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I’m one of the few DJs who uses turntables. I’m the only DJ that’s scratching.

A-Trak

At festivals you kind of have to play the game a bit and you have to play a lot of the big bangers but it’s to me it’s extra gratifying to be able to play the non-bangers and make it work. Because that’s still the craft of the DJ, I think.
A-TRAK

Craft Festival Game Kind Play Thinking Yourself
I think one of the biggest things that’s changed in terms of the rapport with the crowd is that now crowds come to hear our songs. We’re getting closer and closer to an artist performance.
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Artist Change Music Myself Performance Rap Song Thinking
There’s a ton of amazing music that’s not getting heard.
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Amazing Hear Heard Music Ton
That’s what a DJ is at the end of the day – someone who leads where the music goes. The only thing that’s changed is that in America, people have woken up in the last few years and realized it.
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Country Day Direction End Leadership Music Realization Wake Up
There’s a lot of producers that are much more technical or gear-skilled than I am. But I have a pure idea of what I like and where I want to go and I follow that.
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Direction Follow Ideas Knowledge Myself Production Purity Skills Technical
Right now it feels like we’re playing a role, like me and a couple of my friends, in where popular culture is going. That’s a very rare thing in a person’s life to be able to be a part of that. It’s a responsibility I take seriously.
A-TRAK

Culture Myself Play Responsibility Right Serious
My ears are open to all sorts of stuff. I appreciate some of the big electro house guys.I love their music but I also like a lot of the stuff coming out of the U.K. Future garage stuff. A lot of stuff like that.
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Appreciation Genre Music Myself Open
I was a bit of an outsider in the hip-hop world because I was a scratch kid and people weren’t necessarily trying to hear that all the time.
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Kid Music Myself Scratch World
Building the scene, going out and doing shows and connecting with the fans, cultivating the fanbase in all these cities. I’m very glad that it’s happening.
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Build City Connection Fans Life Myself
When I get up I still check the rap blogs before I check any kind of dance stuff.
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Check Dance Music Myself Rap Video Wake Up
I think whether dance music had exploded in America, I still would’ve been a DJ a long time. This is my first love.
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Dance Explode Music Myself Thinking
It’s always important to me to play something other DJs aren’t playing.
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Important Music Myself Play
I worked with him for years. I still think Kanye [West] is one of the most important people in music in the last ten years.
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Important Music Myself People Thinking Worth
I have a radio show on Sirius XM. I put it up as a free download on my Soundcloud and on iTunes. That’s a portal for me once a month, to play songs I know aren’t getting played on that station the rest of the week.
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Download Listen Month Myself Play Radio Song
I love disco and we sample it a lot for Duck Sauce. For me, that sound is kind of a new manifestation.
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Manifestation Music New Sample Sound
The essential component of being a DJ is setting the mood; it’s playing to the context. So that if you’re not able to adapt from one context to another, then you’re not a DJ.
A-TRAK

Adapt Component Essential Mood Oneself Play
I’ve been doing it since I was prepubescent when I loved to scratch records and play good music. As it happens, you know I sort of fell into the mix. I really feel like I played a role in bringing dance music to America years ago.
A-TRAK

Goodness Interest Music Myself Play Record Sound Young
I’m not even a trained producer. I just keep following my ear and working on stuff until it sounds the way I like it.
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Music Myself Production Result Sound Training Work
At the end of the day, Fool’s Gold is a label that, when I hear something I like, I try to grab it for the label. There’s a ton of great music coming out.
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End Fool Gold Grab Hear Label Music Myself
I’m one of the few DJs who uses turntables. I’m the only DJ that’s scratching.
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DJ Music Myself Style
A few guys will get up there with turntables as purists, to play vinyl or whatever.
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Genre Music Play Purity
There are things I like, there are things I strongly dislike. In my DJ sets and in my production I just gravitate towards what I like.
A-TRAK

Dislike DJ Production Set Sound Strong
That was my challenge then, how to make scratching still fun for someone who didn’t necessarily come to hear that. It was fun to develop that technique. And now in dance music – I’m still a hip-hop guy at heart, but I love dance music.
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Challenge Fun Heart Hip Hop Music Require
We have to wake up early and make songs everyday. I run my record label. You work at hours where your body isn’t designed to work. But it’s fun.
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Early Fun Music Myself Run Song Wake Up
It’s a good feeling to have something to stand for in any part of your life. It’s like personal integrity.
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Feeling Goodness Integrity Personal Stand
I’m still a hip-hop producer. I never put a label on what I can do as a producer or a DJ.
A-TRAK

Inspirational Label Limitation Myself Potential Production
One thing that I learned in recent years from working more with other people is this idea that part of a producer’s job is to make people comfortable and confident.
A-TRAK

Comfortable Confidence Learning People

I’m one of the few DJs who uses turntables. I’m the only DJ that’s scratching.

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I’m one of the few DJs who uses turntables. I’m the only DJ that’s scratching.

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