A-Trak has become associated with the dance music scene over the past few years, but his roots in hip-hop are deep. He started out as a hip-hop DJ, winning the DMC DJ Championships at age 15. He was Kanye West's touring disc jockey in 2004 and has been a frequent collaborator with other DJs and rappers like DJ Craze, Wale and Cam'ron. He recently penned a new editorial on Medium on the state of hip-hop and how he thinks the genre has shifted so rapidly over the past year in new and fascinating ways.
The main shift has been the fact that the status quo in hip-hop has been challenged and it is being broken down. He uses Yeezus as his primary example, as "it broke formats of song structure and challenged the industry. One year later, the left field seeped out of the margins and into the mainstream."
One of the primary ways the genre has shifted directions is a move online and how new types of sounds and artists are able to get a voice.
"More than ever, rap and tech go hand in hand. 2014 was the year of SoundCloud rap — why hasn't anybody pointed that out?" he said.
His best example is Drake, who has found OVO rappers on SoundCloud and releases the bulk of his music through the platform.
He also touches on the sudden and massive social shift that is being seen in hip-hop reflected in the youth of America. The United States is becoming a more accepting society of gay marriage, and it is not the same issue that it was 20 or even 10 years ago, and this is finally being carried over to hip-hop.
As A-Trak comments:
"Since the days of Zulu Nation and pristine shell-toe Adidas, hip-hop always had a strong sense of rules, a rigid code of conduct, an obsession with authenticity, appearance and even sexual orientation. When Young Thug playfully calls Rich Homie Quan his husband — much to the ire of closed-minded Instagram commentors — it feels like rap has been flipped upside down in the best possible way. Nothing Was the Same indeed."
