UK DMC Finals 04 @ Sheperd's Bush Empire, June 04

Each year as the summer draws on the DJ battle scene gears itself for the run up to the biggest and most popular of DJ competitions, the DMC. Following months of regional rounds in the spring, the summer brings the national finals to each country. And this year’s UK finals line up of DJs, for both the single and supremacy finals, promised some tight battles and worthy moments to make this a night to remember.

.For those who have never been, here is how it goes down: the single finals are where each regional champion gets 6 minutes solo to impress the judges. Once all 9 have gone, all marks are totalled and the top 3 announced. The supremacy battle is a throw back to the old days of the NMS (New Music Seminar) battles where DJs are paired up with 90 seconds per round and two rounds to outdo each other and progress to the final. The winner of the singles gets to represent the UK at the world finals and the winner of the supremacy gets to line up for the world supremacy, which takes place on the same day as the team world finals (still following right?).

The night was started off in style with a very special showcase from ex-Truesicians (UK 2003 DMC team winners) 2tall. In what is a stark departure from most DMC showcases 2tall spent 15 minutes creating music live in front of the audience using solely 2 turntables, a mixer and a loop station, allowing him to create layers of music and gradually add them on top of each other to create full compositions on the spot. For example, he would start with a hi-hat loop, add some drums and percussions (scratched from records), a guitar lick or some strings, then maybe a vocal scratch solo and so forth until the composition reaches its peak. Hard to describe with words but very enjoyable and rewarding to the ears of the listener even if his effects unit ended up falling through and not working as planned. This type of live composition, which has emerged over the last few years across the globe, is in direct contrast to what can be seen in the battles. Put simply it strives for musicality and composition in a way that is near enough impossible to achieve in a battle situation (bar the team event, where the presence of more then one DJ means you can more easily construct a track). And as such it was a breath of fresh air to see DMC give someone like 2tall a stage on which to showcase this growing aspect of the turntablist artform, even if it was only for a short time and right when the doors opened.

You can find out more about this and 2tall himself in the interview we conducted earlier on this year (in the interview archive you guessed correctly!).

So then the supremacy finals beckoned just after Cutmaster Swift (host for the night alongside Bizniss) and Tony Prince spent 10 minutes doing what looked like a really bad infomercial for the new Technics CD deck the SL-DZ1200. I’ll spare you the details. The supremacy started at the quarter finals stage, with the first three rounds fairly uneventful as Matman, Komplete and Silk Kuts all made it through to the semis, with some good showing from Mr.Eclipse and Konn. The last quarter final between Cable and Ritchie Rufftone was by far the most enjoyable and the closest with Richie taking it. This meant we were in for some exciting semis with 2 established battlers and 2 up and coming talents. And we weren’t disappointed with both battles ending in close decisions for the judges. Komplete took on Silk Kuts, with a barrage of cuts, attitude and finger waiving, while Silk put on two routines that while not as full-on were so clean in their execution you had to really see it to believe it. Silk went through while the second semi, between Matman and Ritchie proved to be worthy of a final, as both went at it no holds barred with Matman edging it in the end with his Snoop Dog juggle going down very well.

And so to the final between Matman and Silk Kuts. Again Silk came through with two sets that were extremely clean in their execution, as he juggled and cut his way through some very rock inspired instrumentals. He may not have had as much bravado and attitude as some of the other competitors (though he still had enough to wave a few fingers in his opponents’ direction) but his ability to rock doubles and cuts in such a clean way really left me speechless. On the other hand Matman had much more of a battle attitude and was not as clean in his execution as Silk, though he still had plenty up his sleeve. The most memorable part of his two routines being his soloing on the Beastie Boys’ ‘Check it out’ instrumental, as he broke it down to molecules for his opponent. He finished his last go by bluntly telling Silk to ‘suck my motherfuckin dick!’ which went down a treat with the audience. And then as the judges put up their decisions a moment of uncertainty happened as one of the judges, Tigerstyle, seemingly tried to avoid giving his vote (probably due to the fact that he is related to Silk) but unfortunately it was a tie and so his vote became the decider. In the end it went to Silk, much to the disappointment of the crowd it seemed, but frankly it was such a close battle that I don’t think anyone would have wanted to be in the judges’ shoes.

In between the supremacy and singles finals we were treated to a live PA from Phi Life Cypher. Nothing exciting but the Luton dreads came through with a tight showcase including a nice live rendition of ‘Over’ and some good old freestyles that kept the crowd happy.

As anyone who’s ever been to a DMC event will tell you watching a final can get quite ‘boring’ and repetitive in a way, as each competitor goes through their 6 minutes routine, and it’s true that copious amounts of booze don’t help either! Still I soldiered on (helped by Mista Ed’s encouraging beer drinking and jokes). First up was Mike L, the winner of the Manchester regional who came through with a very nice and musical routine that was the perfect start to the night’s proceedings. Not a winning set but a definite good showing from him. The next DJ to make a good impression was Muzzel, a favourite of mine, who came through with a very musical routine as well, cutting up different sounds and using near enough no battle records. Again it’s hard to describe what he did in words, but the whole feel and flow of his routine were enough to impress both the judges and the crowd and get him the second place on the night, which was well deserved. After him was Skarfade who unfortunately messed up part of his routine a few minutes in and decided to give up.

Following him were the three contestants who had entered the supremacy that night, namely Komplete, Matman and Ritchie Rufftone. Komplete came through with a very tight and heavy set. His choice of beats and cuts were a bit too heavy for my liking, and my drunken state (ok it was my drunken state more than anything), but his whole set was on point and even if he didn’t place he made a very good impression and is definitely one to watch for future years. Matman followed him reusing bits of his supremacy routine including his Beastie Boys scratch routine, which was even more enjoyable the second time round. He didn’t place, but still gave the crowd a very good show and is also one to watch in years to come. Richie Ruftone served up yet another good set for us but it still was not enough to make an impact on the judges and place.

The last two contestants for the night were both heavily tipped off prior to the event to place first and so it was with some anticipation that everyone looked forward to their sets. Funnily enough they were also both ex-members of the Truesicians: Daredevil and Blakey. Daredevil went up first with a very strong set but that for me was not as captivating as others before him, though I’m pretty sure the fact that he went in 8th didn’t help as the night was dragging on by then and the crowd was getting restless. Still a strong routine from Daredevil with some nice scratching and tight juggles that meant Blakey really had to pull out all stops to take this one. And well, as I was told, Blakey did indeed pull out all stops and a few surprises along the way to take the title. Overall his routine was extremely entertaining and very well put together, with just the right amount of technical skill and a good dose of ‘what the f*ck was that!?’ moments. These included a blind one handed juggle while he covered his eyes with is other hand as well as the defining moment of the night: a feedback routine unlike any other. As he put on Dizzee Rascal’s ‘I Luv U’ on the left deck he proceeded to lift the platter off the other deck, turn it upside down and refit it so that the platter was sticking out of the deck. He then took the needle off his head shell and placed it onto the platter that was now gyrating at a high speed. This gave him a nice little feedback sound, which he then started cutting and juggling with ‘I Luv U’ to create his winning move and send the crowd absolutely crazy. He ended his set the way he started it, by playing a loop of the vocal ‘the champion’s here!’ and with that you knew he had taken the title before the needle was taken off the record. Seemingly confident and assured throughout his set that he was going to win it, Blakey was crowned the new UK champion with Muzzel second and Daredevil third. On top of representing the UK in September he also got a pair of brand new Technics CD decks, a TV big enough to fill a living room and tons of goodies.

Before the award ceremony the 2003 world team champions from France, C2C, did a very nice and entertaining showcase, as the four of them got up to give the crowd a taste of their recent work. Unfortunately I was unable to see the whole thing or Tigerstyles’ following showcase mainly due to the fact that the night was running nearly an hour late, but then it’s not really a DMC night if things don’t run late! I am told though that Tigerstyle came through with some great material that should make the supremacy world finals very interesting (as he will be defending his title in September). C2C should also be defending their world title this year, and having had the chance to listen to their new material with French hiphop quintet Hocus Pocus as well as their solo stuff I’m sure they’ll have quite a few surprises up their sleeves.

Overall it was a good night for DMC and for the UK turntablist scene, even if once more Swift and Bizniss were in full effect with bad jokes and sometimes dreary comic moments in between routines that more often then not left me and most of the audience frankly speechless. Hosts can make a night great or downright terrible and no offence to them two but I really think that something else than their on stage antics would be great in the future, it’s not that it’s not funny… Well yeah it’s just not funny actually.

Everyone agreed that the standard of DJing was definitely quite high this year hopefully promising more good things to come, a renewal of interest from the public and an influx of creativity on the part of the DJs. Battles may not be anywhere near as groundbreaking or original as they once were (as many an old school head will tell you) but they still offer many up and coming DJs the chance to showcase their stuff and also to link up with like minded DJs and artists.

It can be argued that the biggest problem the ‘battle scene’ faces right now is that the overall level of skill amongst the top battlers has reached such a point that it gets harder every year to discern a ‘worthy’ winner when so many competitors are at such a high level of technical skill and prowess. Other factors such as a growing lack of creativity in routines (partly attributed to the rise of teaching videos) and increased ‘trendiness’ of turntablism and scratching have also helped to further hurt the profile of battling. As anyone who has battled at a high level will tell you, ‘battling isn’t everything, it’s merely a way to get your name out and gain some recognition’. Many prior winners, both on a national or world level have moved on to bigger and different things… Craze is now a mainstay of the Drum n Bass scene, Skully has moved to radio and production, Qbert is making a living of his passion, Mix Master Mike works with the Beastie Boys and so on. Today though many people come up battling but seemingly lack something to fall back on, but still winners come through like Blakey who apart from his DMC antics is also a hard working and prolific club DJ with quite a lot of work under his belt already for such a young DJ. And all this is not to say that the DJs battling today are all lacking this, but from talking to those actively involved in the scene and past participants a trend seems to have developed in the last few years that indicates a loss of knowledge on the part of the younger generation. Hopefully things are changing once more and as the past battlers and DJ icons move on to bigger and better things, opening the artform and music to a wider audience beyond battle showcases and hiphop venues, the battle scene will re-invent itself and once more become a hotbed of talent… You can always hope anyway!

Related links

dmcworld.com - all the info on DMC.

blakey.com - Check our interview with Blakey conducted last year in our archive.

ukturntablist.com - Vinyl Richie, Silk Kuts and Mr.Brown have teamed up and are bringing some serious heat this year. Watch this site for more on their releases, live showcases etc…

onandon-records.com - C2C’s label site with info on the crew, their releases, free music and more.

turntableradio.com - Europe’s first radio show dedicated entirely to turntable music.

dj2tall.com - free music, info and more on 2tall.

Stay tuned for the World Finals, on the 3rd and 4th of September at Hammersmith Appolo in London. More info and ticket bookings can be found at dmcworld.com. Many thanks to Gareth and David @ zzonked for the hook up. Photos by Ella Cooper.