DMC - the cat's out of the bag

[djschooluk]

From DJ Woodys Facebook page:

"Wow, huge debate has kicked off over this years DMC winning set by DJ Fly.

None other than the legendary Cash Money accusing Fly of over-producing and faking his performance.

I think it's unfair to squarely focus on DJ Fly though without looking at where this kind of set came from and i think this kind of debate is actually a healthy thing for us to perhaps re-calibrate what we think makes up a dope DJ routine.

A similar discussion was had when battle weapons really became a large element of the battle scene from Crazes win onwards but a WHOLE new level of this emerged in 2006 when a producer called Le Jad started to produce entire sets for DMC contenders. 3 World Champion winning routines built by the same guy! It starts to beg the question, is Le Jad winning the DMC or the DJ's?

Serato isn't the issue as custom vinyl has been widely used in battles since the mid 2000's, the elevation in what C2C did to the Teams competition wouldn't have been possible without either.

Give someone the chance to have THE perfect noises, interludes, build ups, segue-ways and intros placed in the THE most convenient order then inevitably it with allow previously unmatched levels of 'slickness' to the overall sound. Which all of a sudden makes it VERY difficult for a DJ NOT using these tools to compete for a crowds reaction, that's why i say let's not focus on a particular DJ but the scene as a whole.

New level of 'slickness' shouldn't be confused with new levels of MUSICALITY. For me the DJ's musicality SHOULD be judged on how they interact and intervene with what is on the platter. Unfortunately the use of custom phrases makes it very hard to figure out what that is and so we have this whole 'fakery' debate.

I had a very interesting conversation with Cutmaster Swift after this years World finals where we were discussing this very issue. He made a great point, that these days many of the sets are more about RECONSTRUCTING the sounds you have prepared, rather than DECONSTRUCTING and flipping existing tracks.

Essentially the latter being the very core what 'mixing' truly is about.

I guess it's about honesty, when a DJ (or 3rd party producer) is spending more hours 'reverse-engineering' a set within a sequencer than what it takes to master performing the set, then i guess that's not an honest DJ battle routine.

A large part comes down to us as judges, i was a one of the judges this year and am asked to judge a large number of DJ battles. We have to be 100% onpoint and take this job seriously, we've got to BE ABLE to see passed the pre production and just the DJ. HONESTLY!

It also comes down to the competitors, it takes more balls to buck the trend!

Although i didn't vote Fly to win i kinda feel bad for him because who really wants to win the DMC only to have a tirade of internet hate on your set, especially when it's from one of the legends of the scene.

The ball is in our court though for what happens next..."

THE WINNING ROUTINE:

MY 2c - I kind of agree with Cash, but also with Woody - In my mind DMC now needs 2 leagues - one for DVS/preproduced weapon users and one for traditional turntablists (2 turntables and a mixer with original records that need changing).

As long as stuff keeps moving fwd.