What was the competition that you won?
The competition was the Red Bull Thre3Style DJ competition.
And for those who aren’t familiar with it is it a big deal to win this thing?
Yeah I saw in an article that it’s the biggest DJ competition on Earth. So it’s worldwide and you basically move up the ranks; so you go in your city — this time it was more of a western Canada and then an Eastern Canada thing — and then if you win those regionals you go and compete in the nationals from the top three in each side and if you win that then you get to go to the worlds which is in Azerbaijan this year and it’s a six or seven day event and everyday there’s a competition with three finalists from the countries. If you win that then there’s a final worlds one that’s on the last day.
So do they do it like a round robin style where you’ll go up against a few people each day?
No you only get one shot man. Every time it’s just one shot. So if I’m on the Monday I battle two other people from two other countries and I have to beat both those two to get into the world finals. It’s pretty intense and it causes a lot of stress and anxiety for obvious reasons but it causes a lot of cool stuff and positive stuff as well.
Even at this point you’re the national champ for Canada so you’ve come quite a ways.
Thanks man it feels good.
Was it pretty tough competition getting to this point?
Oh man of course it was. Even in the Western Canada there were guys that I’m a fan of myself like DJ Heebz he actually got third in the Western Canadas and he came with me out to the Canadian finals — he’s dope he inspires me all the time. Ivan Rankic I play with him on Fridays Charly Hustle who got second is just amazing he’s a beast he’s from Saskatoon and he was in that as well. Then I luckily squeaked out of that on top and then when I got to the Canadian nationals it was just even more to go through especially Adam Doubleyou who’s the national champ from last year and just always comes correct; super creative DJ high technical skills he was a force to be reckoned with for sure.
Did you bring out anything new to put you over the top or were you relying on your tried and tested techniques?
My tried and true techniques I come from the scratch world and I used to be a battle DJ when I first came up when I was kid or a teenager. So I decided that I was going to highlight what I do the best and focus on my strengths. But I knew I had to pull some stuff out because I knew that other guys have had more creative sets than I’ve had in the past so I needed to step that up. As well I knew that Adam Doubleyou would be doing some drumming on a pad so I thought I needed to add that as well so I added it to my repertoire and it seemed to work out.
Did you have to learm some of that stuff new?
Not really man. The whole drumming thing I don’t do it all the time especially out in public or anything it’s something that I can do at home. I’m pretty percussive. Scratching’s very percusive and I’ve been doing that since I was 14-years-old so to bang on pads on beat is pretty natural to me. Luckily I was able to do something that made it look like I’ve been doing it for quite a while.
Have you checked out any of the competition that you’re going to be facing in Azerbaijan?
A few. Actually when I’m prepping for these things I like to listen to other DJs from other countries because it just takes you out of your box and out of your comfort zone and makes you think differently. So I’ve checked the Phillipines…. Most of the guys I’ve checked from the Phillipines because it was such a big deal for the guys from the Phillipines to have Thre3Style there for the first time and I’m Phillipino myself. I’ve also checked out the two judges Hedley who’s a world champ and DJ Shortcut who’s been my hero I was following their posts so I was listening to what those guys were playing. I’ve also listened to… who was it? Some South American guys and there’s a girl from Brazil who actually won the nationals out there so I was checking her stuff out. Everyone sounds great man and I’m just really stoked to meet everybody and meet other DJs around the world. There’s no other way I would be able to meet that many DJs from that many countries in one shot.
Yeah the connections could be really interesting coming out of something like that.
Totally man.
It will be interesting just to check out Baku Azerbaijan too. I have no idea what Baku’s like.
That’s what everyobdy is saying and I kind of love that because there’s probably no other reason why I’d go to Baku; well I’ve just never heard of it and now it’s on my radar and I get a free trip out there and meet all these DJs and do what I love to do.
Where can people find you playing when you’re not jetting around the world?
I actually play on Friday nights at Broken City with DJ Pump and Ivan Rankic. In the summer right now we play on the patio at eight o’clock and we move the party down at 10. I throw a monthly party at Commonwealth called Full Crates in the basement that one’s going down this week. I also throw a monthly party called Radar that one goes down at Local 522 and there’s a bi-annual party that’s gotten pretty big here in the city it’s called Rewind and we do it at Flames Central. It’s an old-school party we play old-school rap reggae R&B on the video screens and we just play music videos. It’s been pretty crazy.
