Throwback Review: 2003 DMC Supremacy DVD

[Vekked]

Probably not too many people interested but I went back and watched it a few times lately because it's always been one of my favourite battle videos, and probably my favourite year for Supremacy. It's one of the battles vids that if I lost I'd instantly replace. One of the coolest things in retrospect about this DVD is that there's a lot of guys (Tigerstyle, Izoh, Pfel, I-Emerge, Rasgunyado) who made their DMC world debut in this battle and went on to get really fkin good and win world titles with the exception of Izoh who is probably one of the best battle DJs to not have won a world title.

 

When I was watching it I was trying to figure out what the big differences were that made me love this battle, and be disappointed by the more recent supremacy vids. These are some of the reasons why I think 2003 Supremacy >>> 2011 Supremacy:

 

-There's no one in this battle that I'd consider completely WACK. There were some guys who were below average, but I don't think there was a single round that was just complete garbage with no redeeming value. Some rounds were pretty boring with no replay value, but not complete shit. I can't say this about the newer DVDs, there's definitely some guys who literally sound like they started the same year.

 

-The talent pool is really deep. Anyone in the semi-finals had a chance of winning the entire thing and deserving it.

 

-Nearly every decision the judges made was spot on. I think the finals is pretty arguable and really close, and some people might not like the decisions with M-Rock/I-Emerge, or maaybe Pfel/Tigerstyle, but I still think the right decision was made in both.

 

-Huge variation in styles. A lot of the battles were kinda hard to judge because people are doing all kinds of feedback/drumming/basslines/reverse juggling/skipless record tricks... not just straight juggling/scratching every round.

 

-Using the Ultimate Vekked Battle Judging System To End All Battle Judging Systems 1.1 aka UVBJSTEABJS 1.1™, the 2011 DVD scored an average of 4/10 which corresponds to slightly weaker than a regional-winning level routine. The 2003 DVD scored 5.2/10, which is slightly better than the average regional-winning routine. I think the quality difference is even more bigger than this reflects given there was twice as many competitors in 2003, so a lot more guys on the lower end dragging the average down (let's face it, there's only like 7-8 countries that have decent DJs so the more countries you add over that the lower the average is gonna be).

 

-In 2011 there were 6 routine I considered "good" (6 or 7 out of 10) and no 8+ routines. In 2003 there were 21 routines I scored 6 or 7, and 5 routines I gave an 8 or 9 (all 9s were Tigerstyle and M-Rock who happened to both get to the finals), and a couple of the 7s and 8s would have been slightly higher if they were a bit sloppy.

 

-AND one 10/10 routine, M-Rock's Rollout. It's musical, innovative/original patterns, technical, both cuts and juggles, and it's just a fucking wicked routine. To me one of the things that makes a classic routine is when you hear other people juggle that beat, it just doesn't come close to that one routine. Like Rob Swift's Biz Routine... I just don't want to hear any other routine with that track, or Mista Sinista's Theme from Swat, or ESPECIALLY A-Trak's Get Ur Freak On. I almost want to turn off someone's routine as soon as they start playing Get Ur Freak On, because no matter what they do it's just not going to be nearly as good; A-Trak just fucking killed that track. I feel like certain tracks should almost be retired like how sports teams retire certain jersey numbers, lol. But yea, M-Rock's rollout routine is like that, I just don't want to hear any other routine with that track.

 

So yea, not really any groundbreaking discoveries, but it basically seemed better in almost every aspect from the skills, to the variation, to the judging. Now for the actual review stuff...

 

Highlights:

-Tigerstyle (!!!). Has so many cool routines, and at least 3 that are classic in my mind (Radiohead routine, beatbox/Wizard of Ahhs breaks routine, final scratch routine vs. M-Rock. He also has a cool skipless juggling/scratch routine in the early rounds, better than his final round.

 

-M-Rock's diversity. He does a cool pure drum scratch routine, one of the best bass line scratch routines I've ever heard, crazy faderless juggling in the final, super crazy reverse drumming/juggling patterns... nearly every routine he does is nothing like any of his other routines, or any of the other competitors.

 

-I-Emerge in general. A lot of really good examples of his basic style and what made him different even before he used customs. He's pretty much a beast on the cut (although he got a lot better in 2004, he was a bit repetitive near the end of this battle), and his juggle style is fresh and not like anyone else really. His Pastor Troy routine vs. Jekey is maybe my fav juggle of his, and probably if I had to pick 1 juggle to be an example of his juggling style it would be that. He didn't hit it as clean as it could be in this battle tho.

 

-I-Emerge raping Jekey. I mean Jekey isn't brutal but I-Emerge just dummies him in the quarter finals and I always found it kinda funny cuz they announce him as defending champ and he just gets brutalized in his first round, lol.

 

-M-Rock and I-Emerge dissing each other in the semi-final, ESPECIALLY Merge's diss... it's so sick, especially if you're Canadian/recognize the source of the sample.

 

-Pfel just being funky overall. Not like X-ecutioners funky, more like a cool laid back/jazzy type style, he's like the one man C2C kind of. His style almost sounds out of place in a battle, but I think it's fresh and I his routines are very smooth/well composed.

 

-Izoh does a pretty cool Ugly routine, probably the most original I've heard that track being flipped.

 

-The final is classic. Neither use their best routines, but it's just a cool contrast of styles. I think overall Tigerstyle was better throughout the entire battle and more consistent, so if you were judging on who deserved to win more overall, I think it's Tigerstyle for sure. M-Rock does a scratch routine that's a bit above average but nothing overly special. Tigerstyle comes back with a fucking sick scratch routine, a 9/10 in my books, I just love his cuts in this routine, and there's just so many cool parts to it even though it's a lot of ahh/fresh... but he does it so well. M-Rock then kills it with his faderless drumming routine, which is also a 9/10 as far as I'm concerned. It's just super well composed and the patterns are so clean and crazy... he makes the "faderless" part actually cool and not a gimmick. I think in a vacuum it doesn't sound like a 9/10 routine, but it's the patterns and technique... so much of it is stuff I've never seen before that, and some I haven't seen since. Now the big thing that makes the battle so close is Tigerstyle's last round. He repeats his skipless juggle and doesn't do it quite as well, then he has trouble changing records before going into a really cool feedback routine. I think it's like a solid 7/10 if he didn't repeat and nailed it completely cleanly, but using the same routine + having a minor slip-up in his transition takes it down for me. I think if he hadn't repeated he takes the battle cleanly, but with the repeat it's sooo close. It's basically scratching vs. juggling at that point...

 

I still think Tigerstyle deserved it, but I think it's really really really close. Overall I had M-Rock with a 6.6/10 average for his routines (average routine is just below national champ material), I had Tigerstyle at 7/10, so average routine would win a national final. That's a REALLY high average considering that's across 8 routines. Like his weakest stuff would still be top 3 in the country. Pretty sick, it might be the highest average that someone will get in my system, although Netik 2002 and Akakabe 2004 might be close... I'll see eventually.

 

From what I could remember from when I watched the battle way back I thought Tigerstyle killed everyone and it wasn't that close, but after the re-watch while I still think he was super sick and won every battle some of them weren't as one-sided as I remember.

 

Not so highlights

 

-There isn't much I don't like tbh... Cutmaster Swift shouts a bit too much when he's cutting off routines... there's a lot of guys some of the early battles are kinda boring.

 

-Not really a true negative, mostly just an observation, but after a while I-Emerge's routines get kinda repetitive although they're cool. He does the same scratches in most of his routines, and same juggle patterns in most of his routines. Most of these patterns are unique and well done but it's pretty noticeable and takes away from his routines a bit after a while.

 

-Bordallo is maybe one of the most skilled battle DJs to not be a good battle DJ. What I mean is, he can scratch above average, his juggle patterns are solid, but his routines just irritate me. He uses weird/lame samples, or picks bad parts of tracks to juggle. Again it's not really a true negative cuz he's not wack, but it's just so rare that someone can scratch good, juggle good, but totally miss the mark on routines.

 

Cliffnotes:

-Classic battle video

-A lot of classic or near-classic routines. Semi-finals and finals are top notch.

-I thought every decision was correct. Some really close battles so I wouldn't expect everyone to agree 100% but there was definitely no robberies.

-Tigerstyle and M-Rock brought some next level heat. I-Emerge and Pfel were really solid. A few other guys had moments.

-Lots of guys making their world DMC debut, really cool to see how they started before they became beasts within the next few years.

-Nobody was absolutely wack/trash.

 

Yes I'm a huge battle nerd. Suuuper tl;dr.

[Jon]

I've never seen this dvd (the bulk of my collection starts in 2004, though I have a few older dvds like 2001 dmc and the old vestax dvds), ill def hunt it down! Where's the best place to track down the older dvds in your experience? I used to find them on the dmc site/ebay but dmc have sold out of most of them.

[Vekked]

Word, it's definitely worth it. I think 2002-2003 were my fav years for supremacy I think, guys really brought it back then.

 

I would guess ebay would be the best place but I'm not sure. Anything pre-2003 is pretty much on VHS. I mean I still have a fair bit of stuff I could hook up even though I lost a lot when my hard drive crashed... I have every supremacy vid now, except 2000-2002 are still on VHS waiting to be ripped (had an .avi of them before ..).

 

For older stuff I'd say some of the big ones I'd look for are:

-Allies Beatdown 2002 North American final, some really sick routines in this, Precision, Boogie Blind, Solution, Enferno, Perseus, I think Vajra, Jr. Flo, M-Rock

-Best of ITF Vol 1, 2, 3, 4, and I think there's a couple others, like 5 and Japan... the first 4 are amazing tho, must have battle vids

-DMC Supremacy 2001-2004. 2000 is cool to see people doing that format for the first time but isn't thaaat strong, 2005 is decent too but I-Dee got kinda robbed and the final sucked.

-DMC U.S. finals 98-2001, all solid years with stacks line ups. Most of them are on the DMC Muzu site though.

-Not quite as old but I think the 05 Gong Battle DVD is sick if you haven't seen it. Decent battles and a pretty sick grudge match between Slyce and Supreme where Slyce shows why he's an OG.

 

I haven't checked any of the old Vestax vids other than youtube, any recommendations?

[ELGEE]

good review vekked, spot on.

 

i love this battle too, defo has to be one of my fav's by a mile.

 

2002 - 2004 were good years for the battles IMO.

[Jon]

Word, it's definitely worth it. I think 2002-2003 were my fav years for supremacy I think, guys really brought it back then.

 

I would guess ebay would be the best place but I'm not sure. Anything pre-2003 is pretty much on VHS. I mean I still have a fair bit of stuff I could hook up even though I lost a lot when my hard drive crashed... I have every supremacy vid now, except 2000-2002 are still on VHS waiting to be ripped (had an .avi of them before ..).

 

For older stuff I'd say some of the big ones I'd look for are:

-Allies Beatdown 2002 North American final, some really sick routines in this, Precision, Boogie Blind, Solution, Enferno, Perseus, I think Vajra, Jr. Flo, M-Rock

-Best of ITF Vol 1, 2, 3, 4, and I think there's a couple others, like 5 and Japan... the first 4 are amazing tho, must have battle vids

-DMC Supremacy 2001-2004. 2000 is cool to see people doing that format for the first time but isn't thaaat strong, 2005 is decent too but I-Dee got kinda robbed and the final sucked.

-DMC U.S. finals 98-2001, all solid years with stacks line ups. Most of them are on the DMC Muzu site though.

-Not quite as old but I think the 05 Gong Battle DVD is sick if you haven't seen it. Decent battles and a pretty sick grudge match between Slyce and Supreme where Slyce shows why he's an OG.

 

I haven't checked any of the old Vestax vids other than youtube, any recommendations?

 

Definetly try and check out the vestax world finals 2001 and 2002 dvds. Incredible routines on there. Some of DJ Woody's best battle moments are on there with all his two turntables on one deck, his ugly duckling routine etc.

 

I found a copy of the 2003 supremacy for about £16 with postage, it's a bit more than what i'd usually want to pay for old dvds but if it's a really great battle then I reckon it's worth it! Might order that later

[ELGEE]

i need to get a vcr and one of those leads so i can record all my vhs tapes onto my pc,

got every dmc and itf etc from day dot.

 

if i can find one of the leads i would send loads to ya via the wizardry of the tinterweb.

 

ill try to get this battle ripped for ya in the next couple of weeks and post it on the snide.

 

wink wink.

[Jon]

spanks yo! I'd still like to own it but that that would be wicked too

[Vekked]

Definetly try and check out the vestax world finals 2001 and 2002 dvds. Incredible routines on there. Some of DJ Woody's best battle moments are on there with all his two turntables on one deck, his ugly duckling routine etc.

 

I found a copy of the 2003 supremacy for about £16 with postage, it's a bit more than what i'd usually want to pay for old dvds but if it's a really great battle then I reckon it's worth it! Might order that later

 

Oh yeaaaa, fuck I forgot how good Woody's routines were in those years.

 

Yea 2003 is def worth copping, especially if you're a Tigerstyle fan, which I am, lol. He uses some routines he didn't use in ITF, and some of them were among his strongest routines too imo.