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Music

Every Track on Traxman's 'TEK x TAR Vol. 5' EP is Footwork Fire

Traxman has churned through several generations of Chicago dance music, and his deep crates show for it.

"Brothers and sisters, I don't know what this world is coming to!" bellows the beginning of "Da Rebel." The track is off TEK x TAR Vol.5, the latest in a collaborative series between Teklife, a Chicago-based collective of footwork DJs and producers, and the LA label TAR. While the series has previously given the spotlight to footwork's new wave, including DJ Manny, Heavee, and DJ Earl, this edition was helmed by an OG: the longtime Chicago producer Traxman.

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The vocal sample that kicks off "Da Rebel" is one that you've heard a million times before-it's lifted straight from Public Enemy's "Rebel Without A Pause." But in Traxman's hands, the familiar agit-pop anthem is scrambled into a salad of clattering drums and dubby low-end, garnished with an ear-splitting siren squeal. Alongside the KRS-One-referencing "Thay Act Like They Don't No" and fittingly sampledelic "Dilla," the three-track EP is a fine example of why Traxman is one of footwork's boldest frontiersmen.

To find out more about his latest release, I sent Traxman a few questions over email-and woke up to a bunch of voice messages on my Facebook. "What's the story behind this EP? I don't know man, a bunch of a crazy ass shit man," he says with a chuckle. "Music that's diverse-hip-hop, drum and bass, footwork… the whole nine."

Few producers are as adept at splicing together classic hip-hop samples with the adrenaline-fueled beat science of footwork, a skill he also demonstrated on his last two albums, Da Mind of Traxman Vol 1 and 2, released on Planet Mu. Even fewer producers have been in the game for as long. Traxman's legacy goes back three decades, when his ghetto house and juke jams were pushed by the iconic Chicago label Dance Mania. He later joined GhettoTeknitianz, a crew founded by DJ Rashad that evolved into Teklife. Basically, he's churned through several generations of Chicago dance music, and his deep crates show for it.

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When asked about his role in Teklife, the collective that brought footwork to the international spotlight and helped it stay there, Traxman is quick to distance himself from any labels. "I wouldn't call myself a Teklife DJ, a ghetto DJ producer, or a ghettotech producer. I am a producer of whatever I can put my foot into."

Instead, there's just one word he'd used to describe his work: "Ill!"

Traxman's TEK x TAR Vol. 5 EP is out now on TAR

Traxman is on Facebook // SoundCloud // Twitter

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