Turntablized is a cut'n'scratch competition for DJ's from "Amsterdam and the suburbs", officially. This year it wil be held for the third time. There are 24 DJ's from all entries selected who may compete each other in two rounds to earn a spot in the finals.

From every spot of the Netherlands (so not only Amsterdam) DJ's come together to fight for a place in the finals of Turntablized, 19 December Paradiso Amsterdam. Every DJ gets three minutes to prove himself. It was clear that some DJ's weren't as good as the others but still the turntable nights contained quality. There were two selection rounds. The first round was hosted on the evening of Prospects, a showcase of Dutch RnB and HipHop acts organized by SPEC. The first four DJ's of the first round had bad luck, because they had to work on a broken turntable which was at last replaced by the Melkweg after the four. The steel plate had a horizontal margin, very unprofessional by the Melkweg.

 

Don't stop the music

O.k. DJ Rockid once did forget to unpack his records beforehe started his turn on a DMC Championships final. That is kinda very stupid. But what we did saw on the first round is just straight up wack and a lack of improvisation. The last and least one up was DJ Lala from Utrecht. Yes, he had an interesting and original intro, 'Windowlicker' not used by many HipHop DJ's. But it turned out he started his set on the wrong deck. Which is not very smart because you have to remember that all the records are in the other turntable than you are used to, which is terrible for a DJ. He adjusted the record on the wrong table not by improvisation or a freestyle trick to get back in the good sequence. But he just did stop the music, took the record and put it on the other wheel of steel. Never ever stop the music. From there on he couldn't reach his rhythm. The crowd wasn't optimistic at all. It was terrible, a real disgrace for a DJ. What was he thinking of? I never saw a DJ who had done such a stupid, unprofessional thing.

At the final of the Grote Prijs van Nederland (Grand Award of the Netherlands) there was also the second round for Turntablized in the small hall upstairs. The DJ's had a lot better conditions to show their skills. There are a lot of DJ's over the two nights and you wonder who is going to make it to the final. Sadly you don't hear it at the same night. You had to wait for a week before the organizing Stg. GRAP announced who made it to the finals. The jury will be formed by: Desperados, DJ KnowHow and Kid Sublime.

And the fine DJ's who will battle each other on 19th December are:

Turntablized the final, hosted by Brainpower and DJ TLM
19 December, Paradiso Amsterdam.
22.00 doors open
23.00 Turntablized part 1 (8 dj's)
24.00 Turntablized part 2 (4 dj's)
00.45 Turntablized part 3 (2 dj's)
01.00 The winner of Turntablized '99 will battle Rahzel (of The Roots).
02.00 Live on stage: Rahzel