Julian's Cuban, so he also had the Latin swing. That to me was the most important thing, because I come from the hood, from Humboldt Park. You hear that in my sets. But it all comes down to Julian Perez. I'll tell you, I've done hip-hop parties, freestyle parties, techno parties... I've spun with the likes of Sven Vath, Paul Oakenfold, Josh Wink, Carl Cox, Derrick May, Légo, Marques Wyatt, Louie Vega - and I've never been scared because I was taught by the best.

And think about it: you're 14 years old and you've got 10 or 15 DJs around you saying "Fuck up, c'mon, fuck up, fuck up, wrong beat! Wrong beat!" Dude, it was strict! If you're a Chicago DJ, you're surrounded by the best. Julian taught me that.

If you want to know the history, I used to run a record store called Jumpin' Music on Grand. Julian Perez owned Jumpin' Music, and I ran it for him. I worked at the record store and would bring the new Cajmere to play on B96 with Julian. For many years on B96, we used to play House and Hip-Hop together, in one set. People were just going nuts listening to it. True story - B96 told me straight-up that they'd never play Hip-Hop, and now they're all about "Hip-Hop hits". But when we used to play that shit, people would react to it. And the other DJs copied us. I won't mention any names but I remember it, and suddenly everyone was doing it.

Julian and I rode together for many years and he taught me a lot until one day, I was done with the whole B96 thing and I wanted to move on.

How big is the Hip-Hop influence in your music?

The Hip-Hop influence is just as big in me, and that was from Day One. People forget about the Boogie Boys, Mike Dunn, Pharris Thomas, Lil' John, Kanye West, R. Kelly - those are all House people. This is Chicago, bro - there's no way around it.

In the beginning, New York had Hip-Hop and we had House. And then it switched in the mid-'80s - they got House, and we got Hip-Hop. If there's a Hip-Hop person that don't like House, he ain't from Chicago, and that's the truth. I was a Zulu King, baby, and I've done it. I ran the Zulu Nation in Chicago for three years with Cassius D. They all came to my parties. I still get my respect in the Hip-Hop community, from the biggest names, because I've been around so long.

The '80s is when the Zulu Nation was bustin' out and it was all about the bboys. That's poppin' now too. People like the electric bboy thing and that's what I am. If there's anyone that can claim to be Chicago House bboy, it's Bear. I broke my ass on the linoleum and the cardboard many times.

Let's talk about "Fix My Sink". That song debuted, I think, at #20 on the UK charts and became a huge worldwide phenomenon.

I was at home and the song came to me. I wrote it, put it together and brought it up to Sneak - I thought it was done but he didn't think so. That song was everywhere. The video for it was on the BBC, on TV in England. We did a live performance at Virgin Records in London - the same place where huge bands like Metallica play. To this day it's still on ringtones and everything else.

The funny thing is that people who didn't know us before had me pegged as the singer and Sneak as the producer - a team, like I'm the House Music Snoop Dogg and he's the Doctor Dré. But I don't claim to be an MC or a rapper. I'm an entertainer. That's where my "Fuzzy Cufflinxxx" alias comes from. That's the Bear that you see at the clubs or on the decks or that makes the records. Like Cajmere has Green Velvet - I understand it. I get it. I see where it's at.

Will you and Sneak be working together again?

I don't know, but you know what? "Fix My Sink" put me out there. It was the most successful thing musically that I've done up to this point. We put out some good music. I'd done records before but we went on a big tour, my video was on MTV, and suddenly I was a superstar.

How does that feel? I mean, you're in the UK playing at Virgin Records, and then getting off a plane in Chicago where there's no paparazzi or anything. Is it a head adjustment?

You mean having a 9-to-5 in Chicago, yet I'm on TV in England? Hell yeah, it's an adjustment. How does any human deal with that? Kanye West has a hard time dealing with the fame, I know that. You go to LA and people are asking for your autograph and all of that. The trippy thing is when I play "Fix My Sink" and people are singing the words to me. And then you go back home and you have trouble getting into one of the clubs that you used to DJ at. It's a trip. It's a weird experience but everybody goes through it here in Chicago.