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REDSQUARE DJ KNOCKOUT CHALLENGE 2013

INCIDENCE REPORT

DATE OF INCIDENCE : 17 November 2013

VANUE : Afro Village (Ratanda, Heidelberg)

AFFECTED CONTESTANT : Dj Mthizo

PANEL OF JUDGES : Kgotso Mokoena (ConstructiveNoize Records)

Nthabeleng Komane (Dj Inter)

COMPILED BY : Kgotso Mokoena

REASON FOR REPORT

This report aims to unfold events which transpired during the REDSQUARE DJ KNOCKOUT CHALLENGE

that was held at AFROVILAGE in RATANDA (Heidelberg) on Sunday 17 November 2013, and it specifically

relates to DJ MTHIZO a contestant in the competition.

The contestant in question, who has competed and landed a spot in the TOP 5 DJs who will be further

competing on 29 November 2013, is alleged to have been given preferential treatment or rather a

winning advantage over all the other contestants by being reinstated in the competition after being

disqualified.

The contestant was reinstated back into the competition after been disqualified as judges had enough

reason to conclude that the contestant, had in his possession, preprogrammed music/tracks that would

be highly likely to be easily mixable, and would indeed constitute cheating the competition or having anunfair advantage over his counterparts in the competition.

The reason for the contestants reinstatement back into the competition, which happened after the

contestant presented to the panel of judges a strong plea with considerable weight, is thus outlined in

the following section(s) of the report.

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1. BACKGROUND

There was a total of 16 DJs which were present for the competition of which only 5 were to be selected

to continue with the challenge to battle out on the next round to be held on 29 November 2013. Each DJ

was given a total of 7 minutes to compete and display their skills.

One of the fundamental rules of the competition is that a contestant should not use preprogrammed

music/tracks that have been deliberately synchronized to play at the same rate/bpm/pitch/speed (called

beat locking). Using such tools in the competition constitutes cheating and therefore warrants

immediate disqualification.

2. THE INCIDENT

Upon DJ MTHIZOs turn to compete during the event, as with everybody competing, the judges closely

monitored the contestant during his act and it was picked up that the contestant, even after changing

discs for his music, did no manual intervention in terms of the rate/bpm/pitch/speed of the

music/tracker he was introducing to his mix.

The above then led the judges to believe beyond reasonable doubt that the contestant in question had

beat locked his music/tracks and therefore he was then disqualified when he was about 3 minutes into

his act.

3. THE CONTESTANTS APPEAL

During the disqualification, the contestant appealed to the judges as follows:

That none of his music was deliberately synchronized.

That the genre, rate/bpm/pitch/speed and sequence of the music/tracks he chose to compete

on were in fact original recordings from their respective artists/record labels.

That it was therefore a mere strong coincidence that his music/tracks had the same

rate/bpm/pitch/speed and therefore needed less if no manual control or intervention from his

part.

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4. JUDGES CONCLUSION

In the interest of a fair contest in the challenge, where every DJ deserved a fair chance and in light of the

plea put forward to the panel of judges by the DJ in question, let alone the fact that the contestant was

in fact cut short and did not see his act through the whole 7 minutes, it was therefore decided that the

contestant be given a chance to prove the disqualification reason otherwise, except there was a catch(conditions) in the second instance. The condition was that he would have to play music/tracks with

varying rate/bpm/pitch/speed and there had to be proof of manual intervention (pitch controlling) from

his part.

Despite the difficulty of the circumstance and the pressure the contestant in question faced, he

managed to conform to the conditions set and also managed to prove to the panel that he in fact has

ability and skills which were then judged objectively, without favour or prejudice to other contestants.

4. RECOMMENDATION

It is therefore recommended that the contestant in question, from my part, remain in the KNCKOUT

CHALLENGE to compete on 29 November 2013 in light of the series of events which unfolded on Sunday

17 November 2013 at AFRO VILLAGE in RATANDA (Heidelberg)