UPDATE: Watch the official DMC video of Rena’s set.

Cast your minds back 20 years to the golden age of DJ battles, when a cherubic 15 year old Canadian DJ stepped up to the turntables at the 1997 DMC World finals. That DJ was A-Train A-Trak, and the rest is history. But last night at the 2017 DMC World final, a new record was set, for 12 year old DJ Rena (stood in socks on a platform no less) showed full grown world class DJs how it’s done.

UPDATE: Watch the official DMC video of Rena’s set at the top.

I haven’t seen the full sets from the finals, but online commentary from people whose opinion I trust indicates that it was a well deserved win. I look forward to seeing the full glory of Rena’s set in due course. DMC will doubtless post a proper version online soon enough, followed by a DVD too. But from the unofficial video doing the rounds, Rena seems to take things right back to the golden age, but with a liberal scoop of the digital tools allowed by DMC.

Interesting side note — such is the feat that has been achieved by Rena that Tony Prince said DMC had to lie about how old he was just to get him into the venue, which does rather impact on his abilities to attend finals over the next couple of years somewhat.

But Rena’s win could be the very thing that DMC needs. Attracting the next generation is vital for battling to proper and evolve in line with modern technology. I’m also hoping that given Rena’s more open-minded approach to gear usage, that we can see more DJs feel freer to move beyond the established conventions and use all the tools on offer in the digital age.

In closing, I’ll also leave this piece of brand butchery right here, courtesy of our very own Ray.

GALLERY

Images courtesy of DMC/Rane/Christie Zee