Electronic dance producer and award-winning DJ
Steve Aoki built his brand around raucous live sets, high-profile remixes and collaborations, and his indie label, Dim Mak Records. Active since the mid-'90s, his official debut album,
Wonderland, received a Grammy nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album in 2013, while subsequent releases remained a steady presence in the Top Five of the U.S. dance chart, including a pair of chart-toppers with Neon Future, Vol. 1 (2014) and
Neon Future, Vol. 3 (2018). He was back in the Top 20 with Neon Future, Vol. 4 (2020). Dim Mak, founded in 1996, went on to count indie bands and electronic acts such as
Gossip,
Bloc Party,
the Kills,
Klaxons,
MSTRKRFT, and
Bloody Beetroots among its stable of signees.
Aoki is one of the most collaborative producers around, with hundreds of features and remixes under his belt, including Top Ten dance hits for "A Light That Never Comes" featuring
Linkin Park, "Just Hold On" featuring
Louis Tomlinson, "All Night" featuring
Lauren Jauregui, and "Waste It on Me" featuring
BTS.
Born in Miami in 1977, Steven Hiroyuki Aoki grew up in California -- the Japanese-American son of former wrestler and restauranteur Rocky Aoki -- where he balanced academics, athletics, and social activism with his love of music, double-majoring at University of California, Santa Barbara while also playing secret shows from his college apartment. In 1996,
Aoki took his D.I.Y. record production hobby and made it official with the formation of indie label Dim Mak Records. On the side,
Aoki continued to perform in bands and solo sets.
In 2007, he released his first official compilation, Pillowface & His Airplane Chronicles, on Thrive Records. Featuring tracks by
Justice,
Klaxons,
Mystery Jets,
Peaches,
Datarock,
Yelle,
Franz Ferdinand,
Bloc Party, and
Scanners -- most of them remixed -- Pillowface & His Airplane Chronicles represented
Aoki's renown as a taste-making dance party DJ. The mix peaked in the Top Ten of the U.S. Dance chart.
In 2009, his remix work brought rapper
Drake's single "Forever" to the dancefloor, while 2010 saw him release the "I'm in the House" single with
Zuper Blahq, alter ego of
Black Eyed Peas singer
will.i.am. Further high-profile artists' material was also reworked by
Aoki during this period, with tracks by
Michael Jackson,
the Killers, and
Lenny Kravitz all benefiting, while collaborations with like-minded producers such as
Armand van Helden and
the Bloody Beetroots continued to appear on Dim Mak. By the end of 2011, the early fruits of sessions for his debut album had materialized as the singles "Earthquakey People" -- a collaboration with
Weezer singer
Rivers Cuomo -- and "Tornado," on which
Aoki combined forces with the multi-award-winning
Tiësto.
Wonderland arrived in early 2012 and marked
Aoki's first appearance on the Billboard 200. The album was later nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards.
In late 2012, he released his first EP,
It's the End of the World as We Know It. More collaborations followed, including a single between
Aoki and
Linkin Park titled "A Light That Never Comes," which was expanded as an EP featuring remixes by
Rick Rubin,
Vicetone, and
Coone. The track became
Aoki's highest-charting single to date.
In 2014, he announced details of his sophomore effort, Neon Future, Vol. 1. Marketed as a two-part record, the first installment arrived later in the year, topping the Billboard Dance chart with the help of guests such as
Fall Out Boy,
will.i.am, and
Waka Flocka Flame. Neon Future, Vol. 2 followed in 2015 with appearances from
Rivers Cuomo,
Snoop Dogg, and
J.J. Abrams. The next year,
Aoki collaborated with
One Direction's
Louis Tomlinson on the single "Just Hold On," which debuted at number two on the U.K. singles chart and just outside the Top 50 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Aoki's fourth effort arrived in the summer of 2017.
Kolony featured appearances by trap rappers
Migos and
Lil Yachty ("Night Call"),
Gucci Mane ("Lit"),
Lil Uzi Vert ("Been Balling"), and
2 Chainz ("Without You").
The next year,
Aoki released the single "Azukita" with
Daddy Yankee,
Play N Skillz, and
Elvis Crespo. He followed with a quintet of big-bass, high-energy singles -- featuring guests
Hardwell,
Laidback Luke,
Loopers, and even his mother -- which all landed on the
5OKI EP. 2018 continued to be a busy year for
Aoki, with collaborations (including "Pretender" with
Lil Yachty and
AJR and "Be Somebody" with
Nicky Romero and
Kiiara) and remixes (including the star-studded "Girls" by
Rita Ora,
Cardi B,
Bebe Rexha, and
Charli XCX) occupying much of his output. He was also featured on a pair of tracks on the record-breaking
Love Yourself: Answer by K-pop group
BTS, lending his talents to the ballad "The Truth Untold" and a remix of "MIC Drop."
A third
BTS pairing, "Waste It on Me," was just one of many high-profile collaborations on
Aoki's chart-topping
Neon Future, Vol. 3. Landing at the end of 2018, the third installment in the series included appearances from
blink-182,
Jimmy Eat World's
Jim Adkins,
Lady Antebellum,
Daddy Yankee, and even Bill Nye "the Science Guy." Neon Future, Vol. 4 arrived in April 2020, featuring
Icona Pop,
Desiigner,
Monsta X,
Sting,
Backstreet Boys,
Maluma,
Travis Barker,
will.i.am,
Matthew Koma,
Alan Walker, and
Zooey Deschanel among its many guest artists. A handful of non-album singles appeared throughout 2021, including "Mambo" with
Willy William, "Used to Be" with
Kiiara and
Wiz Khalifa, and the multicultural Anthem "Equal in the Darkness" with
MAX and
Jolin Tsai. ~ Jason Birchmeier & Neil Z. Yeung