First and foremost, the UK legend that is Cutmaster Swift (En4cers, former DMC World Champion) warmed up the ceremonies with some absolute Hip Hop bangers for the few that were there, at this point Iwas getting a little nervous as to how many people were gonna show because we only had a handful through the door.
However, when it came to battle time, the crowd increased and everyone had come to see some turntablism! The battle itself was incredible!! Such a tough heat to judge (yes, I had the honour of judging this year!), to quote SallyDMC "it was like a mini UK Final!".
First up was DJ Voice from Redruth who was neat and tidy with his routines and a great start to the battle! Second to grace the turntables was local favourite DJ Scratch4Cash. This man has been entering DMC's longer than I have and has always been on point! On this evening was no different, in fact this was the strongest 6 minutes I have heard from him yet! The intro was big, skills were tight, record choice was funky as fuck, and he was the only DJ to use vinyl as well!! Was majorly impressed sir, well done!!
Next up we had DJ P-Nut (from what I remember, apologies if the name is wrong), not sure which manor he was repping as didn't get a chance to chat with him but he repped none the less! Was extremely clean, intro was very musical and the beat juggles were tight and understandable.
By this time we were already half way through and the crowd were loving it! Now we had our three main contenders for the evening! Next up, repping Nottingham, was former UK Finalist (and World Finalist with the Bionic Stylus crew) Furious P. This guy delivered as usual, with a huge sounding 6 minutes, the dope intro was there as well as the skills, however he did have trouble with serato towards the end and the final juggle pattern (even if serato hadn't had failed him a little) was a little too "samey" for me, but hey, that's my opinion! You still the man P! :)
Second to last up was no stranger to this battle game!! Former UK Finalist and ITF champ, DJ Ritchie Ruftone had flown all the way down from Scotland and having been out of the battle scene for some years now, took some major gut's to come all the way down here to do this! Ritchie's 6 minutes was large!! This man can still scratch and cut up the faders like he was battling for his life! He had a little trouble with the second routine were he was unable to locate the cue points, but other than that he still managed to seriously injure my neck! haha! Although with all that said, I did feel that his 6 minutes was missing something. Not quite sure what, but i felt like it needed that little extra something.
Last but not least we had former UK Champion, Beardyman's right hand man, and all round Brighton badboy.. JFB!! This lad crammed everything you would expect from a UK champ and more into his 6 minutes!! The skills were phenomenal, track selection was big and was just overall excitement! Exactly what you need to take on the rest of the world and show them how the UK do it!!
So, after one of the sickest and toughest battle's I have ever seen at a regional, it came down to announcing the winners.
1st Place - JFB
2nd Place - Ritchie Ruftone
3rd Place - Furious P / Scratch4Cash
The stage was then handed over to the host of the evening INJA who showcased some of his new album. Inja was a wicked host and totally smashed it with the showcase!
Unfortunatly, due to missing his flight from France, the current World Champion DJ LigOne was not here to showcase, however in his place, there was a 3 turntable scratch jam showcase with myself, Cutmaster Swift, Furious P, Scratch4Cash, Ritchie Ruftone and JFB which was sick!!
We then finished the evening off Top Billin' style, with a half hour set from myself, a half hour set from the GV Click and then Darko, Masterstatus and Leishman taking care of business!! All in all, an absolutly blinding night!!
Shout's to Sally, Cutmaster Swift, Inja, the DMC sound guy's, Stoner Si, Sleaze, DJisGod, Masterstatus, Darko, Leishman, Harry Greenstreet, Dan and the staff at The White Rabbit, JFB, Ritchie Ruftone, Furious P, Scratch4Cash, Voice, P-Nut, Dirty Joe and Mrs Dirty Joe, Rico (serious long time man!! was great to hook up again!), Rob, my younger bro Chris, Em and Keith, Gramma K, Bones, Paul (XL) and Tarfoi (cake lady! lol make sure to check out For Goodness Cakes online), Pete (DJ Sharp), Kit, Rain, Xscape, anyone else that I have forgot (I know there is quite a few, sorry) and last but not least.. the crowd!! You were an absolute wicked crowd and made the evening what it was!! Big up's!!
Check out footage of my Gang Starr "Discipline" beat juggle routine from my half hour set at the after party below!! Until next time!! :)
