DMC/Technics World DJ Championships The Dome, London, UK DMC's at the Dome, what can I say? It makes me wonder whether DMC paid to use the Millennium Dome on the East side of London, or the ‘New Millennium Experience Company’ paid DMC to hold the world team and individual battles there, for a bit of ‘street publicity’. Who fuckin cares, I mumble to myself as I head out East with a relatively openmind.... 13 DJs from 12 countries. Its gonna be good.... Sunday is the event that everyone was waiting for. The individual battle for the title of world Technics DJ champion 2000. Things kick off at 7:15pm with an introduction to the evenings events with Cutmaster Swift, Cash Money and the president of DMC Tony Prince, who adds his own style and finesse to the show. The audience has been spared the heats, so what we have left is 12 DJ finalists and of course USAs Craze defending his deserved title for the second time. After a crowd lifting half hour with Mark B and Blade we are treated to a set by Hip Hop legends Jazzy Jay and Grandwizard Theodore who spin old classic breaks for the audience of around 4,000. Tonight sold out well in advance and rightly so, as the British made DMC hasn't been held here in ten years. On to the main attraction of the show and everyone looks set for a night of the worlds best. It’s a shame that they aren’t doing battles, just a six minute set each and a judges verdict. Never mind though, nothing’s gonna stop me from enjoying this. It is quickly obvious that the standard is high, and only those with tight cuts and new ideas made it this far. There are still a few DJs though that just don't seem to have brought anything new to DMC. Saying that is easy enough though when your standing in the audience, you gotta have balls to stand up there and get judged on 6 minutes of your life that you’ve been practising for time, but I'm gonna be harsh cos that's the luxury you get when your not involved. Uninspiring performances from Hanger (Japan) DJ Razor (Germany) and DJ Khalid (Morocco) This shit has been done before and better. Its when we step over to New Zealand with DJ Raw that we find out what these boys have been up to over the last year. This set was well good, and tight. Rockid (Holland) was up to tricks with a set that sounded like is was up for a top three standing, but we aint heard nothin yet ma boy. Mr Thing (UK) got the home crowd response that the Perverts got when he stepped up to take the title off Craze. With a no bullshit intro Mr Thing cuts to the chase with mad impressive juggles. Crabs that make you itch and cuts that make you bleed. This boy has to come in the top three. DJ Pump (Canada) with only two breaks records sets out to make his mark. A tight set is only let down by a very ‘breaks record sounding’ 6 minutes. You know how I mean. Klever (USA) comes out with a nice intro and a technical set with a ton of style. But when your talking style, DJ Noise (Denmark) is daddy. With the return of Noise after winning DMC ‘96 and staying out for three years we were all wanting to see what he was gonna pull to make his mark. Can his own brand of cutting together words and phrases bring him back in top form? The answer is no. There is no doubt that Noise has done better, although his Dr. Dre skit went down a treat with the crowd. Not this time then. On to DJ Pone (France) who cut together a very nice set indeed, but not enough to make it top three. Then we have DJ Dexta (Australia) who’s my favourite to win the title. This boy was playing the freshest cuts and fucking them up accordingly. You should have heard the crowd when he dropped a Jazz tune and cut up a horn over the top. He’s gone for a fresh approach, and it works. None of your Wack DJs bullshit, just true skills. And now it’s Crazes turn to defend himself. I’m glad I’m not a judge. We all know what Craze is capable of. He starts out with ‘Who's the heavyweight champion of the world?’ it’s all true. This set is near perfect and it looks like the Judges have no choice but to make history and give it to Craze three years running. It’s only at the end of his set when he drops a perfectly-in-time beat by dropping the needle on the beats one at a time. This is hard to explain but that's what he did. Craze has to win now, because nobody else here could show skill and precision like that. And that's that. The judges file off to reach a verdict leaving Kid Koala (Ninja Tune) to play a 20 minute set while the restless crowd wait. Actually the Kid Koala set is one of the highlights of the show for me, cos nobody plays songslike he does. If you don’t know, check him out. Verdict time..... Coming in third Mr Thing. Second DJ Dexta. And first it has to be Craze. He’s done it again. I couldn’t see it going any other way, but I do think that if DJ Dextas set was a little tighter he could have been collecting that gold plated Technics turntable. With Craze and A-Track winning the team battle the day before, it’s a show stolen by the american. Will he be back next year? Just wait and see. It might not be far either as Tony Prince was talking of a DMC appearance in the Royal Albert Hall next year, this is still undecided, but if it is, get yourself down cos you wont want to miss that. Turntableism in the Albert Hall. What a belter. The DMC World Technics Championship 2002 is being held in Australia, but I don't know if I’ll make it yet. As one of my mates says ‘I could do that, I just haven't learnt yet’ Yeah right. WRITTEN BY F.B.C for ukhh.com - contact him on buildembeats@ukhh.com - Smiffy | profile © ukhh.com 1999 - 2000