Alain Macklovitch was 13 when he scratched his first record. The year was 1995, the turntable was his father's, and the mixer...well, he didn't have a mixer yet. But that problem was remedied soon enough, when he used his freshly earned Bar Mitzvah money to buy himself a used Technics 1200 turntable and, you guessed it, a mixer. In the months that followed, while the other kids were busy playing sports and watching Full House, he spent most of his after-school time locked up in his basement, practicing, listening to Pete Rock, DJ Premier and Jazzy Jeff records, studying videotapes and showing his new scratches to his big brother Dave. Two years later, with nary an armpit hair in sight, the Montreal native was crowned DMC World Champion and invited to be an honorary member of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, the celebrated Bay Area crew led by DJ Q-Bert and Mixmaster Mike.

A Trak has toured with Kanye West, performing to 20,000 seater stadiums across the globe and has released on labels as diverse as Stones Throw and Boys Noize.

Recommended track: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix)