A night in a Chinatown shuttle with TikTok DJ Nick Cheo

Nick Cheo’s swift and unexpected climb as a DJ is as much a tale of friendship as it is about virality. The 21-year-old student, based in Ohio, started DJing in his dorm room in February this year because one of his friends, Ethan, convinced him to try it. Then, he started playing sets at campus bars around Ohio State University because Ethan was the president of the DJ club. So when his bedroom sets took off online, gaining him almost 200k followers on TikTok and Instagram, he decided to head to New York for the month with his three best friends, Ethan, Isaac, and Ani. “We pretty much did an Ohio takeover,” he says. Taking his signature unexpected mixes out of the comfort of his room and out into a new city, Cheo hosted his first major event on August 23: a party bus set-turned-Chinatown block party with POSH VIP, a social experiences app. “We’re pushing the boundaries of what a DJ set is,” he says. Naturally, his friends were right by his side. 

Many of Cheo’s fans online swear he can mix oil with water, something he pushed the limits of as he started his shuttle set from Asian Jewels in Flushing to LUME Studios. He’d throwback to songs from before he was even a teenager, like Zayn Malik’s “Pillowtalk”, and then mix them with new hits, like JT’s “Okay” followed by Childish Gambino’s “Redbone”. The entire set was far smoother than the bus ride itself, twisting and turning with the likes of Memphy and Antoni Bumba dancing in the back. And the transitions were almost always completely unexpected – something he’s become known for on TikTok. “I just started filming to track my progress and would post whatever mashups I thought were funny,” he says. “Other people thought they were funny too, and that’s how I caught traction, but I had no intention of going anywhere with it.” This includes mixing Sexyy Red’s “SkeeYee” and Frank Ocean’s “Nights”. 

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Cheo’s growing popularity seems to have caught even him by surprise, but he plans on “riding the wave” and has even taken a semester off school. “I was studying computer engineering, but I was looking for any excuse to do something else,” he says. “This is my one opportunity not to do that anymore, and the whole point is to try to be cool enough to the point where I don’t have to go back.” Despite his humour-first approach to mixing, he’s also doing his research and taking every opportunity seriously. Before he started DJing, Cheo says he would mostly listen to rap music. Now, he’s listening to funk, UK garage, and other genres to expand his music knowledge. “In the first three or four months after going viral, I had to prove to other people that I can actually DJ and am not just a meme,” he says. “Now, people believe me.” 

While social media has given Cheo a platform, the rising DJ says it was his sets around Ohio State University that prepared him for DJing in front of his New York audience. “I used to do four hours of just randomness, but now I have a much better grasp on how to cut it down and do a good one-hour set,” he says. “If I didn’t have that real-life experience, I would definitely be struggling right now.” The difference between posting a set online and doing a live set, he says, feels comparable to singing in the shower versus performing on stage. “When I throw a crazy transition in real life, I get to see people’s faces,” he says. Then, the online validation only adds fuel to his desire to prove himself. Cheo’s “I’m really doing this” moment, he says, was around two months ago when Tinashe posted him on her story, and the likes of Rich Brian and Danny Cole reached out. 

“I was studying computer engineering, but I was looking for any excuse to do something else... the whole point is to try to be cool enough to the point where I don’t have to go back” – Nick Cheo

Cheo, Ethan, Isaac, and Ani all have the twinkle of “anything is possible” in their eyes, which comes from being in your early twenties and experiencing New York nightlife for the first time. They’re also learning important life lessons together (like that you can’t eat only chicken over rice every day). “I’ve had to have some fruits and vegetables that I haven’t had for a long time,” Cheo says. “That helps in the preparation and the mental state.” He’d like to have a Boiler Room set one day (and multiple people on the Chinatown shuttle as a “boiler bus”) and is excited to DJ multiple New York Fashion Week after-parties this season. But he also just wants to host more unconventional events – like his recent set in the backyard of 12 Pell, a barbershop in Chinatown, where he received a 30-minute bleach and tone while DJing. 

To Cheo, anything is possible, and everything is hilarious. “I’m not super handsome, but I have a unique look, so I think it would be funny if I modelled,” he says. When asked why social media has validated him amongst a sea of aspiring young DJs, he says it may be because he uses stems. “Not a lot of DJs use stems right now, and I think I have a good ear for what catches people by surprise both online and in real life,” he says. “Also, I’m Asian, and you don’t see a lot of Asian DJs.” As he hopped off the shuttle, laptop in hand and “I Love Paris” written across his shirt, and headed into the block party, hundreds of young people were waiting for him. What they may not have known is that he was walking in with the very people who made his new-found virality possible. “I don’t know how to repay them, so this is literally my way of sharing the love,” he says. “This is what four kids from Ohio can do in the big city.”