Turntablists of Arizona, you'd better start practicing. A little more than two weeks from now, one of the biggest DJ contests ever will be bringing its regional battle to Phoenix and your shit better be tight.
The DMC World DJ Championships, widely considered to be the most premier turntablist contests around, will hold one of its qualifying rounds for this year's competition at Civic Space Park in downtown Phoenix on Friday, April 20.
At stake is a shot at DJ immortality for a half-dozen local artists as they engage in two-minute sets that are likely to include plenty of scratching, remixing, and other turntable artistry.
The top six competitors will then move on to the DMC U.S. finals taking place in early August in NYC at one of Gotham's more notorious nightclubs Le Poisson Rouge. The winner of that particular turntable throwdown will then move on the world finals later in the year.
If you've never heard of the DMC World Championships before, here's the deal: The global competition has been held annually for more than two decades by the UK's Disco Mix Club, a onetime radio show hosted by renowned disc jockey Tony Price that's evolved into a remix service.
Every year since 1986, the DMC has awarded a golden Technics turntable and the title of world champion to more than two dozen DJs from around the world. It's most definitely a bigger honor than winning the annual Red Bull Thr3style or getting named DJ Mag's top spinster, that's for sure.
The list of previous winners includes such big names as the late Roc Raida of The X-Ecutioners, Mix Master Mike and Q-Bert of the Rocksteady DJs, and Fool's Gold founder A-Trak (who won the competition at the age of only 15 back in 1997).
The list of contenders for the Phoenix qualifier haven't been announced as of this writing, but you can bet that some of our fair state's top talents will be involved. In fact, we wouldn't be surprised to see cats like Pickster One, M2, Robby Rob, or Death to the Throne doing their thing at Civic Space Park a couple weekends from now.
The DMC Phoenix Regional DJ Battle will take place from 6-10 p.m. on Friday, April 20, at Civic Space Park. Admission is free. More details can be found here.
