The woman behind the DMC World DJ Championships – Sally McLintock rolls back the years…
The world’s premier DJ Mixing Championships is now in its 26th year, a competition that has produced a selection of true superstars, DJs that have not only won over millions of people around the globe with unreal Turntablist genius, astounding ability, sheer genius and that extra special touch of magic that have enabled them to take the golden prize and put them on stage performing with the likes of Kanye West, Busta Rhymes, Madonna, Professor Green, Beck, Michael Jackson and The Beastie Boys. We look back at the last ten years of slipmat skills with Miss DMC reminiscing about the champions who have quite simply, made the most amazing decade of DMC dexterity…
2000 – The Millennium Dome
Champion – Craze
“This really was a momentous year for the DMC World Championship.. We took the DMC event to the Millennium Dome Skyscape in its’ launch year and it was truly an amazing event. The competition was exciting., DJ Craze had won the World Finals in ’98 and ’99 and was going for the triple title and one of his tough components was DJ Dexter of the Avalanches. The whole weekend was a DJ lovers dream, DJ Craze with his unique originality and flair up against Dexter who was making his mark by creating a set purely out of original records and no battle breaks. We had performances from Kid Koala, Mark B and Blade and of course MTV came down to cover the event. – welcome to the 2000’s!”
2001 – The Hammersmith Apollo
Champion – Plus One
“We moved the event after the Millennium to the almighty Hammersmith Apollo. I loved running the event here, it was very theatre show style and we had A-Trak over showcasing who blew everyone away. The gold finally came back to the UK this year as Scratch Pervert ‘Plus One’ won the DMC World title.”
2002 – The Brixton Academy
Champion – DJ Kentaro
“I loved 2002, this was our very first year at Brixton Academy and it really was phenomenal with a packed out Academy. DJ Kentaro unexpectedly tore down Brixton with his reggae infused/up beat air horn style filled finale set. Most of the World Champions from the start of the DMCs had been USA/UK, then Denmark and Canada. So for Japan to win for the first time, this was a really historical year. I brought over the Beat Junkie crew to perform at Brixton Academy, one of the greatest and one of my favourite crews from the west coast USA, plus we had a brilliant performance from the dynamic French group – Sian Supa Crew and the DJ legend that is DJ Swamp who I remember setting fire to his turntables – and within a matter of seconds, the Academy staff trying to get us to finish the show for breaching Health & Safety! Thanks Swamp!”
2003 – The Brixton Academy
Champion – DJ Dopey
“At Brixton Academy for the second year running, we put on three true great French Champions – Netik, Kodh and Troubl to show Brixton what the French DJs had got. The French DJs really started stepping up their game from 2000. We also showcased the UK’s very own Klashnekoff! Canada’s DJ Dopey was the second Canadian DJ to win a World Title after A-Traks win in 1997, the UK’s DJ Tigerstyle was the very first Brit to win the Battle For World Supremacy and 2003 was a special year for the DMC World Team Championship. Emerging from nowhere, the amazing team of 4 French DJs – C2C (Coup 2 Cross) stepped up on stage and blew the judges, DJs and crowd away with their ultra talented skills, originality, showmanship and their unique musical content! Boyyyy did we not know what the next few years had in store for us!”
2004 – The Hammersmith Apollo
Champion – DJ ie.MERG
“DMC took the 2004 World Final back to The Apollo. To me this year was really interesting…. It was the last year that we supplied only one mixer brand for the Championships. It was also the first year that we really started to see more DJs cut and press their own vinyl…. 2004 was the first year we had Beatbox Extraordinaire Killa Kela and all round hype man (now successful artist) Trip on board the DMCs as official hosts! Ie.MERG all the way from New York City was the 2004 World Champion… He graced the turntables with his high energetic and technical pace…C2C won the Team Championships for their second World Title… As performances/showcases we had the hip hop legends ‘The Jungle Brothers’ and NYC’s finest ‘The X-Ecutioners’ (RIP GM Roc Raida).Now mega stars in New Zealand – P Money and Scribe – A really memorable year for so many reasons this was for me… Tony Prince also brought Grand Master Roc Raida onto stage to announce the 2004 World Champion. Great year.”
2005 – The Hammersmith Palais
Champion – DJ ie.MERG
“DMC took the World Finals to the world famous Hammersmith Palais in 2005. We had performances from GZA/Muggs, UK’s Shameless and amazing Foreign Beggars…7 year old DJ Yeah and DMC legend Q-bert! Ie.MERG won for the second year running while C2C member DJ Pfel came a close second! French legends C2C stepped up to try and win their triple title in the World Team championships and they totally stole the show, with their brazillian beats/samba infused, blues set! Truly a highlight for me in the 2000’s.”
2006 – The Hammersmith Palais
Champion – Netik
“2006 was ruled by the French yet again! C2C won their 4th World Team Championship and were the first DJs/crew to win 4 titles in a row! Congratulations guys!! DJ Netik re-appeared on the DMC stage and everyone really anticipated his return. Originally winning the Battle For Supremacy in 2001 and 2002, Netik was back for the 6 minute DMC World Final. His set was aggressive, fierce and energetic. He owned the stage and the night and came away as the 2006 DMC World Champion. 2006 was another first for the Japanese as DJ COMA was crowned 2006 World Battle Champion. In 1997 we put on the first Summit event with all the World Champions performing together. In 2006 we showcased Summit 2 which included previous World Champions – Craze, Noize, Kentaro, Netik, Cutmaster Swift, Dopey and Killa Kela performing alongside, it was so great to have so many DMC World Champions on stage together performing…”
2007 – Indig02
Champion – DJ Rafik
“In 2007 we moved the World Finals to the all new singing and dancing 02 centre (formerly the Millennium Dome). We held our two day DJ fest at the Indig02. 2007 saw none of the 2006 champions defend their World Title so the Crown’s were open to all! The Team Championships was taken by Japan’s Kireek, the World Final was won by German DJ Rafik and was the first German World Champion since the day’s of DJ David. 2007 also graced us with NEW World Battle Champion DJ Shiftee, a Harvard graduate from New York. We had performances from Killa Kela, French beatboxer Eklipse, DJ Teeko, D-Styles and Mike Boo…I also managed to supply the 27 nations of DJs and guests with free vodka, so the after party was pretty eventful and that doesn’t include the shenanigans at the DMC hotel…”
2008 – Indig02
Champion – DJ Fly
“We held our second year at the Indigo in 2008. We had Jungle Drummer perform his live drumming set on stage with his DJ FU. Killa Kela performed with his full live band. DJ Vagra from Denver performed a fantastic Live AV show, Kireek took the World Team title for a second year running while the UK’s DJ Switch was crowned Champion in the Battle For World Supremacy! This year’s battle was so exciting…The French Champion who was so animated and fierce – DJ Nelson made it to the exciting final to battle our UK Champ Switch! The World Champion in 2008 was DJ Fly from France, who brought amazing showmanship to the stage. The French really have dominated a lot of the 2000’s. 2008 was also a very big year for DMC USA. Christie Z came back to DMC to run the USA battles. Christie was the lady responsible for all the amazing battles in the late nineties and early 2000s, so I was over the moon when Christie took over the battles from 2008 and I was lucky enough to go to the USA Final in New York at the Knitting Factory. So many amazing performances, by Roc Raida (RIP), Boogie Blind, Grand Wizzard Theodore (inventor of the scratch), DJ Steve Dee (inventor of Beat Juggling) and DJ Spictakular. Welcome back Christie!”
2009 – Indigo2
Champion – Shiftee
The 2009 DMC World Championships @ Indig02 in 2009 for the third year and the 25th anniversary DMCs! The anniversary year was very special, celebrating the 25 years DMC has been organizing and staging the world’s Number 1 DJ Competition. I tried to make the anniversary a really memorable event. The Team Final was won again for the third time by Japanese team Kireek! The Battle For World Supremacy was won by our very own and uber talented DJ Switch, and the 25th Anniversary World Final was won by DJ Shiftee. Shiftee certainly brought every aspect of DJjng to the stage. He showed and proved his originality, skills, and confidence and proved to be a very apt new World Champion. DJ Yoda put together an amazing 25th DMC anniversary anthology AV show, which consisted of the funniest, most memorable and skilful DJs from the competition’s history. The crowd LOVED this show…Numark showcased their new piece of DJ Technology – the NS7 with DJ I-Dee… UK hip hop great Jehst performed with Micall Parksun and Jazz T. DJ Fly (World Champion 2008) showed us why he was crowned DMC World Champion. We flew over Q-Bert to perform, we love having Q-bert performing, he is a much anticipated DJ on the DMC stage every single year. Rane brought over DJ Rob Swift (X-Ecutioners) to show case Rane/Serato and again it was so good to have Rob Swift performing at the DMCs again. The showcase originally was to be performed by Roc Raida (RIP). The final performance of the World Final 25th anniversary was the World Champions’ super jam, which included DJ Q-bert, Prime Cuts, Switch, Rob Swift, DJ Woody, DJ Tigerstyle, Nelson, DJ Fly, Kireek, Cutmaster Swift, DJ CO-MA and Killa Kela providing the beats for them! It was a truly inspiring event, to see all these DMC World Champions and DMC Champions on stage together, an amazing and special way to end the 25th Anniversary World Finals.
2009 was a sad sad year for DMC and the World DJ Community. We lost Grandmaster Roc Raida, I have so many memories over the years of Roc Raida and the X-ecutioners which I will never forget and I know the rest of the world feel and think the same. RIP Roc Raida, a true legend.
2010…?
As we are now in our search for the UK’s best DJ, who will be crowned DMC UK Champion at The Islington Academy on Thursday 15th July? What will the 2010 World Finals have in store this year? Who will defend? What new stars will arise? You will have to wait and find out just like me!
Stay tuned to www.dmcdjchamps.com for all the latest information and follow us on twitter – www.twitter.com/dmc_dj_champs