In anticipation of the world famous DMC DJ Championships this weekend at Koko, Tomas Olesen takes a look back at what has made this competition so special.
When a young Londoner called Roger Johnson was crowned the first DMC DJ Champion in 1985 for his winning mix at the Hippodrome, he can’t have realised just how significant a moment in the history of the DJ it was to become. An event that hardly featured a deliberate scratch in its first year became the litmus test by which turntablism's development is measured within just a couple of years, and winning the competition has continued to be the pinnacle of what one can achieve as a DJ. Sure someone like Tiesto may be able to claim to be the best DJ in the world, but he'd never even qualify for a regional heat of the DMC, let alone win the whole thing.
The cementing of the DMC as a major event happened in the early '90s, the so called ‘golden era’ of rap music, and of hip hop culture generally. 1990 and 1991 saw the dominance of Germany’s DJ David, who will forever be remembered for his one handed b-boy freeze whilst spinning on top of a moving turntable to the sound of 'I’ll House You' by the Jungle Brothers: probably one of the best ever adverts for the resilience of the legendary Technics 1210 turntable. Next came the Americans. Legends of the DJ game like Qbert, Mixmaster Mike, and the late Roc Raida all raised the bar for the art of turntablism year on year.
The DJ who has won more times than anyone else is DJ Craze. Winning three consecutive titles from 1998 to 2000 he has it all and heralded the arrival of a new breed of turntablist just as Qbert and Mixmaster Mike had in 1992. Fully ambidextrous and just that little bit crisper than those who’d gone before, his incredibly fluid cutting and robotic timing resulted in routines so tight an audience could dance to them and arguably made the competition interesting to a wider audience. It was no longer purely the preserve of record nerds and DJ trainspotters. The Craze school of turntablism also paved the way for what must go down as one of the single greatest DJ routines of all time. DJ Kentaro turned up in 2002 and received a standing ovation from the judges as well as the crowd for a sublime display of dexterity and hand speed.
Since the turn of the millenium the competition now also has the team and battle events. Current team champions Kireek from Japan will equal previous champions CRC’s record of four wins on the trot if they can come out on top again this year. Whilst we here in the UK will be hoping that new British Supremacy champion Deceptakut will be able to emulate DJ Switch and bring the World Supremacy title back to the UK.
For this, the 25th DMC Championships (yes it’s been going for 26 years but there was only one competition in '95/'96), the competition takes over a suitably theatrical venue in the form of Camden’s KOKO. Split over two days, Sunday is Team Battle day and the Scratch Supremacy finals. Live performances from DJ Shiftee and Yarah Bravo are not to be missed, but the beatbox battle between our own Reeps One and France's Eklips is set to be particularly special. Monday sees the solo finals reach their conclusion with competitors from as far afield as Taiwan, Algeria, and Nigeria all competing for the only prize that really matters in DJing. No other event has the same pedigree or the same sense of a big global family.
We here at Spoonfed wish the DMC Championships a very happy quarter century birthday and look forward to being blown away by a new generation of turntablists eager to prove themselves on the ultimate stage in the years to come.
Click here to see all London DJ music.
Return to Spoonfed's London Clubbing homepage.
Add an event
Frieze Art Fair to launch new section for young galleries in 2012
Frieze have today announced details for the 2012 edition, their tenth art fair in London. Taking place...