March 20, 2025
R.O.A.D. Podcast – J.PERIOD: The DJ Storyteller
On this week’s episode of the @RoadPodcast, the fellas welcome Brooklyn-based mixtape DJ, remixer, and hip-hop producer J.Period (@jperiodbk), with guest h...
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
A-Trak Discusses the Current State of DJing
A-Trak sees the light. (photo source: Facebook)
A-Trak stopped by Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning show earlier this week to chat about Fool’s Gold’s Day Off festival, which kicks off on Friday. The influential DJ also discussed other topics, including the current state of DJing and his upcoming competition, which he announced in May on DJcity’s MikiDz Show.
When asked what he thinks about the current state of DJing, A-Trak said:
“DJing as a phenomenon is bigger than ever, but there’s kinda this paradox where a lot of people don’t even really know what DJing is, it’s just that everyone knows that there’s DJs. DJs are out there, they’re playing these big stages, they’re on billboards, they’re in ad campaigns. What do they really do? A lot of people are not sure. So I kinda take it upon myself to put out a lot of information about DJing. And even just on my Instagram page, I’ll write texts about the scene, I’ll put up videos of myself scratching.”
He added that he sees the benefit of using different tools for different jobs:
“I’ll use CDJs if that’s the best thing for the conditions. If I’m playing like an outdoor festival with crazy sun or wind, I’m not gonna stubbornly use my Technics [1200 turntables] out of principal and deal with like wind and melting vinyl.”
Overall, A-Trak said his open mind towards DJing also applies to music:
“I like to find value in everything around me. I never hate on a scene. I never hate on a genre . . . For me it’s about finding the good stuff.”
He also discussed the motivation behind his upcoming DJ and producer competition:
“It’s important to me to insert [turntablism] into the current music scene because somehow I think turntablism and this sort of technical branch of battle DJing, somehow kinda stayed to the side. It hasn’t fully coexisted with a lot of the new music . . . I know it can all work together.”
Watch the full conversation below and check out the lineup for the Day Off festival here.
