Last week, Kanye West and Jay-Z played to a packed crowd for their second of two sold-out shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden. While all eyes were on the hip hop heavyweights as they performed their most addictive anthems and gallivanted across a number of elaborate stages (two of which were giant cubes adorned with LED graphics), it was Mano—the official DJ for the entire Watch The Throne tour—who kept the concert’s vigorous tempo intact. The Chicago-bred producer’s been a longtime colleague and tour mate of Ye’s, even helping him to produce “Lost In The World,” the esteemed, Bon Iver-sampling cut off of West’s outstanding oeuvre My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. After the duo’s impromptu encore, we went backstage to speak with the up-and-comer (who can also name M.I.A., Marc Jacobs and Jimmy Choo amongst clientele) about how he got his latest gig, pre-show rituals and keeping up with The Throne’s stimulating spontaneity.

VMAN How did you end up DJing for both Kanye and Jay-Z on this tour?
MANO Ye is a really good friend of mine. We were already doing his “The Wall” tour in Europe and Australia, and by that time the Throne album was already out, so Jay told him they should just perform with Kanye’s band. I was like, “Damn!” Kanye is incredible—Kanye and Jay-Z is swag afterlife. They just want to consolidate everything. Jay has a full band, Roc Boys, but this is more of the Kanye tour with a Jay addition as well. We’re bringing both crews on, but keeping it small with just two keyboard players and a DJ.

VMAN What’s something you’ve learned from being a part of this show and its creation?
MANO There’s a lot of technicality when it comes to having a tour that isn’t just two musicians performing, it’s a full-on production with three stages. It’s been great to see Kanye and Jay as involved with the lights and the visuals as they are with the music itself. The production was a bigger player in the tour. They were paying attention to everything. There are definitely things people forget about when they get huge and think someone else will deal with it, but not with them—they were there everyday, at rehearsal, working.

VMAN Any pre-show rituals?
MANO Absolutely! I pray before every show—I did that with Maya [M.I.A.], I did that with Travie [McCoy], and I still do it. I feel like if I don’t, there’s a chance I might fuck up.

VMAN Favorite moment of the show?
MANO Maybe when Jay does the “Encore” chorus because it’s just awesome. I like when I can play stuff as a fan, because I’m better able to step back and say “Hey, I’m a 27-year-old kid onstage with two of the biggest people in music.”

VMAN Kanye and Jay went on for an extra 15 minutes, and it looked like they were just asking you to play random songs they felt like performing. Do you have to be ready for them to throw you for a loop like that?
MANO Oh absolutely, all the time. It’s one of those things you have the patience and consistency for. You could go on stage and get pissed when they do that, but I think you just gotta be ready. I do tell Ye all the time that I like to be 115% prepared, because I’m out there representing him and Jay—If I fuck up, people are gonna look at them like they fucked up, so I try to make it so that never happens. All the artists that I work with are inspirations to me, and I would never want to do anything that would make them look bad in front of their fans.

VMAN Any dates you’re looking forward to in particular?
MANO Chicago! And L.A., but most definitely Chicago, because my mom comes. And then Tacoma too, because my brother gets to come. But I’ve been telling my mom about performing with Kanye forever, and now she’ll finally get to see it. It’s crazy she hasn’t met them yet—the first time I DJ’d for Kanye was in Chicago and I was only 18, so it’s overdue.

Follow Mano: @CallMeMano