Last night 9th Wonder, The Soul Council and Native Instruments presented the inaugural Gladiator Beat Battle at The Brewery in Raleigh, NC .
16 contestants brought out their best beats to battle for a grand prize package valued at over $2000 which includes: a Maschine, Komplete 7, Traktor Scratch Pro, Alicia Key’s Soundpack and song placement with a JAMLA recording artist.
Producers from all over the United States and Canada came to compete: Dub-L-Oh-Skytzo (Virginia), D.R.U.G.S. (Atlanta), Ouja Marek (Texas), and The Sol Kidd (Toronto). There were several NC producers in the competition as well: Commissioner Gordon, Just Wright, E. Brooks, J-Mac, Doc Verbz and Skates Beats. Other contestants were J-Mac, MarcNfinit, Rell Muzik, Scottie Royale, Marco Smoov and Vinyl Richie.
The Brewery had high energy all night from start to finish. After several very intense rounds, including one in which the crowd booed against the judge’s decision and another where the judges seemed to have a difficult time selecting a winner, the final battle for a winner was between Charlotte, NC’s E. Brooks and Atlanta’s D.R.U.G.S.
Winning the judges and crowd over with a chopped up Michael Jackson “Beat It” sample, the crowned Gladiator Beat Battle champion for the night was D.R.U.G.S.
Yours truly live blogged on Twitter during the entire Gladiator Beat Battle. You can read the #GLADIATORBEATBATTLE Twitter timeline for the contestants and winners of each round, commentary, crowd reactions and input from the folks who were watching the LIVE USTREAM at home. You can also watch the full USTREAM of the event above, presented by Renaissance Imagery.
Congratulations to each contestant and Thank You to 9th Wonder, Joyce He and the entire It’s A Wonderful World Music Group team for the opportunity to live blog the event!