Ming

Grammy-nominated remixer MING has set EDM trends for nearly two decades. His recent chart-topping release "King Kong" –on Steve Aoki's DIM MAK Records– is just one of many reasons Aoki deems MING "a legend." Fortunately for fans, that legend is still in the making. Most musicmakers would beam at such plaudits. But the New York native and adoptive Harlemite born Aaron Albano is matter-of-fact about his place in the game. With EDM’s constant turnover, longevity means lasting peer respect but doesn’t necessarily ensure currency. That doesn’t daunt the ambitiously genre-proof MING, who is equal parts producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and studio savant. He’s again topping charts and turning the heads of fans and household names alike. Speaking of pan-genre pandemonium, note his recent “Drop It Like a Beat Down,” which rolled “Drop it Like It’s Hot” together with a joint by Steve Aoki, Iggy Azalea, and Angger Dimas to spark a smokin’ remake. The effort tallied a staggering 45,000 SoundCloud plays in a single 24-hour period. Elsewhere, MING has been thrashing Beatport—simultaneously landing four Top 40 trap remixes on the Hip-Hop chart; his reworking of Paul Mendez’ “Rock” peaked at #2. His own compositions have fared just as well, such as his EDC anthem “Carnival” on Peak Hour Records and his “Disintegration” collaboration with Le Castle Vania on the latter’s Prophication EP, released on deadmau5’s Mau5trap label. MING’s ceaseless assault on the #1 spot should come as no surprise, as his résumé boasts a string of epic remixes: Beyoncé’s “Run the World;” Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” ft. Beyoncé; Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl;” Black Eyed Peas’ “Rock That Body;” Ellie Goulding’s “Lights.” And his talents aren’t limited to radio: MING’s aural provocations have graced hit TV shows such as CBS’s CSI: Miami and CSI: NY, HBO’s Sex and the City, and Showtime’s Weeds. He’s also scored big-name advertising campaigns such as for Sears, Nissan, Chevy, Burger King, Nokia, AT&T and Doritos. To his credit, MING supplements the artistic with the entrepreneurial. He founded Habitat Music, which supplies original music to the advertising, film, and television industries and also Hood Famous Music, his own label imprint. Not bad for the man who in a former life was half of the groundbreaking experimental hip-hop/EDM duo MING+ FS. MING manned guitar, bass, drums, keys, and turntables in amassing more than 1,000 shows globally. The NYCentric pair opened for seminal acts such as Sting, Run-D.M.C and Moby. Fast forward to the present, and meet MING v2.0: older, wiser, stronger, That’s a frightening thought. That’s the stuff of legends. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.