DMC Championships 2007 - Update

The DMC World DJ Championships have often been called the turntablist's Olympic Games, but it is more than a sports competition. The comp, wildly popular in Australia, provides DJs with a platform to exhibit an artform as much as a physical discipline.

Since the formative days of hip-hop, the postmodern art of turntablism has been recognised as a legitimate force in pop culture. But if turntablism has transcended the underground, then it's largely due to the international profile of the World DJ Championships. The turntablist is a DJ who practises the hip-hop methodology of manipulating vinyl to create musical collages with two turntables and a mixer. Turntablism is a cornerstone of hip-hop along with MCing, breaking and graffiti. In fact, DJs like Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash were the original stars of hip-hop, not the MCs. The DMC World DJ Championships has promoted the DJ's resurgence. It stands as the most prestigious - and influential - of all the turntable assemblies.

DJ Babu of The Beat Junkies defined the term 'turntablist' in 1995 in order to differentiate the hip-hop DJ from a regular DJ. For this new DJ, the humble turntable is an instrument. Two skills are central to turntablism: first, beat juggling, and, second, scratching (or 'cutting') - and, to these, we can add a third, the crowd-pleasing 'body tricks'. It was Kool Herc who singled out the breakbeat in the early 70s when he was playing around with two turntables and two copies of the same record. That occasion could well have signified the birth of hip-hop.

Stevie D devised beat juggling, mixing two records to make a fresh set of beats. In the late 70s a teenaged Grand Wizzard Theodore invented the scratch when, on cuing a record in his bedroom, he was suddenly interrupted by his Mom. By manoeuvring a record against the needle, the DJ can create sonic textures in conjunction with the mixer. There are a number of known scratch patterns today.

The UK DJ company DMC, headed by Tony Prince, inaugurated the World DJ Championships, then the DMC World Mixing Championships, for mix DJs back in 1986. The very first winner, the USA's DJ Cheese, introduced scratching into the mix, effectively upping the ante. In this way, the competition evolved out of the DJ battles on the streets of New York. Later the DMC World Mixing Championships attracted the endorsement of turntable manufacturers Technics, whose SL 1200 model is iconic in hip-hop.

The Championships have produced such turntable legends as Cash Money, Cutmaster Swift, Roc Raida and DJ Noize. Every champion has a story. Canada's A-Trak was just 15 when he claimed the world title in 1997. Miami's DJ Craze won the Championships for three years consecutively - a record. He revolutionised hip-hop turntablism by injecting a drum 'n' bass component, demonstrating a level of skill that astounded the UK's junglists. Australia has spawned a DMC star, too, in DJ Dexter, who came second to Craze in 2000. In the 90s turntable teams were briefly allowed to enter. Q-Bert (of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz) reigned supreme. A team category was formerly launched in 1999 with the UK's Scratch Perverts securing the title.

Those candidates competing in the 2007 DMC World DJ Championships will again be allowed six minutes to impress the judges. The World Champ takes home the celebrated gold-plated decks - and can anticipate DJ bookings for years to come. That DJ may even lay down original music. Hip-hop's big-name MCs have exploited a commercial boom, yet many turntablists, in contrast, have cultivated an urban avant garde. There have been efforts to develop a form of notation for turntablists. Turntablism has also given rise to innovative approaches to recording. Turntablists have transplanted themselves into the studio to cut what Mixmaster Mike touts as "scratch orchestra music". They've disseminated 'artist' albums as opposed to traditional mixtapes. The X-ecutioners masterminded 1997's bri Tags

• dmc
• championships
• national finals
• turntablism