A-Trak

About A-Trak

A-Trak started as a turntablist before most people booking EDM festivals knew what that meant. Born Alain Macklovitch in Montreal, he won the DMC World DJ Championship at fifteen in 1997, making him the youngest person to ever take that title. While other teenage winners might have coasted on that, he kept competing and actually defended the title the next year. Then he did something smarter than entering contests forever—he became Kanye West's tour DJ in 2004, right as Kanye was transitioning from producer to full-blown rap superstar.

The Kanye years gave him access and credibility in hip-hop circles, but A-Trak was already plotting his move into electronic music. He founded Fool's Gold Records in 2007 with Nick Catchdine, and the label became one of those rare imprints that actually shaped a sound rather than just releasing tracks. Early Fool's Gold had this specific blend of hip-hop structure with electronic production that felt different from what blog house was doing. They broke Kid Cudi, Danny Brown, and Duck Sauce—his own project with Armand Van Helden that gave us "Barbra Streisand," a song that somehow made a diva's name into a festival-sized hook.

As a producer, A-Trak worked in this space between turntablism, club music, and rap that kept him from getting stuck in one lane. His "Heads Will Roll" remix with Armand Van Helden became the version people actually remembered, more than the Yeah Yeah Yeahs original for a certain crowd. He's produced for everyone from Kanye to Kid Cudi to Juicy J, toggling between worlds that don't usually overlap that cleanly. His "Push" collaboration with Andrew Wyatt had this skeletal, almost eerie quality that stood out from the maximalist EDM happening around 2014.

Fool's Gold stayed relevant longer than most mid-2000s labels by actually developing artists instead of chasing viral moments. The roster ended up with people like Danny Brown and Dillon Francis before they became unavoidable, which says something about A-Trak's ear beyond just his own productions. He also helped introduce Jersey club to wider audiences through Fool's Gold, signing R3ll and putting that sound in front of people who thought they were just there for trap remixes.

These days A-Trak is less visible than during his festival-headlining years but still operating at a high level. He's been doing more behind-the-scenes work, A&R stuff, and label management while still DJing regularly. He also started a collaboration series called "Goldie Awards" that connects emerging producers with established rappers—the kind of infrastructure project that matters more than another big room banger. He's in that phase where the influence is more diffuse but probably deeper, shaping what younger producers think is possible when you refuse to pick just one genre.

A-Trak's sets are technical without feeling sterile. He reads the room, mixing unexpected tracks into recognizable ones. Crowds respect the scratching and skill but stay loose and dancing. He doesn't grandstand.

Known for Higher Ground, Bells of War, Easy Bake Oven, She Said, World Record

See A-Trak Live