What makes a battle DJ great? Beyond top-level technical skills, solid selection, and crowd work, a great battle DJ is able to respond and adapt to an on-the-fly competition. For a fun Throwback Thursday post, we’re spotlighting an amazing event – 1994’s Clark Kent’s Superman Battle for World Supremacy – featuring Denmark’s DJ Noize taking home the championship title after taking on DJ Shortkut (above) and DJ 8-Ball in the finals (below).
- Event: Supermen DJ Battle For Supremacy
- Year: 1994
- DJs: DJ Noize (of Denmark, DMC Champion in 1996) vs DJ Shortkut (of the Beat Junkies and Invisibl Skratch Piklz) in the semifinals; vs DJ 8-Ball in the finals.
In the semifinal round, Shortkut holds it down fairly well with solid juggles – but ultimately it’s no competition for Noize’s incredible wordplay work, flipping samples to directly diss his opponent.
In the final round (below), it’s the same story – 8-Ball doesn’t even stand a chance versus Noize’s wordplay work. Note, if you’re listening not on headphones, some of the samples aren’t safe for work. That’s exactly what makes them so devastating – humiliation of your opponent is the exact type of showmanship that made Noize so good at battling. He would go on to lock down second place in the DMC World DJ Championships in 1994 and 1995, eventually winning the title in 1996.
Every Thursday, we’re throwing it back with a classic DJ video from the many decades of decks and mixers. Have a great suggestion for a video to feature on DJTT? Let us know in the comments, or shoot an email to editor (at) djtechtools (dot) com with “Classic DJ Video” in the subject line.