Barker has drums, will hop genres

With his spiky mohawk, cluttered canvas of tattooed skin and punk rock pedigree stretching back to childhood, Travis Barker isn't exactly pleading to be taken seriously as a hip-hop head. A former drummer for the multi-platinum-selling power pop trio Blink-182 who also has done turns behind the kit for rock outfits including the Aquabats, +44 and Box Car Racer, he boasts impeccable Warped Tour credentials and critical props as one of modern rock's most exciting, exacting percussion players.

But a funny thing happened when Barker posted a video of himself on YouTube last September drumming thunderously in time with Southern rapper Soulja Boy's smash hit single "Crank That (Soulja Boy)." Almost immediately, it began to spread virally among hip-hop heads. Fast-forward a year: The clip has been streamed a whopping 17.5 million times, and no one is more surprised than Barker, who says he put it online as a means to a much simpler end.

"You might have heard some of my remixes but never known it was me," he said one blindingly hot afternoon at his North Hollywood recording studio. "I thought, 'If I want my remixes to be popular, if I want people to even know I'm doing them, maybe I should use YouTube.' I never thought we'd get as many views as we did. I was tripping!"

And just like that, the greyhound-thin Fontana native has become one of the most sought-after musicians in hip-hop, having given his patented rock "remix" once-overs to a constellation of rap and R&B luminaries' songs. Among them, Barker's label-sanctioned remixes of Rihanna's "Umbrella," Busta Rhymes' "Don't Touch Me (Throw Da Water on 'Em)," the Game's "Dope Boys," Flo Rida's "Low" and Wale's "G Told Me."

"He's the dopest drummer alive," said Compton gangsta rapper the Game, summoning hip-hop's highest praise. "He does it so effortlessly. Travis is addicted to it. He loves good music but just happens to be a punk rocker."

Moreover, Barker seems to be drifting even further from the rock flock by teaming up with in-demand, genre-hopping turntablist DJ AM to form a freewheeling rock-hip-hop hybrid known as TRV$DJAM (you can download its new mixtape, "Fix Your Face," for free at www.trvsdjam.com).

The duo -- a kind of beat-driven version of the revolving-door rock collective Camp Freddy that already has hosted such high-profile guest stars as Paul Wall and Warren G -- will perform its third of three sold-out shows at West Hollywood's Roxy Theatre tonight before going on to serve as house band for the MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 7.