On February 1sta student from Scratch Academy NYC, 13 year old Dwells from Farmington CT, took part in his first DJ Battle:the 2014 DMC NYC Regional DJ Battle and! And he won!

Interviewer: Hey Dwells! What/where was the first DJ battle you attended?  

Dwells: The first battle I attended was the 2013 DMC Hartford battle. Precision, Grand Wizzard Theodore and P-Money showcased and Esquire won, which was especially cool because he went on to win the nationals. It was a pretty awesome show overall!

Interviewer: You said you had been practicing for 10 months for the 2014 DMC NYC DJ Battle. Did you begin right after the 2013 DMC Hartford DJ battle?

Dwells: Yeah that is true. As soon as I got home from the battle, which was on April 6th, I started working on a routine. It made drastic changes throughout the process. The finished product had none of the scratches or patterns that was in what I first had after 1 or 2 months of working on the routine.

Interviewer: Do you recommend that everyone practice for 10 months before a battle?

Dwells: Maybe not everybody. I needed the months of practice because I was not good at all when I had first started my routine. Practicing for DMC definitely improved my skills and routine building.

 

Interviewer: What led you to enter DMC NYC this year instead of DMC Hartford?

Dwells: I was just kind of planning on entering both Hartford and New York DMC. As soon as I saw the Hartford date was announced, I signed up for it and I just thought I might as well sign up for NY too even though it hadn't been announced yet. I did not know it was gonna be so soon in the year but I'm glad I had months of practice before it. I did not even know the prizes at the time either so that had nothing to do with it. 

Interviewer: How did you feel going in to your first battle? You must have read the battle info because you did not make any of the mistakes that most first timers do.

Dwells: I actually read that really long email multiple times. Also to practice I would take everything off of my turntable setup, like needles and records and mess up the tone arm, then practice setting up really quickly. I would recommend doing that too all DJs participating in their first battle. 

Interviewer: How did Scratch Academy help you develop as a DJ?

Dwells: Scratch has done so much to help me as a DJ. I started going there when I was 11, in 2011 and I graduated in late 2013. Some of my instructors were DJ Noumenon, Dirty Digits, and Esquire. I would usually attend classes once a week on weekends. Most of the classes focused on mixing and basic scratching rather than turntablism. Last year, when I told Scratch that I wanted to compete in the DMC's, they actually didn't think I was ready but that was mostly because my scratching and juggling skills at that time weren't that great but it just shows how much you can improve in that short span of time. 

Interviewer: We hear you have been studying old DMC battle footage. If you could have been in one DMC battle, in the past, which one would it have been and why? 

Dwells: Oh man, that’s a toughie. I'd probably say '98 or '99. Just about every DJ in those years were real contenders. You had guys like Crazy-B and Coki with a real entertaining and funny show along with great routines. Most guys from the Philippines in those days had routines like Coki's. Statik and Jay-K with awesome juggles. Mouss and Dexta with their unique routine and music selection. Akakabe with his amazing and different juggles, especially that Black Sheep juggle with the upfaders. Prime Cuts with his funky and unique scratch routines. And then you had Craze and A-Trak with the best skills that could come out of a DJ battle at the time. 

Interviewer: How did you get exposed to turntablism and battling?  

Dwells: I discovered turntablism and battles when I was still really into DJing. I would just do mixing which would get boring because of the lack of creativity in a lot of sets. The first time I got exposed to turntablism was when I was at Scratch and Rob Swift was there to help out with a class. He did his ‘Rob Gets Busy’ routine right in front of my class and I was in shock at how he manipulated the turntable into an instrument like that. From there I started watching DMC videos and it just escalated into what I'm doing today!

Interviewer: How will you prepare for the 2014 DMC USA Finals? 

Dwells: I plan to do everything possible to prepare for US finals. I'm planning on coming up with all new routines for my set so don't sleep, battle DJs! I've never wanted anything more than to win this battle. I'll just keep practicing and getting better and see where that leads me. There's not a whole lot more I can do than that to prepare.

Interviewer: Do you dig? 

Dwells: Yeah, I definitely dig. My favorite spot to go is A-1 in East Village. They have a really great Hip-Hop and Jazz selection, although they don't have a lot of battle breaks. I usually check out Turntable Lab for that.

Interviewer: Do you collect battle breaks?

Dwells: I actually have a lot of Scratch and Battle records. My favorite battle breaks are probably Super Duck Breaks, Bionic Booger Breaks, Black Market breaks, and Heavy Petting Breaks among others.

Interviewer: How did you come to this extensive knowledge of music that you have. How did you come to find out about so much music before your time? 

Dwells: I don't really know how I got to know this much about music, especially music that was made before I was born. I've always liked Hip-Hop, which must’ve spread towards a liking of other genres. I’ve found that Hip Hop fans seem to be the most open minded about different types of music.

Interviewer: Do you like current music to? If so, who are your favorites, any genre. 

Dwells: I'm not really that interested in current music, but that's just my opinion. I try not to be critical about it because I hate when people say the music I listen to sucks, so I don't really have the right to say it about other music because I get just as pissed when someone says it to me. I do listen to some modern music though. I'm kinda ignorant when it comes to techno/trap/trance/whatever but I like A-Trak and Dillon Francis and guys like that. I also really like Odd Future and Danny Brown is pretty cool too.

Interviewer: So you are really NOT the son of DMC World Champ DJ David from Germany?  

Dwells: Haha I'm not actually DJ David's son. I think Vekked just made that up just to mess with people.

Interviewer: If you could DJ for an MC, singer or celeb who would it be? 

Dwells: Man, I think about this question a lot. There's this guy, Wiki, from the Upper West Side [NYC]. I think he already has a DJ but it would be pretty cool to collab with him. Here's a dope song with him... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9QdEfruq_0

Interviewer: Favorite turntables? 

Dwells: 1200s obviously. Not 1210s! I hate those.

Interviewer: Favorite needles?

Dwells: Shure M447's.

Interviewer: Favorite brand of mixer?  

Dwells: “Rane”

Interviewer: Favorite headphones?  

Dwells: AIAIAI's are pretty nice. I've been using those lately.

Interviewer: Favorite DVS program?

Dwells: Scratch Live! Although I've never used Traktor.

Interviewer: Do you mess with Maschine or any other gear?  

Dwells: Yes, I actually do have a Maschine but I'm not that good at it. Still trying to figure it out.

Interviewer: Do your class mates at school in CT know that you won DMC NYC or are you on the DL?

Dwells: I try to keep it on the DL at school. Most kids don't really understand turntablism. If I were to show them an amazing DMC routine, they would just think it sounds terrible and think that they could do it easily. It gets pretty infuriating sometimes, as you can imagine.

Interviewer: Do you have other friends your age to practice with?  

Dwells: I don't really have anybody my age that I practice with. I've never personally met someone under 20 who's into turntablism or scratching.

Interviewer: Do you watch Hip Hop cult classic movies/documentaries like Wild Style, Style Wars, Scratch, Battle Sounds, etc.?

Dwells: I've actually seen all those movies. My favorite is ‘Scratch’ because it can really show someone who doesn't know turntablism, the art and culture behind it. I also really like Style Wars and Battle Sounds. Battle Sounds was cool because it showed a lot of rare footage of battle routines by great DJs. John Carluccio is the man!

Interviewer: Favorite foods? 

Dwells: I love food! My brother and I try to find greats restaurants in NY. My current favorites right now are Takashi in West Village and Momofuku in East Vilage. Sushi is definitely a favorite food. All Japanese food is good, I think.

Interviewer: What's the deal with sloths?

Dwells: Oh man, sloths are so cool. I think the shirt may have been a good luck charm in NY. I actually have a new sloth shirt that I'll be debuting at the US Finals so watch your back DJs!

 

 

 Interview materials:  http://www.dmcworld.net/