Long before his collaborations with 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. Later, he worked as 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 remembers.

Ronson reflects on his lifelong love affair with music—captured in his new book, Night People: How to Be a DJ in ’90s New York City—with Vogue’s Corey Seymour on this Monday’s episode of The Run-Through. He gets candid about growing up in a musical family, the identity crisis he had in his early years as a performer, and what it’s like to set the tone for the party. “I am obsessed with the craft,” he says.

Needless to say, to be in the scene in the ’90s was totally thrilling: “You had Jay-Z, Biggie, Lil’ Kim, Tribe, and then you had Missy and Timbaland and people from other places that were all in New York making their records,” Ronson says, “and they would all come to the club and there I am with this front-row seat to it.” Listen to the full conversation up above.