Trackstar the DJ has been active since he took to the turntables for his college radio station in St. Louis in 1999. This was no college phase, though; since then he's released a number of well-received and highly rated mixtapes, he was the tour DJ for Killer Mike and Run the Jewels, and has performed around the world for crowds of thousands. A keen student of hip-hop music and culture, he's also performed with the likes of Big Boi, Zack De La Rocha, the GZA, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, and many more. He performs on the Saturday of Dusk, so we chatted with him to uncover the five albums that changed his life...
At 7:20 p.m. on Saturday, October 7, on the Earth's Healing Second Stage at the Dusk Music Festival. For full details, go to duskmusicfestival.com.
1. Outkast:ATLiens-There are ATLiens people, and there are Aquemini people. Both are good sets of people, but I'm an ATLiens guy, personally.
2. Wu-Tang Clan:Enter the 36 Chambers-On the day I listened to this album my life changed forever--from then on hip hop was the most important thing in my life and Wu-Tang was my religion.
3. Kendrick Lamar:Section 80-I wanted to include something from this century so rather than appear biased by including an RTJ album, here stands King Kendrick.
4. A Tribe Called Quest:Midnight Marauders:You can make a strong case for Low End Theory, but this is my favorite Tribe album. RIP Phife.
5. DJ Shadow:Endtroducing-This album was so influential on how I look at and listen to music, and still gets very regular rotation in my headphones to this day.
