Following last week’s Miami-centric episode of SMIRNOFF’s MASTER OF THE MIX DJ competition, the remaining eight turntable maestros were tasked with creating a five-minute mega mix showcasing the EDM genre.
With more than half of the third season behind us, this week’s cleverly dubbed “Half & Half” episode featured a number of twists, the first being that the competitors would be pairing up in teams of two and the second being that the least-liked set would send both DJ’s on a team packing.
With last week’s victory under his belt, DJ Chris Karnes was given the authority to not just choose his partner for this weeks challenge; he would be assigning the other three teams partners as well.
Karnes, without hesitation, chose DJ Jayceeoh, creator of the acclaimed “Super 7” series, who he felt is the best DJ in the competition beside himself. “Put us together and we’re like the dream team,” Chris proclaimed. “We should be able to beat any two DJ’s they throw at us.”
After selecting Jayceeoh as his teammate, Karnes paired up the other remaining DJ’s starting with Tina T and Brian Dawe, then Incrediboi and DJ Locszi, and lastly DJ Flyguy and Dynamix. Each pair was given ten minutes to meet privately and create a game plan that was followed by three hours in the workshop to craft and create their EDM-inspired sets.
Despite their confidence being at an all-time high, Jayceeoh and Karnes knew that there was a lot of room for error because they were taking a lot of risks with their set. “That practice run through that we did was horrible,” Karnes said. “We made a ton of mistakes that we usually wouldn’t.” Luckily for them, what went wrong for them during practice, went very right for them during their showcase.
DJ Locszi and Flyguy on the other hand took a more simplistic approach by sticking to what they know. “I’ve never done a set with another DJ at the same exact time, “ Locszi revealed. “This is the first.”
Before long the night’s challenge, which was held at Miami hotspot Frequency, was upon us. SMIRNOFF’s MOTM host Amanda Seales was joined by judges Kid Capri, DJ Mia Moretti, Ben Maddahi and guests the EC Twins.
The first duo to unleash their set was the former weeks champion Chris Karnes with his partner for the challenge, DJ Jayceeoh. After some light scratching to a Lil Jon sample, the EDM music dropped and rotated back and forth between heavy mixing and scratching. As the set went on, you could see both DJ’s becoming more comfortable, not just with each other, but with the challenge as a whole. Their energy was up, and both the crowd and judges loved it. “That was very entertaining and very clean,” said Kid Capri. “I thought it was remarkable.”
Tina T, who was the show’s only remaining female, and Brian Dawe were next. They immediately started trying out some more unconventional techniques like having Tina stand behind Brian and scratch with her hands without seeing the turntables. Despite the lack of mixing early in their set and DJ Capri’s initial look of disappointment, he began nodding his head.
“I thought the chemistry was great and the performance was theatrical,” Capri explained. Ben Maddahi on the other hand was not as impressed, hitting the duo hard for their use of Aviici’s “Levels” which has been way overused during this seasons sets.
Following the “married couple” was Dynamix and Flyguy who dubbed themselves “FlyNamix” for the challenge. Starting off with Lil Jon and Sidney Samson’s “Mutate,” the DJing duo mixed a number of songs including Basement Jaxx’s “Where’s Your Head At.” The team worked very well together and had a great energy and sense of humor behind their turntables. “I congratulate you for addressing the crowd cause there the most important,” Capri exclaimed. “I like the way you complement each other.”
Last up was Incrediboi and DJ Locszi who explored the past and present of EDM music, or what they called the “history of house,” during their set. Although the crowd wasn’t really moving the pair still gave the set their all until things began to fall apart in. They pair did try to salvage their set in the end with simpler mixing and scratching. Incrediboi absolutely murdered (in a good way) the scratching and made the judges and crowd forget about everything that had happened earlier. “That took it to another level at the end,” Ben shouted.
After an intense deliberation that was dubbed “the most difficult decision of the season, hands down,” the judges ultimately decided that there would have to be a tie for first place since Ben Maddahi felt Karnes and Jayceeoh were the best,” while guest judges the EC Twins felt that Incredibioi and Locszi were #1.
Despite there being a tie for first between the competing tandems of DJ Chris Karnes/DJ Jayceeoh and DJ Locszi/Incrediboi, there was no doubt about who this weeks weakest duo was. The lovebirds known as DJ Tina T and Brian Dawe had their “records scratched” as they were sent packing (although a preview for next week hints that one of the eliminated DJ’s may be returning).
Next week’s episode will feature multi-platinum rapper, DJ and producer Lil Jon as a guest judge when SMIRNOFF’s MASTER OF THE MIX hits episode nine of its third season!
Check back next week for another episode recap!
SMIRNOFF’s MASTER OF THE MIX Airs Tuesday’s at 12am on VH1.
