Justin Lim Is Pushing UK Garage to the Mainstream
The DJ shares his rider, his tamjai order, and his favorite Wong-Kar Wai films.
During Christmas 2021, Justin Lim was locked in isolation after contracting COVID. “I had a lot of free time on my hands.” So he started to DJ. Three years later, Justin’s pandemic hobby is now a successful side-hustle. The 22-year-old DJ opened for Clockenflap in 2023, with his name on the lineup alongside the Wu-Tang Clan and Arctic Monkeys! Justin is also the co-founder of Feed the Dragon, a Hong Kong-based music event collective aiming to inject UK-influenced bass music across Asia. Expect blends of UK garage, d&b, jungle, and breaks at one of their events. With the collective, Justin's helped push British underground sounds closer towards the city’s mainstream, organizing events at popular venues like Frank’s and Social Room (Feed the Dragon’s also hosted events in Manchester, Mainland China, South Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan!). You can listen to his full sets with The Lamma Sounds and Moth Community Radio on YouTube. Here are his recommendations on THE CHOW:
A pack of White Claw 🐾
Every DJ has a rider — drinks or food that they request for their set. I am gonna get so much shit for this, but mine is a pack of White Claw.
They’re low calories. They’re light and easy to drink. They also taste good. For me, I don’t want to be mixing while I’m leathered, but I just need that kick to let me ease into it and calm the nerves before shows. And White Claw is perfect. The Black Cherry flavor in particular — that’s the shit.
Tamjai for a hangover cure 🍜
After a heavy night of drinking, I usually wake up at around 11-1 o’clock. Particularly when I’m in Hong Kong, the first thing I do is have a cold shower and head straight to my local Tamjai.
I have a very specific post-hangover order: Level 3 Spice for the Ma La soup, beef, tofu puffs, and fried fish slices with a side order of sliced pork belly and mashed garlic. Oh - and no bean sprouts, I’m not a picky eater but that is the one vegetable I just cannot do.
Mukbangs 🍔🍟🥤😜
There’s a lot of mukbangs on my ‘for you’ page. For some reason, watching mukbangs is peaceful for me — I’ll watch some just before I go to sleep and it helps me wind down. I’m not quite into the ASMR of it, where people are breathing down the mic.
But I’m in England right now, where good Asian food is hard to find, so watching clips of people enjoying it feels soothing. It helps with inner peace - I can’t describe it well enough in a way that doesn’t make me seem like a weirdo haha.
Wong Kar Wai’s As Tears Go By 💧🏃👋
Another thing on my ‘for you’ page: clips from Cantonese cinema — lots of Wong Kar Wai films from Hong Kong’s Golden era. My favorite is As Tears Go By with Andy Lau in it.
Keep “Flashing Hype” by Sam Interface on your playlist 🖥️
One song that every DJ should have on their USB is “Flashing Hype” by Sam Interface. This borders more on UK Funk, a sister genre of UK Garage. It’s got this beautiful sample from Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights.” Sam takes the melody of the song and converts it into a UK Funky dance track, which I find so creative. This guy isn’t big at all, but I swear to God I have it in every single set I have. It goes off, and it gets a huge reaction from the crowd. “Flashing Hype” is one of those crowd revival tunes — when you play it, suddenly everyone’s alive again.
Listen to “Crawl” by Douvelle19 and Sipho 🚼
A song I’ve been obsessed with recently a lot is “Crawl” by Douvelle19 and Sipho. It hasn’t been out long, but I’ve literally played it 24/7. It’s very atmospheric UK Garage track that’s catered towards a more mainstream audience. I think the best way to describe it is borderline cinematic, sounding like it could even be on a James Bond film, where the vocals sound very Sam Smith-esque.
Fierce Chains x Feed the Dragon Collab! ⛓
Feed the Dragon did a collab with Fierce Chains last year to sell a limited edition chain. I wear it every time I play to rep the brand. It’s really thick, got this clean metal pendant, and comes in black and crystal white. Unfortunately it’s sold out but if we ever do a restock its a must buy!