior Editor Corey Seymour to talk about his new book “Night People: How to Be a DJ in '90s New York City.” Ronson gets candid about growing up in a musical family, the identity crisis he had in his early years as a performer and what it is like to set the tone for the party. “I am obsessed with the craft,” reflects Ronson as he retraces his past and pieces together the stories from his big nights and the celebrities who were a part of it.

“All the music being made in New York at that time was kind of like the biggest music, at least in hip-hop.” recalls Ronson.

“So, you had Jay-Z, Biggie, Little Kim, Tribe, and then you had Missy and Timberland and people from other places that were all in New York making their records and they would all come to the club and there I am with this front row seat to it.”

The Run-Through with Vogue is your go-to podcast where fashion meets culture. Hosted by Chloe Malle, Head of Editorial Content, Vogue U.S.; Chioma Nnadi, Head of British Vogue; and Nicole Phelps, Director of Vogue Runway, each episode features the latest fashion news and exclusive designer and celebrity interviews.

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Transcript

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0:49.5	This is The Run Through. I'm Chloe Mell, and today we are joined by my colleague, senior editor and music editor-in-chief, Corey Seymour. Hi, Corey.
0:58.6	Hi, Chloe.
0:59.8	Corey, you got a chance to talk to New York's favorite DJ and music producer Mark Ronson about his new memoir, Night People, How to be a DJ in 90s New York City. I love Mark, and I think that he always has such a thoughtful way of thinking about life and music.
1:16.6	What was it like chatting with him?
1:19.6	We had a really good time. His book is great.
1:22.6	I really didn't know that I would love it as much as I ended up loving it. And it kind of turned out that he and I were sort of on opposite sides of the 90s. We were both night people, but I was in rock and roll clubs, and he was in hip-hop clubs and dance clubs every now and again. These were your Rolling Stone years. My Rolling Stone years, and he was an intern at Rolling Stone. We were not
1:44.3	there at the same time. You were an intern at Rolling Stone. I was. Were you there with Mark or no?
1:47.6	I was not. Okay. He's a bit older than me. A lot of ships in the night. But we had a really nice time.
1:53.3	He has such a kind of fascinating childhood. His father was in the music industry. His stepfather
2:00.1	who was in a legendary band from the 70s and 80s called Foreigner.
2:05.4	His mom was sort of this woman about town, and he was best friends with Sean Ono Lennon
2:12.5	and spent a lot of time hanging out in the Dakota.
2:16.0	And it was sort of like gilded childhood, but also
2:18.9	the other side of that was him running free around downtown New York and all these clubs
2:24.8	legal or not legal at the time and getting into some trouble, but maybe not as much as he should
2:30.7	have or could have. But also, he's quite frank in the book and in our chat about how ambitious he was.
2:37.6	While also sort of being on this kind of dark side of 90s nightlife, he really, really busted himself to gain these skills as a DJ and just work every room and haul up crates of records and learn what it took to just hold a room and to command a dance floor.
	...

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