While a lot of the culture is focused on battle rap, there are some DJ battle competitions that have taken Hip Hop by storm and attracting some true—heavy hitters.
One example is DJ Pretty Lou and his “DJ Pretty Lou Presents The Turn The Tables,” a competition series that hosted its semi-finals and championship round tournament for his upcoming YouTube.TV show.
The semi-finals and championship DJ battles were held at Barcode in Elizabeth, NJ, and hosted the following celebrity judges, DJ Enuff, Mister Cee and DJ DooWop.
Going head-to-head in the tournament were DJ Ric Roc vs DJ Chicago Rambo (first round) and DJ Jay Smooth vs DJ Drop (second round). All four DJs are competing to win $10,000.
The competition lines the DJs up, asking them to complete seven-minute sets with a surprise “Monkey Wrench.” A Monkey Wrench is to test your music library and what one might have in their stash.
An example is if the set was all Roc-a-fella artist songs (and not songs they were featured on) and the surprise Monkey Wrench, created mostly by DJ Clark Kent, would be something like Queens “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
For Mr. Cee and DJ Enuff, the competition really lifts the need for rap music education in the DJ community, both saying, it is a must for DJs to learn the music (tracking over 50 years) that feeds their art form.
“DJ Pretty Lou Presents The Turn The Tables” debuts on Wednesday, April 12, and is sponsored by DEF JAM, Avenue Motors, Trinity, and Bell Mitsubishi.