Reviewer: Idlemind • Date: April 2006

Gallery of the night - click here

Well before the scheduled time, the line stretched far down Varick street. One would think it was a Thursday or even a Friday night, but no - it was a mere Wednesday. The first of what is proposed to (and hopefully will) be many such events. Of course I am referring to the 1st Annual Gong Battle for DJ Supremacy, held at the legendary S.O.B.'s nightclub. On April 5th. The air was thick with anticipation and once the doors were open and you were inside, you knew you were going to be in for some hard-core competition. The event was the brainchild of Veteran DMC World Champion, Roc Raida. The sponsor list reads like a "Who’s Who" of DJ Electronics and Hip-Hop Culture. The sponsorship spearheaded by Shure included, Rane, Eclectic Breaks, FatBeats, Thud Rumble, Gemini and others. At registration time, the first round contestants were listed as:

DJ Solo, DJ Theory, DJ Watts, DJ Omen, DJ Esquire, DJ Grappla, DJ Tabasco, DJ Complex, DJ Jayceeoh, DJ Slipwax, DJ Illogix, I-Dee, DJ Steel, DJ A-Plus, As-One, DJ Supreme, Dr. Fish, DJ Kinetic.

Names were drawn from a hat and the one-on-one elimination battle was underway. The Gong was to be used by any of the judges in the event that they felt the contestant was not doing his thing, or if the crowd was not on his side. It seemed, however that the crowd had the most influence over the judges using the Gong or not. The Rules were stated at the beginning and are quoted as follows:

RULES

1. Only two Technics 1200 turntables and a Rane TTM-56 mixer can be used in the battle. There will be two set ups.

2. DJs must bring their own needles, slipmats, headphones, vinyl, etc.

3. DJs will be judged on the normal stuff yada yada. If someone beat juggles against someone's body tricks, all that matters is who was better. Nothing else.

4. A DJ will be gonged if the judges think that he/she is biting or wack. It's OK to show influence but outright use of the same records (with the exception of a diss) and doing the same routine will be grounds for being eliminated by way of the gong.

5. DJs must be ready to go when its his/her turn. If a DJs isn't well prepared (with the exception of equipment failure), the judges can gong them out of the battle and their opponent will automatically advance.

6. Any DJ, of any age, from any country or continent is welcome to enter provided he or she arrives to sign up at 7 pm for the first elimination round. There may be a limit to how many DJs can enter the eliminations, if there are an overwhelming amount of competitors and a limited amount of time.

7. Each of the first 30 DJs who sign up to compete get one complimentary guest. Prizes: To be Announced: DJs must be prepared to transport certain prizes home although some might be mailed directly from the manufacturer.

Registering: No pre-registry, just show up by 7 pm to enter. Competing DJs should be able to supply a short paragraph (ideally printed in advance) listing - DJ name, gov't name, crew affiliations, phone, cell, e-mail, website, complete street mailing address including city, state and zip code and his/her top 5 wins/achievements as a DJ.

FILMING: All DJs will be filmed and are asked to sign a release form for the use of their image/performance for the DVD titled "Roc Raida presents The Gong Battle for World Supremacy." DJs under a certain age will have to have their parents/guardians sign for them. The release should be available within a month of the battle for anyone who wants to read it. Be advised that Roc Raida will need extra footage from the final 8 DJs on mini dv or dvd reflecting a normal day in his/her life. The winner will get 10 percent of the earnings of the DVD (after costs are re-couped of course), and up to 1 minute of commercial time on the DVD to promote what ever he/she wants (supplied by the DJ). The winner will receive his/her 10 percent quarterly from Adiar Cor Inc). The DVD will consist of the battle as a whole and will be released two months after the battle. Only the top 16 DJs can have a friend film his or her set for their own archives. That person will only be permitted to film the designated DJ/s and not the whole battle.

NOTE FROM GIZMO: The above rule is why you won't see any footage from the event on skratchworx. There is some around and I'm sure it will surface on the net somewhere, but it would be way better to buy the DVD when it comes out and support the event.

Although no “official” bets were being taken, the initial favorites were, DJ Complex, DJ Supreme, DJ As-One, and DJ I-Dee. Throughout the ranks the field was pretty much divided in half between outright scratching/beat juggling and theatrics and crowd involvement. Thankfully for this competition, there were a group of qualified and accomplished DJs as judges. None other than the likes of Rob Swift, DJ Scratch, DJ Spinbad, Grandwizzard Theodore were in attendance. DJ Cash Money rounded up the bunch as a substitution for DJ Premier who was tapped to produce Christina Aguilera’s new project.

After the first round of eliminations, there was a (not so) brief intermission while the votes were tabulated. During that time, the crowd was dazzled by an impromptu display of dance skills by veteran and new-gen members of New York's B-Boy elite followed by a much needed wake–up call from Lord Finesse and DJ Scratch to New York artists and Hip-Hop heads alike to get back on the grind; a movement sparked by the release of the new anthem, from Busta entitled, “New York Shit”. Then came the “resurrection elimination battle” conceived by the judges to make for a final lineup of 8 of super-telented DJs. This one routine battle was between DJ As-One and DJ A-Plus. It was easily taken by D.C. native, As-One with some quick thinking in content selection and execution in classic battle diss style; but keep in mind the young rookie A-Plus is one to watch in the future now that he has official battle scars to his credit.

Then the crowd was blessed with some words from the legendary Kool Herc. Herc took his opportunity on the mic to acknowledge a DJ by the name of Ginsu that caught his attention winning in a previous competition and to officially Knight him with the title of GrandMaster. Thus allowing him to be billed as, “GrandMaster Ginsu”. He took the time to also remind everyone that the first title that he gave out was to “GrandMaster Roc Raida” and that if any GrandMasters out there have a problem with it, to “…be there.” Hopefully he remembered that he made history when he woke up the next day as he juggled the microphone and not one but two drinks; because we were all listening as intently as market analysts listened to Greenspan.

After (almost too much) calculation, tabulation and fanfare, the 8 DJs to advance to the next round were named, and they were:

Slip Wax	Illogix	I-Dee	Complex
Kinetic	Steel	Supreme	As-One

This round the contestants brought the heat. There were disses being thrown about and the gloves had definitely come off.

As the finals began, you might think that the remaining two competitors if given the opportunity would literally, “Take it to the street” if given the chance. But it was all part of the competition. Once the winner was chosen, the two shook hands and you know it was all love.

1st Annual Gong Battle for DJ Supremacy Champion is...

DJ I-Dee

In addition to the $1500 gift package from Shure, the winner was awarded a 1st Annual Gong Battle for DJ Supremacy Jacket and Trophy, Serato, a set of the newest Gemini turntables (Roc Raida tested and approved), a prize package from Thud Rumble, a Pro-X Fader; and probably only second to bragging rights, 10% of the DVD sales.

Very few specific routines stood out among the normal body tricks and exaggerated head and hand movements to gain crowd credibility that we have all seen; but ones that come to mind are:

1. DJ Supreme – who claims not use “Battle records” Scratching over, “I Am Iron Man” ala 1990s

2. DJ As-One when randomly pitted against teen (possibly pre-teen) wonder DJ A-Plus, in a resurrection elimination battle, chose to cut up clips from, “Kindergarten Cop” of Arnold saying, “Who-Wh-Wh-Who is your Daddy… and What does he do?”, thus eliminating him.

3. DJ Supreme when battling DJ I-Dee, digs out the classic Rakim cut, “Move The Crowd” and proceed to cut up the line, “Weak ideas irritate my ears” so that it is heard as, “I-Dee is Weak”. A definite crowd pleaser since it took not only skill but some quick thinking.

The Grudge match between ’97 DMC US Champion DJ Slyce and New Music Seminar (and Gong Battle contestant) DJ Supreme was one of the many highlights of the evening. Their battle was an entertaining one despite some of the theatrics, (some involving Supreme not only playing but beat juggling the Donna Summer classic, “Upside Down” on an upside down turntable.) in the end the Slyce’s crowd-pleasing Michael Jackson routine won him the peoples choice.

The Competition was closed with a set by Cash Money who was just as amazing to me in 2006 as he when I first heard him some 20 years ago. All in all, with its gritty commentary and bona fide street cred, I would rate this contest as a definite contender against more “well known” and “commercial” competitions and I look forward to attending more in the future. Hats off to Raida.