Japan’s DJ Shintaro took the ‘Red Bull Thre3style’ title this week in Toronto, Canada… the world’s biggest DJ competition, beating 16 other DJs and also becoming the competition’s youngest champion. The 24-year old is also the first Japanese DJ to win the event.
The young DJ only found out he had a spot in Saturday’s main event a few hours before spin-off. Shintaro lost out to Germany’s Eskei83 in Wednesday’s qualifying battle but was selected as a wild card finalist by judges Jazzy Jeff, Kid Koala, Jubilee, Skratch Bastid and Grandtheft.
Around 2,000 people packed into Toronto’s Kool Haus to see Shintaro Iwamiya take on DJ Marquinhos Espinosa (Brazil), Eskei83 (Germany), DJ Byte (Chile), DJ Bazooka (Switzerland) and DJ Trentino (USA).
He was the second DJ to perform and kicked off with Roberta Flack’s Killing Me Softly, which earned a roaring response, and he kept the crowd on side with hip-hop bangers including guilty pleasures from Fat Joe and Diddy. After remixing the Tetris theme, Shintaro showed off his superior tone-play skills to turn Japanese classic Sakura into something monstrous and then chucked in some scratching for good measure.
Picking up the huge Red Bull Thre3style trophy – and custom DJ equipment including a one-of-a-kind copper-plated Rane 62 mixer – was the end to a perfect week for the three-time Thre3style competitor. (not to forget the $25000 prize money and the worldwide instant exposure!)
“As the new Red Bull Thre3style World Champion I want to grow the Japanese DJ scene and lead the Japanese scene to bigger, greater, fortune,” said the victor afterwards.
Having been to Japan ourselves we know fully well that there is an incredible array of DJ talent in the country who will hopefully after this great achievement by DJ Shintaro emerge into markets outside of the country. Shintaro now enters the Red Bull Thre3style hall of fame alongside previous champs Karve (France), Hedspin (Canada) and Fourcolorzack (USA).
At the end of a long night, the Red Bull Thre3style podium looked like this:
1. DJ Shintaro (Japan)
2. DJ Byte (Chile)
3. Eskei83 (Germany)
Video Credit: UH-HUH! [Brent Azer for TBC + #TIG Media)
Photo Credit: Red Bull
