If hip-hop steers clear of the gangsta minstrel-show quagmire and continues to annex more and more of mainstream pop culture, sooner or later so many people will have grown up with it as the dominant music of their youth that nobody will still feel compelled to point out when a hip-hop artist isn’t black. Until that utopia arrives, though, it’s going to be hard to talk about A-TRAK without mentioning his white French-Canadian heritage–I mean, it’s no small feat for a hip-hop DJ to excel when he comes from what’s hands-down the least funky stock in North America. The trailer to his new DVD, Sunglasses Is a Must, includes some footage of him in middle school, cutting and scratching like a veteran; at age 15 he won the DMC championship, the DJ world’s equivalent of an Olympic gold medal, and a few years later he landed a star position as Kanye West’s tour DJ. His technique on the decks runs a little too deep into turntablist turf for my taste, but that doesn’t mean he can’t pick his tracks–his sets (like his new mix tape with GLC, Drive Slow) respect the folks on the dance floor even as they indulge the crate-digging trainspotters who are sure to crowd his booth. That’s a good sign–the last thing a DJ should do is make you think too much.
