2016 DMC World Championships Are On

This weekend will see some of the world’s best DJs descend on London for the DMC World Championships. It all kicked off in 1985 when Tony Prince of the Disco Mix Club decided to put together a competition to allow the best DJs to show off their best mixes. However, it wasn’t until the following year when USA’s DJ Cheese decided to add scratching to his mix, that the current version of the DMC’s was born – although much to the distaste of Cheese’s opponent that year.

Now in its 31st year, the DMCs are arguably the best and longest running DJ competition in the world.

Historically the US has dominated the competition thanks to 13 World DJ Championship titles, with the UK and France almost on a par with each other with five and four victories respectively. Germany, Canada, Japan and Denmark are the only other countries to win titles, but DJs from all over the world compete every year, so there really is the opportunity for anyone to scoop that coveted top prize.

The team competitions always added an extra layer of intrigue to the format, with crews like the Scratch Perverts and France’s C2C making big names for themselves thanks to some exquisitely complex routines. Plus the introduction of the online competition in 2011 helped open DMC’s doors to literally anyone with decks and an internet connection.

The 2016 DMC World Championships packs a particularly good show and that’s before we’ve even got to the competition itself. Not only have you got the DMC Battle For World Supremacy, the DMC World DJ Eliminations and the actual 2016 DMC World DJ Final, but there is also a whole host of entertainment and activities to get involved with away from the stage.

For starters there are going to be a selection of workshops covering hip hop’s four pillars, which will give some of us regular cats the chance to try our hand at rapping, mixing, graffiti, popping and locking. And as if that wasn’t tempting enough, wait until you see who is running the demonstrations. The Beatbox Collective who were world champs last year, will be in attendance to pass on some of their prowess. DJ Fong Fong and DJ Woody will be doing their duties on the decks and Popmaster Fabel of the legendary Rocksteady Crew, will be inviting us onto the linoleum with him. UK rap legends Farma G and Chester P from Task Force will be on hand for the lyricism workshop, which has got to be a highlight for any hip hop fan in its own right.

There will also be live acts in the form of the mighty Invisibl Skratch Piklz aka Q-Bert, Shortkut & D-Styles, who will be performing one of their legendary and hypnotic routines. They will also be celebrating the release of their latest album, The 13th Floor. Plus Killa Kela is joined by his Spitkingdom Soundsystem to amaze us with nothing but vocal skills and loop machines. Also DJ Woody will be making another appearance as he showcases material from his forthcoming solo album, as well as a performance from 5 time DMC World Champions DJ Fly and DJ Netik.

The full schedule for the day, as well as details of all the competitors involved, can be found below.

All this goes down at the Kentish Town Forum in NW London this Saturday, with the doors opening at 2pm. All ages are welcome and you can still get tickets from the DMC website:.