– $1M up for grabs!

ONE night, one stage, and six DJs, all battling through five rounds for a winner-take-all $1M cash prize, a trophy, and one- year bragging rights!
Tomorrow, the Empire Media Inc’s ‘Art of War’ DJ Competition goes down at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall Tarmac on Mndela Avenue.

The DJs have been on an ‘Art of War’ tour for the past few months, giving the public a taste of what’s to be expected this Saturday, and the anticipation has really been building up.

The competition will see DJ Damion from Major Vybz; DJ Dauren; DJ Supreme of Notorious International; DJ Versatile from Vigilante; and Jimmy Slaughta of Firehouse lock horns with the three semi-finalists of last month’s ‘XL Lock De Scene’ DJ tournament: DJ Bandit of Spotlight Sound; DJ Kevin of Royalty Vibes; and DJ Guy out of the Mighty Ruler Sound.

DJ clashes being what they are, there’s not a DJ in the bunch who isn’t brimming with confidence, and certain that the competition win is already theirs.

Fresh off his win of the from the “XL Lock De Scene”, 24-year-old DJ Kevin, whose real name is Kevin Sookhbarow, says the others need to watch out, because he’s going to keep it unpredictable.

“Just tell de DJs dem to prepare themselves properly. They know me! Full of surprise; a lot of surprise! The rest of the DJs know me’s a youth like wuk with nuff energy,” DJ Kevin boasted in an interview with ‘The Buzz’.

The Mon Repos-bred DJ says persons need only look at his performance during the ‘Art of War’ tour to see why he’s walking away with that trophy come tomorrow night’s competition.

Despite this being his first time in the ‘Art of War’, DJ Kevin has the advantage of having ten years’ DJ-ing experience under his belt, and two sound-clash wins to his name, and he’s confident he’s about to collect his third.

“I’m fully prepared for it. During my tour in the ‘Art of War’ competition, going up against the other DJs, I come out the best. So I’m fully confident. During the tour, I even impressed myself that I do better than the rest of DJs them,” he said.

Berbician, DJ Dauren is another one with some amount of experience under his belt, as he won the 2017 “No Retreat No Surrender” DJ clash; participated in the 2018 Armageddon DJ Clash; and was a 2017 ‘Art of War’ finalist. He says he’s back in ‘Art of War’ for the win.

“I am very confident going into this competition. I am well geared for the event; all prepared and everything for it. Patrons can come out and expect a wonderful night of entertainment,” DJ Dauren says.

Whoever the win goes to, it will not come easy, as they will have to survive the five energetic rounds to prevail. The DJs can breathe and use the first round: The “Introduction Round”, to warm up, and get themselves pumped without fear, as there would be no elimination. Each DJ will get five minutes.

The second round will see the DJs paired off for the “Engage the Enemy/FaceOff”, where each pair will do battle for 10 minutes straight, and when things settle, four DJs will be sent packing.

Round Three will be “Anything Goes” for the four remaining DJs, giving each seven minutes to impress; only the three most impressive performances move through.

Round Four will be about “Big Tunes & Big Speech”, and the DJs get five tunes each. Down to the final two rounds, five will be “Tune fi Tune/Vocal Round”, where the winner is the first to seven points, DJs must feature a vocalist. All Rounds, except Round Four will be judged by the fans. Round Four will be judged by three judges.

The DJs will be governed by a few rules, including no profanity allowed, and the no playback rule will be enforced from Round Three.

The 2018 ‘Art of War’ competition winner, DJ Magnum, real name Dorrel Romeo, is not in this year’s competition. The winner of this year’s ‘Art of War’ competition will get automatic placement in the 2020 Armageddon DJ Clash, also hosted by Empire Media Inc.