Biografie

When Killa Tactics was founded way back in 1996, the term 'turntablism' (first used by dj Babu of the World Famous Beat Junkies) wasn't as commonly known as it is today. So when we - Damented, Dysfunkshunal & Daranged - hooked up, we started out just mixing records together like any other dj - obviously incorporating basic scratching techniques. But then the revolution came and televised itself; we got a hold of the X-Men's 'In X-ercise' VHS. Hundreds of times, we sat and watched Roc Raida, Rob Swift and Mista Sinista pull off one ill beat juggle after another, and we knew that this was what we wanted to do too. At first very literally, as all we did was try and copy their routines - but funnily enough, that's how everyone started out. We became totally focused on beat juggling, and quickly picked up the basics. As we progressed, we felt the unstoppable urge to showcase our skills at just about every occasion. This meant that when we played at parties, we were practically more concerned with our juggles than with the dancefloor. So the criticism grew. Looking back, it's no wonder - ever tried dancing to breakdown beat juggle patterns? But it's because we withstood the criticism and even fed off of it that we kept practicing and becoming better. We began doing showcases here and there, with changing success. Some people were impressed with seeing three guys freakily messing with records, others were headed for the door. But then, in 1998, we found our niche - the Belgian Zulu Nation chapter organized a national dj battle. All three of us entered, and we did quite well, considering we were young rookies going up against 'veteran' dj's like Grazzhoppa, The Transformers, and Lamont. That's when we caught the battle fever - we participated in the Belgian DMC Championships, and placed 3th, 5th and 7th. We went to Paris for the DMC Coupe de France to compete in the beat juggling category, where Dysfunkshunal took the title, beating Damented in a fierce final. So the first victory was in, and the fever became worse. In between battles, we kept ourselves busy doing parties, hosting our weekly show on local radio Scorpio, doing liveshows with the mc's from our crew, Riot Squad, and releasing a slew of mixtapes. Our name began spreading, and we participated in every battle we could participate in. We went on to win a few titles here and there (check our battle stats to see what, where and when), and we got to travel around the world to represent Belgium and Europe in both the DMC and ITF battles. Turntablism took us to cities like London, Los Angeles, Copenhagen, San Francisco, Munich and Amsterdam. We met like minded people from all over the globe, and always came back hungry for more. We never won any world titles, but we were close twice - two time vice world champs in the ITF Team category, that's not too bad. But we also had success in the individual categories, as we all have multiple national titles on our names. The last time we competed in team was in 2002, when we represented Europe in the ITF Worlds in Munich, but individually we kept at it a few years longer. Damented became the Benelux ITF Advancement champion in 2004, and came 5th in the World Championships that year. Apart from the battles, we've always done plenty of showcases to demonstrate our turntablism skills. We've had the honor of showcasing alongside legendary names like A-Trak, Q-Bert, The X-ecutioners, D-Styles or DJ Cash Money, to name a few. We've also judged at various dj battles in France, Portugal and Germany. And since 2001, we've been organizing our own series of dj battles under the name Hit The Decks. For these open international battles we were able to invite acts like Lordz of Fitness, DJ 2Tall, or Noisy Stylus. The competition has become a household name in the European battle scene, bringing forth champions like Rafik and Pro-Zeiko, who both went on to win multiple world championships. And in between all this turntable terror, we kept on rocking clubs all over the continent. The residencies we've had over the years include Fataal (Leuven), Juice (Leuven), City Queens (Gent), Boom Boom Room (Antwerp) and Tecktonic (Ghent). Next to these regular events, we've made dancefloors move at various parties in Belgium and abroad. Among the clubs and venues we played at were Mondial (Beek, The Netherlands), ICC (Gent), Hangar 1 (Oostende), Culture Club (Gent), Catacombes (Roeselare), Entrepot (Brugge), Club LIC (Oostende), Tamariz (Cascais, Portugal), Decadance (Gent), L'Apocalypse (Les Arcs, France).. Dysfunkshunal also co-hosts 'Slick', a monthly party at Musicafé in Leuven. Damented co-organizes 'Mixmasters', a bi-monthly mashup party at Der Machine in Leuven. But we're not merely dj's playing other people's records; we've always been creating them as well. Since the mid nineties, we've produced music for artists like Riot Squad, Sanctum, Mata, Morsdood, Nigga Poison (Portugal), Ekole Urbaine, Rival, Balo, E&E (Holland), Ducktape and Gus. Our discography is ever growing, and the most recent release came from Damented, whose debut album entitled 'Networking' - a compilation of his productions featuring rappers and singers from all over Europe - is available for free at www.networking-v1.net. So it's safe to say the future looks bright for a crew with a ten year history among the top in turntablism wordwide.

Events met Killa Tactics