ATE Traks is dedicated to providing a fresh, untainted perspective on music, lifestyle, and art. The name comes from the way we digest it all, progressing far enough to paint the line between the GOOD and the BAD through writing, photography and musing. Using the unyielding power of three W.O.E. (women of excellence), we give you our take on up and coming artists (whatever their weapon of choice be), sans the gimmicks that the commercial industry feeds off of.

Have something you think we should hear? Write about? Photograph? Let us know: info@ATEtraks.com

To get a better taste of who we are, check out Words From The PHAT Kids, a weekly feature that’s posted every Saturday

ABOUT your favorite PHAT Kids:

We are all Phat Kids, always consuming the latest viral videos, YouTube clips, bold-faced big business ad campaigns, mixtape releases, and television sitcoms. Our minds are bottomless pits, never getting to full off of our ever-evolving digital and musical intake. What we need to do kids is make sure we maintain healthy diets. A little MTV and illegal downloading, Twittering and Facebooking, low budget BET reality sitcoms and the same 10 songs in rotation for 5 different radio stations will never do our health any good. Think of us as your own personal dietitians. Our ultimate goal is to feed all you Phat Kids healthy, good-for-the-soul information about upcoming, starving, and independent artist, art shows in our Tri-State Area (Newark, NYC, Philly), concert tours, and any other inspirational tidbits. With that being said, we’ll leave you kids with just one question:

What did YOU digest today?

Kiran Samuel aka SamSun, Executive Editor
SamSun@ATEtraks.com

I consider myself the by-product of fully-fueled, well-directed passion. My dad says I was born with an opinion igniting the tip of my tongue, and since then it seems like every opportunity I get is a shot to light this world on fire. And since I’m a dancer and a writer, it was only a matter of time before it mutated within me to create this undying curiosity to hear incredible music. Taking cues from Common’s unforgettable lyricism laden in “I Used To Love H.E.R.”, “we related, physically and mentally”. I am forever searching, forever listening for something to catch my ear–I am a SUCKER for ugly beats and transcendental rhymes. So I take this pen, take this passion, and discover the sound my hand is itching to write about.

Nakeya B, Artistic Director
nakeyab@ATEtraks.com

I’m a girl brought up on R&B and oldies and as I matured into a woman I picked up a liking to soul, the blues, and jazz, when I’m stressed. Music is art. It’s one of those arbitrary things that cater to the listener’s taste. I like the taste of Roy Ayers and Digable Planets, Lauryn Hill, and the Pharcyde, Erykah Badu and Tribe Called Quest. These artists view music as their art, creating tracks that are personal to their own experiences, relatable, and original. Their music isn’t business first and that’s what I look for in choosing my favorite singers and MCs: are these people trying to make music, or trying to make money—the root of all things evil? Let’s keep in mind all this is spoken from the mouth of someone who considers herself an artist. My images are my art, my words are my art, and here on this site I’m giving out free samples for all of you to taste.

Jaimie Sanchez aka Doctor Sanchez, Associate Editor
DoctorSanchez@ATEtraks.com

Doctor. Noun. A Person skilled or specializing in healing arts; especially one who is licensed to practice. I am the spawn of two dynamic human beings who upon their collision gave rise to a creature with an insatiable appetite for sound. Healing arts: Music, regardless of size, shape, or color is the psychiatrist’s couch upon which the universe lays. It has the power to cure diseases of all races, cultures, creeds. Like a moth to a flame I can’t part ways with it’s magnetism. Licensed: I was the only awkward 15 year old woman with gauged ears, a studded belt, a mean bachata sway, a debilitating weakness for doo-wop, her OWN copy of 36 Chambers and an electric guitar. I’d like to think of myself as Aretha’s respect, Punisher’s grace, Jose Feliciano’s eyes, and the sweat beads off Joey Ramones forehead… all rolled into a perfectly obtuse writing instrument.

Music IS Medicine.
Ate Traks is the clinic.
I’m just trying to write you a prescription.