Ask DJ Trackstar why you think the sky is blue and he’ll give you the most logical explanation to why it is, plus he’ll break down the mathematics and physics as to how the light scatters to make it happen. The Egon Spangler-esque intellect of DJ Trackstar aka Gabe Moskoff is only a fraction of what makes up the unorthodox disc jockey from Wisconsin. If you took the time to really get to know him, you would find out that he is an innovator, volunteer, business man and an honorable element in hip hop. His catalog consists of Boogie Bang Music which is a 9 volume mixtape series, holding meetings at a college university to teach children the history of hip hop that he squeezes into his full-time DJ schedule and a long list of accolades that he has received for what he’s done in St. Louis hip hop.

This interview shines light on DJ Trackstar to find out more about why he is so influential to the local underground hip hop scene. A lot can be learned from this young DJ who is only beginning to “scratch” the surface. Read on as he talks about his appreciation and insight of hip hop culture, working with Lupe Fiasco, the historic Hi-Pointe Café and his new weekly hip hop dwelling at Blueberry Hill called Integrity.

St. Louis Ben Grimm: How did you come up with your name DJ Trackstar?

DJ Trackstar: I ran track in high school and I was pretty good at it. When I got to college, I needed a DJ name for my radio show and I didn’t have a name yet. I was sitting there, I was sweating it real hard trying to figure out what I’ll call myself because I knew I was going to use it for a long time and I had to get it right the first time and it came to me one day. I use to be a Track star and now I’m trying to be a star playing the tracks or whatever, so that’s how I came up with the name.

St. Louis Ben Grimm: How did you come up with the premise for the Boogie Bang mixtape series?

DJ Trackstar: Well, for real, the inspiration for the name came from the Tef Poe song that was track #1 on the first Boogie Bang and once I named it that, I thought it was a hot name. Everyone liked the name and everyone really liked the way I put together a bunch of local joints along with a bunch of national artists and it was one of the things where it worked well. The people gave me good feedback and I wasn’t done with it so I thought “You know what? Why change the format?” It’s been around for almost 2 years.

St. Louis Ben Grimm: You know I’m already a personal fan of BBM (laughs)!

DJ Trackstar: No doubt. I appreciate you for that.

St. Louis Ben Grimm: What do you look for in an emcee when it comes to putting talent on your mixtapes?

DJ Trackstar: For real, it’s hard to even define it. When I put stuff on the mixtapes, it’s strictly what I want to listen to. It’s straight up what compels me, what songs that I’m hearing and I’m like “I want to hear that again the next day!” you know. I’ll just be sitting there and all of a sudden start singing the chorus to myself or something. It’s like; the music picks me for real. I don’t get people because I want to support this person or whatever, because there are a lot of cats out here that I want to support but they don’t make songs that I’m feeling like that. I’m trying to keep it really real with myself to the point to where the mixtape is what I’m going to be looking back on in 20 years. I want to look back and say, “Ok, that’s what I was feeling back in March of 2006. That’s what I was listening to in July of 07.” I don’t want to be like, “Oh! That’s what was hot in July 07 but I didn’t really like it,” but, I thought it was a nice person who made the song.

St. Louis Ben Grimm: (laughs) I feel you.

DJ Trackstar: As far as local acts go, I usually put on the people that I’m associated with on there but the thing is I’m associated with them because I feel their music. I’m saying, I didn’t grow up here so I don’t have partners that I’ve been going to school with for 15 years. Like Tef Poe and Family Affair and stuff, I’m building relationships with them because I like their music. I’ll let the local acts get on there, I’m open to anything, open to everyone. Every style, every type of rapper. I mean, it’s pretty much gotta be lyrical. I’m open to anything, I’ll always listen to it and if it catches me, even if it’s not what people consider to be my style or whatever that is… if it catches me, I’m using it. Period.

St. Louis Ben Grimm: That’s cool man.

DJ Trackstar: I know that’s a long answer, but I feel like people need to understand how I choose my music because people are always like, “Oh! This song is hot, it’s getting spins!” I couldn’t give a damn. I’m also not going to say, “Oh! It’s not getting spins so I’m not going to mess with it.” If it’s a good song, if it’s a radio hit, cool. If it’s a good song, and no one has ever heard of it besides me, cool, I’m going to use it.

St. Louis Ben Grimm: You recently had Lupe Fiasco host the Boogie Bang Music 7 mixtape. How did that go down?

DJ Trackstar: Well, he did a show up at Webster University and it was one of those lightning strikes type of joints where I happened to know someone who knew someone who was willing to put me in contact with him. For real, I can’t explain it. I asked him and he said yes. It was just that simple. I’d like to say that I did something special to make it happen. I said, “Yo! Would you mind hosting this mixtape for me?” And you know, I came prepared, I had my tape recorder and my scripts printed out on me. I asked him and he said yeah. That’s all it was. Dude was really great, he’s the most super-humble dude. I was really impressed with him. Not just how he dealt with me but how he dealt with people wanting autographs. He was just super-humble and super-respectful to every person that crossed his path. I was really impressed with him being an international star, GQ member of the year and all that and still being so down to earth. He recorded those drops. I have no idea if he’s ever heard of me before or not but he didn’t argue at all. He was just like, “Yeah, no doubt!”

St. Louis Ben Grimm: Do you believe that as a DJ that you are making an impact on hip hop?

DJ Trackstar: I don’t know if I’m making an impact. I believe that I’ve made some sort of impact on the local [St. Louis] scene. I mean I’d like to make an impact on hip hop in general eventually. I think that I’ve created some sort of legacy that will be left behind… an example that other people can follow and other people can see where they could do things. I don’t know how much of an impact that I’ve made in hip hop in general. I wouldn’t really go as far as to say that.

St. Louis Ben Grimm: Do you feel that the emcee depreciates the importance of the DJ in hip hop today compared to years past?

DJ Trackstar: As far as visibility, obviously the emcee is way out in the front and the DJ is much, much less of a star, you know. I can’t say that it’s worse to be a DJ at all because as far as the lane I choose to be in, there’s a lot less competition of people trying to be DJs who can do it even on a basic level. Anyone can rap, technically. If you were out and decided to start an emcee career tomorrow, we could do it. But a random rapper can’t say, “Oh, I’m going to be a DJ starting right now.” I mean, you have to learn certain things and you have to buy a bunch of equipment. As far as having a chance to progress as an entity and as an artist, it’s almost better to be a DJ nowadays. As far as the fame and the visibility and the importance that’s seriously placed with the DJ, that’s definitely diminished over the years.

St. Louis Ben Grimm: You recently had a cover story in the Riverfront Times about your involvement with the Center for Recording Arts at Washington University. Could you tell us about your contributions to the program?

DJ Trackstar: Well, the Washington U. thing is actually something that I started. We were just holding meetings at Wash U., it really didn’t have anything to do with the university. We just kind of went in there and jacked some of their space (laughs) because we didn’t have anywhere else to run the program. It was something I started about 3 years ago to teach kids about where hip hop came from and kind of keep the legacy going as far as people understanding the true history behind hip hop and the true meaning behind what it use to mean. Basically to give kids an understanding that; Lil Wayne was not the first rapper. Lil Wayne got his ideas from “blank”, who got his ideas from “blank”, who got his ideas from “blank” you know. All the way down the line, use some perspective because that’s what’s lacking a lot of the time. Then it kind of expands into the more general kids stuff but using hip hop to do so. Throw a little math in there, a little geography, throw some social issues to try to use hip hop as a vehicle because obviously it’s a predominant youth culture in America.

St. Louis Ben Grimm: Okay.

DJ Trackstar: What’s real important right now, Finsta and Lifestyle are both giving up their Sundays every week and there is a group of kids we meet with every Sunday. They are both very integral parts of what we do for the C.R.A. and I couldn’t do what I’m doing without them.

St. Louis Ben Grimm: That RFT article was off the chain too. I was really proud to see you on the cover. I was like, “What the hell?!” (laughs)

DJ Trackstar: I was freaked out! I was asking them, “How many copies are you making of this?” they were like, “200,000” and I was like “Oh my God”! That was crazy.

St. Louis Ben Grimm: What do you appreciate about hip hop culture?

DJ Trackstar: I appreciate the way that it tells a story that needs to be told. It really makes it more plain… the situation we’re in here in America, especially racially and economically. It really gives a voice to the poor people and the black people who aren’t given the same privileges as other people are given and don’t have the same opportunities. People look at crime statistics and they just say, “Oh, that’s what it is!” well hip hop kind of brings a why things are the way they are, why people act the way up America really is for real. How racist this country is and really how this country cares about it’s poor people. It just really gives a voice to the oppressed people who wouldn’t otherwise have a voice that would reach outside of their own community. I know personally through hip hop I’ve got involved in not just the C.R.A. but I’m not really involved in learning about the race war that’s going on right now, whether people want to understand it or not. It really gave me an avenue to explore and learn about the America that I didn’t grow up in while in Wisconsin.

St. Louis Ben Grimm: That is a really good insight. Could you tell us more about Integrity at Blueberry Hill?

DJ Trackstar: Integrity kind of came about from the ashes of the Hi-Pointe and The Science, from the end of the reign of it being strictly hip hop at The Halo Bar on Fridays you know, which is my spot. Basically, Halo not being hip hop night anymore, I still wanted to have somewhere to spin hip hop every week and strictly hip hop. I love soul music, I love rock, I love a lot of different types of music but I’m a hip hop DJ. That’s what I do. I missed having a spot where I could plan the set strictly of hip hop and have it go every week. It seems like I’ve been looking for a new home for The Hi-Pointe to fill that void as well and I felt Blueberry Hill would be a great place for it. So I put together a team; I got Finsta from the Hi-Pointe and Tech Productions who’d be my record label, Real Nice Records and we basically put together a plan to do Integrity. We got a beat battle up there which I believe has never been done before in St. Louis. The producers can come in and compete and showcase their beats and at the same time we got the open mic like the Hi-Pointe. We’ve got a performance every week from a different artist and it’s real quality hip hop without all of the industry politics, with no regards of what’s on the radio. It’s where you come and heard stuff that you’ve never heard before and real classic hip hop. We don’t just play what’s new and what’s hot. We play all types of hip hop up there but we definitely keep it on what’s known as the real hip hop.

St. Louis Ben Grimm: You were a major factor as one of the regular DJs at the legendary Hi-Pointe Café every Monday night (R.I.P.). Are there any elements that parallel with the elements of the new Integrity?

DJ Trackstar: Most definitely! For starters you’ve got Finsta who’s obviously the fixture to Hi-Pointe for about 9 years. You got me, I got in late. I was only there for the last year and a half or so, I was spinning most weeks. We still got the open mic freestyle session and we’ve got performances every week. There are a lot of parallels, we have a lot of the same crowd but not all of the same crowd. We’ve got some people who haven’t been participating like they did at the ‘Pointe but that’s cool. They’ll come around if they get off of work on Saturdays or whatever it is (laughs). I wouldn’t say it’s the same as the Hi-Pointe but it definitely has it’s parallels.

St. Louis Ben Grimm: Is there anything else that you would like the HipHopClub readers to know?

DJ Trackstar: Listen to hip hop, really listen to it and understand what’s going on and what messages they’re sending to ourselves as adults. If you’re putting out all negative energy, that’s where it’s going to go. A lot of people have quoted this, but Mos Def said, “Where Hip Hop’s going is where we’re going.” And what we’re thinking about is money and getting girls and diamonds and violence, that’s where it’s going to be. If we try to leave the world a better place than it came to us, that’s how it’s going to go and that’s going to be hip hop’s legacy. And plenty of people are criticizing hip hop for it’s concept, you’ve got to look at it in perspective. You’ve got to look at why these songs are happening the way they are and why 50 Cent the biggest star that’s in the world. Blame the record executives that are making these decisions, don’t blame the artist who is just trying to survive in the game that is presented to him. Jimmy Iovine is control of the record industry. He’s got more control over it than most people but without Jimmy Iovine’s blessing there’s no 50 Cent. You can look and see who’s really pulling the strings and don’t get 50 Cent on CNN trying to blast his music. Ask Jim Iovine why he thinks it’s ok to do what he does.

Fore more info check out:  http://www.myspace.com/djtrackstar

--By Marrio (St. Louis Ben Grimm) Gardner