DMC Championship NSW Finals @ Gaelic Club, Sydney (17/07/08)

What do you get when you put 10 turntablists into a room trying to prove their supremacy? It can only mean one thing… DMC time! The NSW DMC title was up for grabs at the Gaelic Club on Thursday and apart from the bag of goodies to be won, the real prize was definitely bragging rights and the chance for the winning DJ to showcase his (where are the female DJs at huh?) skills in Melbourne, when the Australian DMC Championships take place in a couple of weeks.

The basic format of DMC is each DJ is given six minutes (2 minutes more than Madonna and JT are given to save the world), two turntables and one mixer to showcase the skills honed during hours of practice in their bedroom, and even longer when you account all the time spent getting their fingers dusty, looking for the perfect record that will hopefully help distinguish them from the nine other competitors.

To start the night off, DJ Eko tore up the somewhat tame crowd with a hip hop set that had me reminiscing of a hip hop era gone by. He drop mixed everything to perfection, cutting up tracks from Tribe, Gang Starr, Nas, Talib, Black Star and Souls of Mischief just to name a few. No one was dancing, but it’s a hip hop crowd right? There was definitely more than your fair share of head nodders, including myself. After Eko’s set, it was time to let the battles begin. The crowd had picked up by this time, pushing to the front and there was excitement through the air as the first two DJs warmed up on stage. DJ Kid Dreams started first and he came up with the goods getting a huge cheer from the crowd, juggling the letter “D” on one turntable and using “MC” from an old 12th Man record (when Richie Benaud welcomes you back to the MCG), to of course repeatedly spell out DMC. This was definitely one of the many highlights of the night.

The first wave of DJs performed and during the interlude, DJ Mathematics and the Robotek Breakers danced up a storm for the crowd. It was definitely a welcome break from the intensity of the DMC and was dope to see one of the b-boys (lil Korean dude) bust out in air flares across the room to the delight of the crowd. The DMC resumed and DJ Scoob was on last to protect his title. As he came on stage, the crowd cheered him on, willing him on to his three peat of state titles and he didn’t disappoint. His juggling was tight, well rehearsed and although not overly complex, was very easy on the ears and clean compared to the other competitors.

The night finished with Chasm rocking the house and the Robotek Breakers creating a circle on the floor and freestyling while the crowd watched on. A fitting end to a hip hop event that has been going annually for a little over 20 years; watching 2 MCs, one DJ, a loving crowd and b-boys breaking loose in the middle.

The final results were:
3rd: DJ What
2nd: DJ Typhonic
1st: DJ Scoob

A big shout out goes to DJ Dharma. Was definitely unlucky to miss out on a place as his set was definitely the most versatile, juggling on both 33 and 45 speeds, scratch drumming and easily the most melodical scratcher (by that I mean he just didn’t chirp flare all day long). The other props go to DJ Steak who found a sample of Scoob and dissed him (people, it’s a battle, not a tickling contest) at the start of his set but couldn’t find the legs to match it with the state champ over the 12 rounds. Overall, this is a night for the true hip hop fan combining three elements of hip hop into one night. Make the time and catch the DMC next year as some of the up-and-coming talent from this year will definitely be around again to stake their claim.