New York, NY (Top40 Charts / Red Bull) Toronto played host to the largest DJ competition on Earth this week as the Red Bull Thre3style World Finals hit the city for the first time. From November 4-9 , the 17 top DJs from around the globe gathered to showcase their talent for roaring crowds of thousands and a judging panel of DJ heavyweights, including DJ
Jazzy Jeff, Kid Koala, Skratch Bastid, Grandtheft and Jubilee. After five nights of heated competition and wall-shaking performances in sold-out venues across the city, it was Shintaro of Japan , a wildcard selection on the competition's final day, who reigned supreme as this year's Red Bull Thre3style 2013 World Champion.
Hailing from the Japanese city of Akita, Shintaro made Red Bull Thre3style history at The Kool House, Toronto as both the youngest ever winner and the first Red Bull Thre3style World
Champion residing outside of the competition's host country. 2013 was definitely 'third time lucky' after striving for the title in previous years with all the hard work finally paying off in front of over 2000 concert goers- " This win means so much. I think it will help to grow my career and will allow me to show the world what Japanese DJ culture is all about," says Shintaro.
Shintaro heads home with an enormous Red Bull Thre3style world finals trophy, original record control vinyl pressing Serato plates, a copper plated Rane 62 mixer and Sennheiser studio monitor headphones.
This Red Bull Thre3style World Finals week featured daily and nightly events fit to satisfy all musical tastes, including panel conferences led by some of the most influential faces in the music industry and nightly DJ competitions and headliner performances in some of the city's hottest venues. All came down to the final World Championship competition on Saturday, November 9 , where Trentino ( USA ), Byte ( Chile ), Eskei83 ( Germany ) and Marquinhos Espinosa ( Brazil ), plus two Wildcard competitors Bazooka ( Switzerland ) and Shintaro ( Japan ), battled it out for ultimate sonic supremacy. As with every night this week, each competitor was given a precious 15 minutes to perform a set mixing at least three genres of music. Untouchable and forward thinking with a truly unique sound, it was Shintaro of Japan who clinched the win in his unexpected return to the battle.
THE OFFICIAL RED BULL THRE3STYLE 2013 WORLD FINALS RESULTS
First place: Shintaro ( Japan )
Second place: DJ Byte ( Chile )
Third place: Eskei83 ( Germany )
HIGHLIGHTS OF WORLD FINALS WEEK
Monday, November 4 :
The 17 international Red Bull Thre3style competitors gathered for a draft-style draw, where each selected their date and time slot to compete this week. Shortly thereafter, competitors were joined by hundreds inside The
Drake Hotel for 'welcome night', where surprise performer DJ
Jazzy Jeff rounded out the official kick-off of the most incredible musical week Toronto has ever seen.
Tuesday, November 5 :
Canadian music journalist Denise Benson led an afternoon panel to discuss the vibrant history of Toronto's music scene before Red Bull Thre3style personalities including Hedspin, Skratch Bastid, Four
Color Zack and DJ
Jazzy Jeff took over the Miami Heat vs. Toronto Raptors halftime show with a special live performance. That night, at the first official round of this week's competition, DJ Byte ( Chile ) dominated against
Lukas Canaves ( Argentina ), DJ Ray Ray ( Taiwan ) and DJ Twist ( Azerbaijan ). With mesmerizing performances by one-of-a-kind talent Kid Koala as well as Turnstylez and Shortkut, surprise unannounced guest and American chart-topping rapper,
Macklemore even came by to catch the show.
Wednesday, November 6 :
DJ
Jazzy Jeff gave a retrospective afternoon discussion on the evolution of DJ gear to a room packed with mesmerized admirers and media. Later that evening, just under a thousand fans packed the Virgin
Mobile Mod Club to watch DJ Undoo ( Romania ), Oli Dobolli ( Croatia ), Shintaro ( Japan ) and the night's winner Eskei83 ( Germany ) compete. Closing out Wednesday's event were headliners DJ Starting from Scratch, Hedspin, Four
Color Zack and duo of the night, Skratch Bastid and DJ
Jazzy Jeff.
Thursday, November 7 :
Canadian DJ powerhouse A-TRAK greeted another full room of fascinated fans and media to discuss his meteoric rise to fame, Fool's Gold projects and the future of the recording industry. He then hit The Hoxton to headline the once-again sold-out third round of this week's competition, where DJ Trentino ( USA ) reigned supreme over DJ Inferno (
Jamaica ), hometown hero DJ Adam Doubleyou ( Canada ) and DJ Acorn ( South Korea ). Video recap and DJ sets: https://www.redbullthre3style.com/article/night-3-usa-takes-it
Friday, November 8 :
At the fourth consecutive sold-out Red Bull Thre3style competition, more than a thousand people piled into the Danforth
Music Hall to see DJ Marquinhos Espinosa ( Brazil ) win against DJ Bazooka ( Switzerland ), DJ Vicky ( Albania ), DJ Laese ( Spain ) and DJ Madfingaz ( Belgium ). The crowd was also treated to performances by some of the world's most iconic hip-hop icons, including Maseo (De La Soul) vs. Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Cosmo Baker , with special surprise performances by
De La Soul rapper Posdnuos and Greg Nice of Nice N Smooth.
THE ROAD TO THE WORLD FINALS
Kicking off in January 2013 , Red Bull Thre3style 2013 saw a whopping 460 DJs from around the world competing in their own respective countries. Fierce battles lead to each vying for a space in Toronto's World Final competition this week, with a lucky seventeen finalists ( Argentina , Albania , Brazil , Belgium , Canada , Romania , Japan , Azerbaijan , Germany , Croatia , Taiwan ,
Jamaica , Spain , South Korea , Switzerland , Chile , USA ) earning themselves a coveted spot in this year's World Finals competition.
THE HISTORY OF RED BULL THRE3STYLE
Red Bull Thre3style began as an underground experiment six years ago in Western Canada . In 2010 the event went global for the first time, effectively changing the face of modern DJ battles by pitting ten countries' top DJs against each other. Since then, in three short years, Red Bull Thre3style has grown to what is now the largest DJ competition on earth.
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FRESHEST AUDIO ON MIXCLOUD
Follow www.mixcloud.com/RedBullThre3Style to listen to all the sets throughout the week at this years Red Bull Thre3style World Finals in Toronto
