DJ Nedu Lopes triumphs over his rivals in the Brazilian final of Red Bull Thre3style.
In a country famed for big parties and music, an intense battle featuring 24 DJs spread over four cities finally came crashing down. DJ Nedu Lopes must now pick out his best vinyl as he prepares to represent Brazil in Thre3style’s Grand Final in Paris later this year.
After contests in Curitiba, São Paulo and Belo Horizonte, the best of the best were invited behind the decks at Club Varanda do Vivo Rio in southern Rio de Janeiro. Over 1,500 Brazilian beat-seeking missiles made their way down to the club for what promised to be an unforgettable night.
Many were predicting a straight battle between the three local DJs who had come out to play. Making up the Rio trio were DJ Phabyo, DJ Nino and DJ Saddam.
DJ Phabyo is well known in Rio for whipping it up in Castelo das Pedras every week while DJ Nino always brings the heat at Club Melt on Leblon Beach. Most feared of all the eight contestants, however, was DJ Saddam, who has held residencies at all of Rio’s top clubs including Mariuzzin, Nossa SemHora, Zero Zero and Club Six.
Elsewhere in the mix, we had DJ Bruno Belluomini, DJ Dubstrong and DJ C Nuñez from São Paulo, DJ Jeff Bass from Curitiba and the unassuming figure of DJ Nedu Lopes from Belo Horizonte.
The finalists were shown what they had to live up to when internationally renowned Brazilian drum ’n’ bass star DJ Marky kicked things off with a set that showed up on the Richter Scale.
'I based my set on universal songs which people know all over the world' – DJ Nedu Lopes
After bringing the noise, DJ Marky relaxed into his seat on the judging panel alongside producer Plínio Profeta and promoter Clarisse Miranda.
One by one, the eight DJs came up and played their specially adapted Thre3style sets, a 15-minute mix of three genres of music designed to rock the house. With such talented spin doctors laying beats, the crowd were more than happy to show their appreciation by getting their groove on.
It was the 15 minutes that DJ Nedu Lopes spent behind the decks that impressed the judges most of all. The electro specialist showed off all the skill and flamboyancy which has already made him a major player on the Brazilian club scene.
As well as bringing the breaks, the DJ from Belo Horizonte mixed up his set with touches of old school and hip-hop to get his hands on the crown and a plane ticket to Paris.
As the multitude of partygoers finally made their way out of Club Varanda do Vivo Rio at 6am after a closing set by Ask 2 Quit, DJ Nedu Lopes thought about his tactics for Paris.
“Because this is an international competition, I based my set on universal songs which people know all over the world. In Paris, people will expect me to play music from Brazil. I will be doing that for sure, but not in an obvious way.”
DJ Nedu Lopes has already played gigs everywhere from the Czech Republic to China and has produced a string of award-winning albums. If the competition in Paris already looked fierce, the arrival of the Brazilian is going to up the stakes even further.
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Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Photofiles
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