Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: Film & Music

Media Credit: The Fader "Are you still with us, Toronto?" A Trak and Mehdi hype up the Lee's Palace crowd

DJ A Trak (aka Alain Macklovitch) has already lived an inspirational life that will hopefully be made into a movie sometime in the near future: a young Jewish boy from Montreal uses his Bar mitzvah money to buy turntables and some speakers, and practices for eighteen hours a day in his basement for a few years. When he emerges, he is a force to be reckoned with, winning DJ competitions all over the world at the tender age of 16. Just over ten years after buying his first decks, he's touring with Kanye West as his official DJ, scratching on tracks by Common, remixing songs for a bunch of high profile artists and consistently making crowds go wild in clubs all around the world. Just make a damn movie about this already!

Fool's Gold Records, the label recently created by A Trak along with Nick Catchdubs, brought him to Toronto for the last show of an extremely successful tour meant to promote the new label. Joining him are Catchdubs, French electro producer DJ Mehdi and rap star in-the-making (as well as A Trak's current love interest) Kid Sister. Revival Restaurant, Bar and Music Lounge was filled to the brim with electro-hipsters, hip -hop fans and aspiring turn-tablists all vying for dance floor space in a nightclub packed to capacity. Some were disappointed with the DJ's sets, others were entranced by the performance, and some were just ready to dance until dawn to whatever came out of the speakers.

The entrance I chose lead right to the front of the stage, saving me the trouble of jostling my way through most of the crowd. As I walked through the doors, the first thing I saw was a dance floor full of people dancing their hearts out to Nick Catchdub's diverse set of hip-hop, which ranged from tracks by "American Gangster" 50 Cent to British thug Dizzee Rascal, and everything in between. He put on a great show that was more than enough to keep the crowd alive as they waited for the main event: the tag team set from A Trak and Mehdi.

Next up was Chicago rapper Kid Sister. I had heard very little of her and was skeptical about the MC skills that this 5'2, ex-children's clothing store employee would actually possess. It turns out that my skepticism was unfounded; Kid Sister was not only amply skilled on the mic but also adorable as hell. Skipping back and forth on stage, she made the crowd bounce in a way that very few former retail employees could compete with. Behind her on stage was none other than A Trak himself, supplying driving beats to back up her rhymes.

Continued...

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