A-Trak Quotes

It's always important to me to play something other DJs aren't playing.

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.

I love disco and we sample it a lot for Duck Sauce. For me, that sound is kind of a new manifestation.

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.

There's a ton of amazing music that's not getting heard.

A few guys will get up there with turntables as purists, to play vinyl or whatever.

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.

When I get up I still check the rap blogs before I check any kind of dance stuff.

I'm still a hip-hop producer. I never put a label on what I can do as a producer or a DJ.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I think whether dance music had exploded in America, I still would've been a DJ a long time. This is my first love.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

It's a good feeling to have something to stand for in any part of your life. It's like personal integrity.