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.
