Head Spins: DJ NVS Styles

Beginning this Thursday, if you're down enough to hit the main room at Karu & Y, you're gonna get blasted with some of the meanest, keenest, leanest hip-hop ever to wax. You'll hear East Coast. You'll hear West Coast. You'll hear it dirty. But mostly you'll hear the M.I.A., in all its hard-partying glory. It's all part of the sprawling venue's brand-new Celebrity Thursdays, helmed by a cat named NVS Styles on the decks.

Say the name aloud: NVS. That's right — he inspires envy and then some. His name is shorthand for the strokes that awe folks, with a flair they most definitely want to get to know better, if not downright emulate. And it's because the Queens-born and -bred head spinner is wowing South Florida with the kind of turntable tricks not seen since Premier backed Guru in Gang Starr.

In fact, NVS says Premier is his primary inspiration. And he's become adept at dropping the wise one's two-bar blowbacks, as well as the big beats, sparse loops, and scratch choruses that the legendary DJ/producer made such a staple of the game. It helps he's had years of practice — NVS was still in high school when he started hustling mixtapes, and only 17 when he outbattled Miami's Craze in a Zulu Nation DJ Competition. A decade and change later, he counts battle wins at Winter Music Conference in 2004, BET's Spring Bling in 2006, and the Skullcandy DJ battle in 2009, among others. His resumé also boasts a stint working as a Latin boob tube liaison for the Miami branch of Jam Master Jay's Scratch Academy, and a spot scratching for Too Short on Lil Jon's production of the rapper's track "Burn Rubber."

Club-wise, naturally, NVS has spun 'em all, from Mansion to Crobar to Opium and Privé. But he says one of the all-time highlights of his career came when he and DJ Irie did a four-turntable DJ performance at the American Airlines Arena during a Heat game halftime. Teaming up with Miami's most visible beat juggler in front of 20,000 hoops fans must've really did it for our man, 'cause you can still hear the thrill in his voice when he speaks of that night.

Now ensconced at Karu on both Thursdays as well as Saturdays, and holding forth up at Fresh in Weston each and every Friday, NVS truly is becoming the envy of many. Add an upcoming guest spot with a certain Gym Class Hero for a remix of Kelly Rowland's "Daylight," and a summer onslaught of mixtapes called From the Bay to the MIA, and that envy is gonna be turning very green indeed.

DJ NVS Styles's current top five:

1. "Burn Rubber," Too Short feat. DJ NVS Styles

2. "I Ain't No Joke," Eric B. & Rakim

3. "Blame It on the Alcohol," Jamie Foxx

4. "I Don't Give a Fuck," Lil Jon

5. "Creator," Santigold