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.
A-TRAKThat 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.
More A-Trak Quotes
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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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I’m one of the few DJs who uses turntables. I’m the only DJ that’s scratching.
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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.
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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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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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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.
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It’s always important to me to play something other DJs aren’t playing.
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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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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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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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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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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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I’m still a hip-hop producer. I never put a label on what I can do as a producer or a DJ.
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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.
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When I get up I still check the rap blogs before I check any kind of dance stuff.
A-TRAK