DJ A to the L bio

Short story…
I be A to the L. I like tomato soup. I like Lord Finesse and other assorted Hiphop artists. I have very bad knees. Sometimes I write in the 3rd person. See below.

Long story…
A native of Northern Ireland, DJ A to the L caught the Hiphop bug around 1984, starting as a regular fan, before moving onto success behind the turntables. Starting with house parties and guest slots at small clubs, he quickly graduated to long residencies in several major Belfast nightclubs. This resulted in a rise in exposure, to the point where he was invited to become the resident mix show DJ on Northern Ireland’s number one-rated commercial radio station Cool FM. The station’s Hiphop show, ‘The Extended Weekend’ was at the time the only urban show in the country. The popularity of this show resulted in A to the L being selected as the opening DJ for many artists on the Irish dates of their tours, ranging from Run DMC, the Beastie Boys and 50 Cent, to Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera amongst others.

Alongside this, he cultivated a love/hate relationship with writing about Hiphop – setting up Altrap.com in early 1999 as a news and reviews site that promised to pull no punches when it came to informing fans of REAL opinions on artists and albums from all areas of the culture. It rapidly grew, earning praise and coverage in editions of URB, Vibe, Elemental, and Hip Hop Connection due to its brutally honest reviews and extensive interview archive.

In the summer of 2005, A to the L moved to Tallahassee, Florida, and over time has now become a fixture on both commercial and independent radio, and in the clubs. Formerly a resident mixer on 100.7 The Beat, he can now be found on your radio every weekend on two other Tallahassee stations – on Saturdays he’s behind the turntables on Florida State University’s radio station, WVFS, hosting their ‘Underground Railroad’ Hiphop show; on Sundays he holds down mixing duties on Blazin’ 102.3′s ‘Diggin’ In The Crates’ show with Stess The Emcee and DJ E-Zone. During the week, he mixes daily on 101.9 Kiss FM’s ‘Jay Blaze Show’ in Greenville, North Carolina, manning the wheels of steel during the popular ‘Mixtape At 8′ slot. In addition to spinning at practically every club in Tallahassee, as well as many in Florida’s other major cities and beyond, he has also held down the turntables at numerous special events and festivals, including Demp Week, and Atlanta’s A3C. He also still regularly travels back across the Atlantic for club gigs in various locations across the UK.

Dubbed ‘The Deepest Crates in the 850’ (Tallahassee’s area code) he has an expansive library of music over multiple genres. Although Hiphop is his first love, he is equally comfortable spinning R’n’B, House, Reggae & Dancehall, Soul, Funk, Pop, and Latin music.

What is Altrap.com?
Altrap.com was born in 1999 (branching out from the alt.rap newsgroup) as a Hiphop news and reviews site that promised to pull no punches when it came to informing fans of REAL opinions on artists and albums from all areas of the culture. It rapidly grew, earning praise and coverage in editions of URB, Vibe, and Hip Hop Connection due to its brutally honest reviews and extensive interview archive. Over the years it has evolved both in looks and layout into the current blog-ish style you see now. (The alt.rap newsgroup meanwhile is sadly dead not as vibrant as it once was, with many of the still-active posters now frequenting sister newsgroup rec.music.hip-hop instead.)

Contact info
If you’re a label looking to have product reviewed, an artist looking for a spotlight or interview, another site looking to link to Altrap.com, a disgruntled Eminem fan with a love of email viruses, or someone from Nigeria trying to transfer 16 million dollars into my account, then by all means get in touch with me using the following contact info…

Contact me:
Twitter: www.twitter.com/atothel
Facebook: www.facebook.com/atothel
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/djatothel
Email: mail@altrap.com / atothel@gmail.com

Catch me on radio:
Every Saturday from 5pm-8pm : The Underground Railroad on WVFS 89.7fm in Tallahassee. Worldwide on www.wvfs.fsu.edu
Every Sunday from 8pm-10pm : Diggin’ In The Crates on Blazin’ 102.3 in Tallahassee. Worldwide on www.Blazin1023.com
Weeknights from 6pm-10pm: The Jay Blaze Show on 101.9 Kiss FM in North Carolina (BDS Market.) Worldwide on http://www.1019online.com

Member: Sniper Squad DJs
Member: Lord Gang DJz
Member: United DJ Alliance

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(You know the deal – this thing doesn’t run on fresh air.)