DJ Kentaro (Japan)

A world champion turntablist performing a live DJ/ AV show as his only Australian appearance? Don't miss this one, kids. At the age of 20 he won the 2002 Technics DMC World Championships with the highest score in the competition's history. Sarah Theeboom catches up with the turntable ninja before his Sydney show.

How did you first get into DJing?
I’m originally from Sendai, a musical city about 90 minutes north of Tokyo. I started DJing when I was 13 years old, I delivered newspapers to save up for my first set of decks and a mixer.

And just six years later in 2001 you won the DMC Japan Championships and came third in the World Championships – how did that feel?
It was a pretty special moment. I put everything into it, so when I won I was ecstatic. After winning the Japan title, the World Championships were just about having fun. And planning my set for 2002 so I could defend my Japan title.
 
Why was the Japan title so important for you?
Japan DMC is one of the hardest competitions to win with six regionals and hundreds of entrants. So when I won again in 2002 I was really happy, and winning the Worlds that year was just an added bonus.

What’s the Japanese hip hop scene like?
Currently, the Japanese rap scene is massive. The MC battle scene is growing, with a huge underground scene that everyone wants to be a part of. There’s one contest in particular, the UMB (Ultimate MC Battle) that you get big props for winning, even above ground. The contests are huge, taking place in venues with capacities of thousands, and competitors selling truckloads of DVDs. That’s largely how Japanese rap/ hip hop is getting spread today in Japan.

Although you started off in hip hop, these days you incorporate a lot of different styles in your sets including funk, electro and DnB. How would you describe your music nowadays?
I still think what I’m doing is hip hop, I mean, I play hip hop tunes but it’s also just the attitude – taking samples from music and playing them in my way. To me, that’s hip hop. And even though I play some electro music, I consider myself a hip hop DJ more than anything else. But I think there’s only good music or bad music. That’s how I’m seeing music genres nowadays. If it’s a good track I’ll play it. If it’s not, I won’t.

DJ Kentaro will be supported by Dizz1, El Gusto (Hermitude) and True Vibenation.