.: Red Bull Thre3style

Last night, May 20, 2011, Red Bull had their regional round of the Red Bull Thre3style DJ competition. This is a unique competition in that it’s a global event decided by city, region, and country events, ultimately ending with the best-of-the-best going head to head in Vancouver Canada. So last night at Trees in Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas was the regional event where the top 2 DJ’s advance to the nationals in Vegas. There were 6 DJ’s competing for the 2 spots. The rules, as I understood them, were:
A 15 minute set that MUST contain at least three different musical genres. (Hence the name Thre3style)
A panel of music industry judges will select the winners based on track selection, creativity, mixing skills, stage presence and crowd reaction.

The 6 DJ’s were, in set order:
DJ Fishr Pryce/Dallas
DJ Rockwell/Houston
DJ M/San Antonio
DJ Diverse/OKC
DJ Vajra/Boulder
DJ Spin/New Orleans.

The event was hosted by the 2010 Dallas champ DJ Joe Vega, who did a good job of keeping the event moving right along all night.

First off congrats to all the DJ’s for making it this far, they all did an amazing job. Fishr started his set of with, what looked like, some confusion between the sound guys because something didn’t seem right. He was gesturing back and forth between his tables and someone on stage. That little 10 second hiccup turned out to be the only flaw of his set. Once he fixed what was wrong, he quickly thru on “Who’s House” by Run DMC which I felt was a great touch, being that he was in his hometown. A few highlights for me were when Fishr went into some Mike Jackson, and then tossed out t-shirts to the crowd, followed by a moon walk back to his tables. He also did a great job transitioning in and out of all three genres. I’ve heard a couple of Fishr’s sets and his ability to go from genre to genre is so impressive. This competition was tailored for his style.

Dj Rockwell had his own following in the crowd. Signs of “Team Rockwell’ were easily visible from anywhere in the venue. Rockwell had a solid set but I think following Fishr turned out to be a huge disadvantage last night. Rockwell did hold his own though and he crowd reaction was definitely on point for his set.

When DJ M was introduced, and the host announced that he was from San Antonio, the crowd broke out into boo’s. The Spurs/Mavs rivalry is never far from the minds of residents of either city. I was impressed with Dj M. Even after booing him, the crowd was won over by his drum and bass/hip hop mixes. By the end of his set the entire crowd was hype and dancing. Good set overall.

If the crowd was upset with the fact that DJ M was from SA, then the next DJ was in for some trouble. DJ Diverse is from Oklahoma City. Poor guy. The crowd gave him no chance. They boo’d when he was introduced, they boo’d (when they were paying attention) while he played, and then they boo’d when he was done. To his credit, he kept his cool and did his own thing. I wasn’t too familiar with most of the music he was playing, but he did a good job mixing and switching up the tempo.

The last two acts were interesting to say the least. DJ VAJRA from Boulder came out swinging with some biggie and was in and out of hip hop and metal drum and bass scratching through out his set. To me it was obvious he was head and shoulders above the rest of the DJ’s in the competition. No knock on the other guy, VAJRA is just that good. He was the only DJ that had me rocking the entire time. His selections and placement were well thought out. I really enjoyed his set and I will be looking for his mixes today.

So at this point, I was thinking VAJRA and Fishr were in the lead. If anyone was going to compete with them it would have to be this next DJ: DJ Spin from New Orleans. He came out to what seemed to be 5 minutes of his 15 minute set to sound bites dissing the other DJ’s. Starting with Fishr, and then hitting the rest of the contestants. Now this IS a competition, but I don’t think that was a smart move. The Dallas crowd again started booing and yelling out their own disses. Spin obviously came to get under some people’s skin. He did a good job of that. It was a shame too, he had a solid set. I think the dissing hurt him. His set was heavy on New Orleans hip hop, nothing wrong with that.

In the end the two winners were: 1st place DJ VAJRA and 2nd place DJ Fishr Pryce. If VAJRA was head and shoulders better than everyone, then Fishr was head and shoulder better than the rest of the field. Every DJ had their moment, and did a good job, these two just had a great night with everything falling in their favor. Congrats to both DJ VAJRA DJ Fishr Pryce, they both advance to the national competition in Vegas. Good luck guys.

I really couldnt document the event like i wanted, I was too busy hanging out with friends I hadnt seen in too long. Here are the pictures i managed to get with my Blackberry. I promise to take a real camera with me to the next event i hit.. (click to to enlarge)