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A-Trak
On The Road Again
"Not a lotta guys would want to wear a shirt that says another guys name on it." A-Trak
From his days as the “youngest-in-charge” DJ battle champion to his current production work, A-Trak is one busy motherfucker. He’s been touring for the last ten years, and when he was in Australia as Kanye West’s DJ he played to 60,000 people a night, so rest assured he’s got some stories to tell.
At the moment you've got a whole bunch of stuff spawned from the Sunglasses Is A Must DVD, like toys and shirts. What’s the story with all of that?
Sunglasses Is A Must was originally the title of my DVD, and it was the name of the tour I did with The Rub for the DVD, and after that it became the name that I took on for a whole series of collaborations with different people in the streetwear scene. It all started with t-shirts to sell on the tour, but I didn't wanna do an A-Trak shirt, cause I have this whole conception that most self-respecting men [laughs]...not to get on some macho shit, but not a lotta guys would want to wear a shirt that says another guys name on it.
Do you feel like the turntablist scene became too self-indulgent?
Yeah, absolutely. I made the DVD and I was looking back at '99, when The Allies were just running the battle scene, and we would just tour and go to any country in the world and meet whoever was the best turntablist in that city and just do these shows. Already then, we were already into party-rocking, and we would do our routines and just shut it down. That scene was fueled by the battle, and we stopped battling and there started being so many titles to be won. The organizations putting on the battles got so greedy, and everyone was like "Oh, well let's just do a team battle now, and a head-to-head battle, and an exhibition battle, and an under-18 battle, and a female battle, and a bring your dog battle!” and all this crazy shit. Next thing you know, there was fifteen world champion titles to be won every year. No one could keep track of what was what. Audiences lost interest, and I can't really blame them.
Have you ever gotten food poisoning on the road?
I remember doing a show in Phoenix - which is in the middle of the desert - and for some stupid reason I agreed to go get sushi with the promoter before the show. Never thought of "Where does this sushi come from when you're in the middle of the desert?" While I was deejaying I had to run to the bathroom.
Do you collect souvenirs of your travels?
I was in Hong Kong and I found this thing on a street market, they were selling these framed illustrations that are made out of cut-up butterfly wings. That in itself is crazy to me, but what the drawing was, was these two elephants having sex. And you could see the member and everything - but everything made really tastefully out of butterfly wings! So I bought that and gave it to my girlfriend.
Back
Sunglasses Is A Must was originally the title of my DVD, and it was the name of the tour I did with The Rub for the DVD, and after that it became the name that I took on for a whole series of collaborations with different people in the streetwear scene. It all started with t-shirts to sell on the tour, but I didn't wanna do an A-Trak shirt, cause I have this whole conception that most self-respecting men [laughs]...not to get on some macho shit, but not a lotta guys would want to wear a shirt that says another guys name on it.
Do you feel like the turntablist scene became too self-indulgent?
Yeah, absolutely. I made the DVD and I was looking back at '99, when The Allies were just running the battle scene, and we would just tour and go to any country in the world and meet whoever was the best turntablist in that city and just do these shows. Already then, we were already into party-rocking, and we would do our routines and just shut it down. That scene was fueled by the battle, and we stopped battling and there started being so many titles to be won. The organizations putting on the battles got so greedy, and everyone was like "Oh, well let's just do a team battle now, and a head-to-head battle, and an exhibition battle, and an under-18 battle, and a female battle, and a bring your dog battle!” and all this crazy shit. Next thing you know, there was fifteen world champion titles to be won every year. No one could keep track of what was what. Audiences lost interest, and I can't really blame them.
Have you ever gotten food poisoning on the road?
I remember doing a show in Phoenix - which is in the middle of the desert - and for some stupid reason I agreed to go get sushi with the promoter before the show. Never thought of "Where does this sushi come from when you're in the middle of the desert?" While I was deejaying I had to run to the bathroom.
Do you collect souvenirs of your travels?
I was in Hong Kong and I found this thing on a street market, they were selling these framed illustrations that are made out of cut-up butterfly wings. That in itself is crazy to me, but what the drawing was, was these two elephants having sex. And you could see the member and everything - but everything made really tastefully out of butterfly wings! So I bought that and gave it to my girlfriend.
Back
Dirty South DanceOn some party-rocking shit, a taste of the kind of club sound to expect from his future productions with Kid Sister and co.
Drive SlowGLC drops verses while A cuts up popular beats. This was apparently recorded in a closet (?!)
Oh No You Didn't!The closest thing to experiencing Young Trizzle live without leaving your couch…or watching his DVD.
Kanye’s Soul MixshowA-Trak spins the original samples from the first two ‘Ye albums, with special comments from the Kan man.
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