This was only my second time out to the Beat Swap Meet and both times I was overwhelmed by the awesome amount of people and the fact that everyone there is so knowledgeable of music. First person I saw was Dj Jawa, the coordinator of the event. Then I saw my fellow Beezo Battle competitor and friend, Dj DRok. Awesome dude and he and his crew stuck around to see the dj battle later in the day. We met at the Scratch Dj Academy tent. It had 3 turntables, 3 mixers and lots of dj’s scratching it up. I headed upstairs and watched the producers showcase some crazy beats. I got a pennies from the bartender and a couple that were super nice. I needed the pennies to weigh down my needles. I also watched my first AWOL ONE show ever. I grew up reading URB and seeing his ads all over the place. I ended up seeing Dj CPlus, Dj Image, and Dj Yujadek. I spent most of my time though hanging out with Clenz Roc. Probably one of the humblest dj’s out there and a long time friend. We discussed everything, from Target to Dj Crews of yesteryear and the iPhone. The dj battle kept getting pushed back in the schedule, but luckily Dj Jawa made it into a showcase and we all got turntable time. It was a lot of fun and I’ll probably put up the whole event on vimeo. I’m providing links at the bottom of all the people I mentioned and hopefully some the video link will be up soon. Oh, the pics are from the video. From top to bottom, its Dj Image, Dj Cplus, and Dj Yuji/Juyadek. Someone else that I bumped into once I was exiting the event was Dj IQ and his brother Konfusion. It was a huge blast from the past. We talked about the Vestax PMC-06, our favorite mixer, and how we can’t get over how simple and awesome it is.

Yesterday, March 5th, 2011, I participated in the Urban Street Jam 2011 Dj Expo & Competitive Dj Battle. It was a very surreal experience. I met and made a lot of new friends. I got to see some amazing dance performances up close from backstage. I had the advantage of seeing the athleticism and dedication that goes into those performances. The groups were practicing non-stop behind the scenes all over the Anaheim Marriot. It was a sight to see. It was also amazing to watch what happened after they performed and all the emotions the performers would go through after they had just finished sharing something that they have worked so hard on. It was amazing. I felt so unproductive when i saw how hard these people worked. I was very fortunate to be able to be part of such a spectacular event.

On to the actual dj battle. My competition was 106 KMEL’s Ultimate Dj Top Ten Finalist Dj Trane from Stockton, California. An amazing and a really cool dude. We were both super early so we got to hang out and had a lot of downtime. It was a little overwhelming to see the stage with all the amazing graphics and lighting effects. It was ridiculous. We had a huge ballroom to perform in and it was surreal. I’ll rundown the my point of view of the battle. We were both very excited to perform and I can only speak for myself because I was so nervous. We had two rounds to battle. I forgot to mention that we both were battling on different physical media. Dj Trane was using CD’s and I was using vinyl. In the first round, Dj Trane started off and I’m pretty sure he mixed 15+ songs in about 7 minutes. He got an amazing crowd response and that made me even more nervous. His set was really clean and I was genuinely impressed. I was up next and I went with a strobe pattern on a beat from Doo Doo Breaks, Volume 2 from Boom Bip. The track is called “D” Double “O” Style and samples the Beastie Boy’s “3 MC’s and 1 Dj.” Then i did a quick scratch pattern over the beat, and I lastly did a quick beat juggle routine off the Dj Qbert “Y Record.” Once I was done with a record, I threw them out to the crowd. They all ended up on the stage but one actually went into the crowd. I hope I didn’t hurt anyone. That round was judged on crowd response. That type of judging is always tricky and sometimes really tough to actually determine a winner, but I actually ended up taking that round. The next round, I went first and did a Black Moon, “How Many Emcees” beat juggle routine and a quick scratch routine over another beat from Doo Doo Breaks, Volume 2 from Boom Bip. It was the track called “Hovel World.” Then Dj Trane murdered another 10+ songs in 5 minutes. This guy is crazy fast. You can check out his youtube and myspace site for more of his stuff. This time I lost the audience vote and we were supposed to battle again sometime in between the latter part of the dance competition. The competition ran long and I knew that that element was the highlighted feature of the event, so I totally understood when they cancelled the finals between me and Dj Trane. They did end up announcing me as the winner at the end and I am extremely grateful. I think Dj Trane did an amazing job and did something I am not able to do. He deserves all my respect and I know it could have easily gone the other way due to the audience response he received. I had a great time, I passed out all my demo CD’s and DVD’s. I got to watch an amazing amount of talent perform and it was an experience I’ll never forget.

Hopefully this will increase my exposure as a dj and increase the amount of high fives I get when I go out in public. Here’s a quick mini-capsulation of me, as a dj:

“I’m just a music enthusiast that attempts to remain relevant in the many fields I involve myself in. I’ve been engrossed with dj’ing since I was 12 and active in the scratching community since I was 15. I went under various different dj names, but the one that I stood by the longest was “edit.” I was on a short haitus from dj’ing and the competition circuit, and I’ve recently returned and am now going under the moniker “moded.” I feel that it best represents my current musical tastes and vague enough to cross different genres. Thank you for stopping by and I hope you are all having an awesome day.”

So thats me in a nutshell. I think the photo would be more appropriate if it was of me actually in a nutshell. Instead, I just posted a quick picture of some of the records I hope to use today at the Urban Street Jam 2011 Dj Battle.