In Chicago, Bad Boy Bill (website, discogs, twitter, myspace, facebook, youtube) is best known for his mix shows on WMBX, WGCI and B96 and he is credited to being the founding father of the mixtape. With a career pning from the mid-1980s, Bad Boy Bill is legendary with his accomplishments, starting his first imprint - the illustrious IHR (International House Records) label - as a senior in high school, where he released material from artists like Mr. Lee, DJ Pierre and Mike "Hitman" Wilson. Bill has received top marks for being America's and the world's best and favorite DJ in multiple music publications, including URB and BPM and has been ranked repeatedly in the top 100 in DJ Magazine over the years.

Although Bill has moved on from his early roots to pursue different styles of dance music, he still is on top of his game and loyal to his roots. He is a founding partner in download site Beatport, tours the world playing over 100 gigs annually and has combined sales of over one million units to date. Here he talks about how he negotiates his past, present and future successes.

What are you listening to right now?

"Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" by Michael Jackson. Been listening to all his songs since he passed. Off The Wall was the first Michael Jackson album I bought, and it's still my favorite.

Why did you to decide to put an end to your multimedia company Mix Connection and its labels, including IHR which was pretty much a cult House label?

Our distributor went out of business owing us over a half million dollars, and that pretty much put us out. It was a sad time in the music industry and basically it became a game of collections - trying to collect money, and people calling us to collect money, and that's no fun for anyone.

Your newer label Ménage seems to be a bit dormant lately. What's the plan and future of this label and its direction?

Ménage is actually doing quite a bit as a boutique house label. We did a deal with Ultra for the JJ Flores and Steve Smooth album, and with Nettwerk for my album. Both of these projects were through Ménage. We have some other projects and deals in the pipeline, and once they are finalized, expect to see a lot more music on Ménage.

Tell us about your upcoming album on Nettwerk. Who is featured? What styles does it include? Why the release on Nettwerk and not another label or your own label?

This is my first all original music album. It's a big deal because most people know me from my mix CDs, but what a lot of people don't know is how long I have been making original music. I released my first track on DJ International when I was 17, and started my label IHR when I was a senior in high school. On The Album I linked up with a lot of people from my crew - JJ Flores, Steve Smooth, DJ Bam Bam, and Alex Peace - but I also have songs with very talented producers and singers including John Taylor (Duran Duran), Alyssa Palmer, Dan Chase, Evan Marc, Eric Jag, Johanna Phraze, and Kid Infinity.

Bad Boy Bill: Jack It All Night Long (DJ International):