WORLD DMC CHAMPION DJ CUTMASTER SWIFT RECALLS ONE OF THE THE BEST EVER FINALS…
Celebrating their 25th year of the DMC World DJ Championships Finals, DMC gave it faithful followers the most memorable treat yet again. We staged the most important DJ Competition in the world’s history at our new home O2 Indigo – a special place that sets the stage for DMC World – Q-Bert, Cash Money, Craze C2C , DJ David – need we go on? No. Our pivotal event is always full of surprises, new tricks, new ideas and new DJs that make the thousands of Turntablist fans standing in front of the stage go home knowing it’s money well spent, but also, what a unique show they have just seen. This year was no different. I for one am so proud to be part of DMC, a real team effort that just gets behind what we do. This two day global event kicked off for the first time with a private World Team Eliminations with six teams; Mexico’s – Mexican Soul, Taiwan’s – AGK, Algeria’s – Le Trio Du Jour, Brazil’s – Cla Leste, The USA’s – Battlestar and Italy’s – Simple But Funk. Performance time was three minutes to qualify for the two available positions which The USA’s Battlestar & Brazil’s Cla Laste emerged victorious. The momentum of this competition picks up from the Quarter Finals which is where defending World Champion Switch joins the competition. Switch instantly stomps his authority throughout his Battles which also sees a UK DJ Rasp challenge – that Switch clearly is the better bet and joins DJ Nelson again just as he did in 2008. This second clash of the titans starts with a very popular Nelson – and although there’s a lot of stage energy and stage presence, Nelson fails to deliver the goods to a unfazed Switch who confidently display’s a performance that’s only worthy of a champion. It’s game over and Switch retains the title!
The DMC Championship’s has had some very memorial performances throughout it’s 25 years, so as a special treat, DMC invited DJ Yoda to present a video anthology of the competition’s most magical and outrageous moments that exposes the technical Q-Bert and the unexpected hand spin of DJ David, Yoda’s video master piece has the O2 Indigo audience in a complete frenzy and the applause is roof raising – the guest PA’s don’t stop there as we’re treated to a showcase of Jehst, Micall Parkinsun and DJ Jazz T. The Team Finals is now ready to commence and five teams including the twice winning defending champions Kireek all have six minutes to prove who is worthy of the ultimate accolade, the competition again gains momentum midway from the UK’s Bionic Stylus crew who finish with a exciting piece, France’s Traumateam are also back and are once again held back from the title with just a point difference which leaves Kireek again victorious. I wonder will they attempt C2C’s record of a fourth title defence? Finally the night closes with Numarks vision of the digital future, which is a mixer and two 7 inch controllers all in one unit that attaches to a laptop that runs a new Serato software title itch demonstrated by DJ I-Dee, a previous US Supremacy champion that shows its control ability and that proves size doesn’t always matter. An astonishing DMC night. It’s no wonder we are the kings of steel…
Day two is the traditional DMC World Finals. It kicks off again with a private elimination launched by the Royal Ruler himself and DMC owner Tony Prince. TP also gives each Turntablist before they start there three minute performance’s the opportunity to announce who they are in their native language! This year DMC’s main man was sporting a mysterious black eye, apparently sported from his new hobby, Table Tennis. Since last years’ championships, DJ Fly wasn’t going to be defending his world title from the twenty four hopefuls – a big surprises at the event was that only the nine earned points and would qualify for the evening event. Hot favourites were Japan’s Coma And DJ Shiftee from the US. Keeping with tradition, Tony Prince steps on stage to open and welcomes the O2 Indigo audience to the 25th World DJ championship Finals. He as usual gives a brief run down on the nights schedule and ends by introducing the hosts for the evening’s entertainment – DJ Billy Biznizz and MC extraordinaire Inja. The evening kicks off with a performance of the 2009 Supremacy Champion – Switch who re-enacts a selection of his winning performances alongside Inja who also performs a selection of tracks from his up and coming LP. A breathtaking DJ Fly performance is next and must have left the Indigo audience puzzled as to why he didn’t want to defend? Rane has become the major player in the Hip Hop /Turntablist arena and as the 2009 sponsors arranged for Turntablist legend Rob Swift (X-Executioners) to make a special appearance, he performs scratch pieces from his solo LP as well as some of his most classic competition sets. Robs ends with a tribute to X-Executioner member Roc Raida who’s recovering from a freak martial arts accident. The main event followed next and as mentioned before, only nine competitors out of twenty four gained entry into this final bout to decide their fate in an established panel of fourteen judges with titles that stretched throughout the competitions history – a perfect tribute to this special occasion. Before the results are announced there’s always a headline performance and DMC made sure they couldn’t be any bigger than the legendary man himself…Q-Bert. Watching this genius at work is just mesmerising, he makes it look so simple that anyone and everyone gets it, Q-Bert eventually calls Killa Kela to the stage and the most anticipated parts of the night begins – the super jam with Kela at the helm providing the craziest beats, past and present – champions take to the stage and freestyle into history! Which included, Cutmaster Swift, Prime Cuts, DJ Fly, DJ Switch, Rob Swift, DJ Tigerstyle, DJ Woody, DJ Nelson, Kireek and DJ I-DEE! As soon as the most memorable jam to date comes to its end, TP steps back on stage with the results and invites Sally DMC and Dean from Rane to announce them!
1st: DJ Shiftee (USA) – 34 points
2nd: DJ Coma (Japan) – 29 points
3rd: DJ LigOne (France) – 9 points
I’d like to congratulate and welcome a brilliant and charismatic champion Shiftee, into the DMC family of World champions, as well as Switch and Kireek on their successful defences, Finally congratulations DMC on your 25th birthday!
