Born Sultan Banks in New Jersey and raised in San Jose, Traxamillion was a multitalented and prolific music producer who’d worked with all the Bay Area OGs, and then some. Too $hort? Repeatedly. Keak da Sneak? Super-hyphily. E-40, Mac Dre, San Quinn, Andre Nickatina, the Pack, Mistah FAB, the Jacka? Obviously. He even produced a song for Andy Samberg’s satirical 2016 movie, “Popstar.” Few musicians can confidently claim they catalyzed an entire sonic movement (and Trax never would), but his ingenuity and dogged work ethic fostered the raucous, musical joy we know as the hyphy movement. On Jan. 2, he passed away at the age of 42 in Santa Clara from nasopharyngeal cancer.
