Reigning DMC Technics DJ world champion Skillz talks us through some essential music

THE first interactive and covid friendly DMC world DJ championships sponsored by Technics and Pioneer DJ has gone virtual this year.

The 2020 competition started on September 7th and is hosted online due to the pandemic. The annual World DJ Championship originally launched in 1985 and has over the years been hosted in London, Paris, New York, Italy.

The DJs come out fighting this evening at 6pm. They will battle it out with their performances streamed live from Algeria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Philippines, Russia, Spain, UK, USA and New Zealand. JFB (Beardyman’s Live DJ who has remixed Fat Boy Slim) represents the UK.

The judges will be looking for originality, freestyle performances that stand out, impeccable mixing and scratching, confident moves and cheeky tricks that you least expect.

Legendary winners in the DMC hall of fame feature Philadelphia’s Hip Hop artist, producer who was the first inductee into the DJ Hall of Fame, DJ champion Cash Money (1988), one of the most influential DJs of all time DJ Q-Bert (1992-1993), Craze the only solo DJ champion in history to claim the trophy three times consecutively (1998–2000), France’s C2C who took the title 4 years in a row (2003-2006), Japan’s KIREEK who won team champion five consecutive years from (2007-2011), and The Scratch Perverts (London) who became the champions in 1999. The reigning World Champions; DJ Skillz from France (2018-2019) and Supremacy Champion DJ Matsunaga from Japan (2019).

You can catch all the action streamed live for free from 6pm tonight HERE.

To mark the occasion we caught up with the reigning world champion, Skillz and asked the French turntable wizard to talk us through a playlist of essential music featuring tracks from Daft Punk, Gangstarr, The Pharcyde, Queen plus tracks that brought the house down in his show stopping sets that earned him back to back titles in 2018 and 2019.

Michael Jackson – Thriller

“This artist inspired many including me during my youth.  MJ’s music was played every where on radio and tv, I loved watching the amazing feature length videos / short films so much that I used this track in my 2018 battle for the DMC World Championship title which I went on to win.”

Daft Punk – Da Funk

“I love everything about Daft Punk not only are they from my home country France, they are electronic pioneers and always ahead of the game, their videos are special. When I drop their tracks in my club sets the crowd always go wild.”

Oliver – Light Years Away

“My friend Sayan who I’ve collaborated with for some time, introduced me to this track. The precision and skill of Oliver’s music is second to none, he is one of my favourite producers right now!”

Gang Starr – Skills

“This is so cool. I think I could talk about Gang Starr all night long. I was enjoying their music for years before actually finding out their name. What a revelation when I found out, I went on to obsessively listen to everything they had released. I’m a huge fan of the producers DJ Premier & MC Guru. My name Skillz was conceived from my admiration of Gang Starr, in case you didn’t work that out.”

The Pharcyde – Drop

“The most iconic hip hop track and video that impressed me the most, it’s directed by Spike Jonze and I really like his style. Even now, I love watching the video and listening to this track.. It’s a classic.”

Tchami & Malaa – No Redemption

“Another one of my favourite producers of the moment, Tchami. I’ve selected this track because this is the one I included in my DJ set for the 2019’s DMC World Championship Battle that I won for the second time.”

Queen – Radio Ga Ga

C2C – Le Banquet featuring Netik, Tigerstyle, Rafik, Kentaro & Vajra

“C2C has had a big influence on me for so many reasons. The crew have successful careers and solo projects. It’s musically interesting and they have also skilfully won the 4x team World DMC Championship four consecutive years in a row from 2003 to 2006. What an inspiration!”

Birdy Nam Nam – Abesses

“For me this outfit is one of the first DJ crews who have earned the title “TURNTABLIST” they have successfully encouraged and influenced other DJs to progress their skills across more than just one turntable… Other pioneers include (Invisibl Scratch Piklz & X-Ecutioners).”

Supreme NTM – Laisse pas trainer ton fils

“NTS was my first ever Rap CD and on this day forward I continued to listen and be inspired by this genre of music, which of course influenced me and my DJ sets. Joey Starr and Kool Shen are one of the best Rap bands of the last 30 years in France. Respect.”

Skillz new breakbeat production ‘You Know My Skillz’ vinyl is out December 2020 on Beatsqueeze Records www.beatsqueeze.com