A-Trak gets crunk at Dance Right

The line of hipsters stretching down the southern end of Hill Street on Thursday was every indication that something special was going on inside La Cita.  Its weekly Thursday jump-off, Dance Right, has been pretty surprising with its DJ picks for a couple of years now. It's even become something of a hipster Mecca for the grittier East Side contingent.

Still, despite the $3 whiskey special that ran until midnight, most of the crowd came downtown to see golden boy turntablist A-Trak do his thing. If there's an art to live mixing and mashing for a dance floor, A-Trak is something of a Rembrandt. 

In addition to his championship level cutting and scratching game, he's also co-owner of a pretty hot indie label, boyfriend to a pretty hot rapper you might have heard of and musical cohort to the likes of Jay-Z and Kanye West, with whom he's toured.

A-Trak worked his Serato and turntable magic from just after midnight to about 1:45 a.m., mixing an electro- and dance-heavy set that included some mashups of classic rap. He was also into his own remixes for acts such as Boys Noize and neo-hipster favorites such as label signee Kid Cudi.

Looking on, and sweating it up with all the pretty twentysomethings, were fellow DJs Peanut Butter Wolf (wearing a black cap) and Cut Chemist.

The opening DJ set hyped up the crowd with air horns and laser beam noises -- the usual trappings of a dance hall DJ set. The pounding riddims were transmitting from Dow Jones' laptop.  Jones is a member of  Orlando, Fla.'s DJ/production team South Rakkas Crew, widely known for their remixing skills. Jones kept the dance floor packed with plenty of dance-hall nostalgia, with healthy doses of Sean Paul and Shaggy. And, of course, hip-hop party standards were thrown in too.

-- Post and photos by Camilo Smith