O2 Islington Academy
09.07.09
So its that time of year again, DMCs – djs all over the land have been battling through heats to make it to the finals here at the Islington Academy. This is the 25th anniversary of the championships and things were set up for a heavy showing in the finals.
First section up is the head to head Battle for Supremacy – 17 DJs battling styles and tricks to pass to the next heat. There were some easy pickings for the heavy weight DJs with Rasp beating Asian Hawk in the semis with a hard, confident style. Over in the other semi, X-Rated took out Jeppa, which was a bit of a shock, although Xrated came through with a straight up battle set, it was in no way as clean and tight as Jeppas beat juggles – but anyways on to the final.
XRated kicked in with a hard beat juggle, maybe it went on a little too long for the judges as St Helens finest, Rasp, came through with a more organised layered set, felt more of a turntablist. After the judges cast their votes, Rasp just eyeballed Xrated in anticipation and took the first place, along with it entry in to the World finals in September. Judging by the global talent from last year, Rasp will be in for a hard night, best of luck to him.
The DMCs always has a couple of live PA’s on the night to keep the crowd moving. This year was a relaxed affair with some mics getting passed around and emcees taking over proceedings with true UK style. Micall Parknsun is a new name to me on the MC circuit and flowed solidly and is right up there with Klashnekoff and Kyza in my opinion – stood tall sharing the stage with UK legend Jehst. Skinnyman and the nights host, Inja ripped up the other PA, dropping the grimey “Hat Low” tune, which is probably being played on Channel U as you read this!
Last years battle finalists, Shiftee (USA) and the UK’s Switch made a showcase appearance for a couple more rounds of bravado. The skill level and rivalry between these two is pretty epic with Switch’s in your face hard dis style succumbing to Shiftee’s witty smoother battle set which kept the crowd more than warmed up for the final.
On to the main event, the DMC UK Final – Longer sets this time and a more varied sound than the shorter battles. “Special Guest” gets things started with a grimey bigbeat guggle, and while Disect dropped a bold Pendulum track and some hard bass kicks. Rasp came through with another organised set, but not enough to stand out, same with Asian Hawk, another RATM mashup and even dropping some Mr Scruff wasn’t enough to get the judges on side.
3rd place on the night went to Johnny 1 Move, guy had no luck with his needles skipping and took a rebate and pulled it together pretty well. 2nd place went to Furious P, seemed like he had his own dub plates made for the night and mixed hard, but his set didn’t feel as hectic as some of the others so didn’t capture a vibe. The winner on the night, apparently by a point, but in my opinion by a mile was DJ Jeppa. Mixing up the eerie War of the Worlds sound track with some dubstep set things off uniquely.
Jeppa seemed very relaxed, maybe too much as he cruised through a well drilled set, to victory, it was obviously the best set of the night, but I know Jeppa has a lot more in him. He might not be as enigmatic on the decks as some of the DJs, but his intelligent, well thought out sets will keep him in the race come the World Finals, ill be there rooting for him.
So Jeppa and Rasp progress to the finals which are at the Indigo at the 02 (Millenium Dome) To be honest they both need to get practicing if they want to get their mits on the gold Technics, watching some of the videos from around the world, who ever makes it out of the US final in New York in 2 weeks time will be a strong contender – and then there is the French , who always come through with the innovative sets year in year out, plus Japan always has something to say in the finals too – so get the ticket booked for the final, its 25 years old this time round and Mr DMC (Tony Prince) has promised an extra special night.
Phil Proctor