14-Year-Old DJ Aims to Become First Female DMC World Scratch Champion

Michelle Rasul has won two national scratch titles, played a set at Tomorrowland and competed at last year’s World Finals in Tokyo, all before turning 15.Now the Dubai-based DJ is taking on a bigger challenge in London, where she will be the youngest competitor and the only woman at the DMC World DJ Championships finals, with a chance to become the first female DMC World Scratch Champion.

The lost art of scratching, in which a DJ moves a record back and forth under the needle to turn it into a rhythmic instrument, is the craft that has carried Rasul to the top of the UAE circuit.On November 14 she will face rivals who are all older than she is, at a contest that has spent four decades deciding who the best turntablists in the world are.

The championships began in the city in 1985, when Roger Johnson became the first UK and World Champion, and its list of winners now includes A-Trak and Craze, among other renowned turntablists.A-Trak took his title in 1997 at 15, only a year older than Rasul is now.

“She’s a problem and only gonna get better,” Craze recently commented on social media.This year’s 41st edition runs over two days.

Elimination battles take place on November 13 along the Victoria Embankment, and the finals follow at KOKO in Camden from 1-9pm.Competitors are vying across four categories called the Classic, the Open, the Scratch and the Supremacy.

The program also looks back on the competition’s history.The Scratch Perverts, a British crew, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame and play together for the first time in more than 20 years.

Former champions A-Trak, Craze and JFB will also perform, with JFB working seven turntables at once.Scroll to continue more from edm Tear Gas Attacks at Amsterdam Dance Event Linked to String of Robberies Tickets for the finals and an official after-party at Dingwalls are on sale through the DMC website....