Canberra came out en force to witness Buick make ACT DMC DJ Finals history by taking the hat-trick. It’s the local hip hop scene’s night of nights and the Greenroom punters sure got their money’s worth… and then some.

The night kicked off early with Old Skool Al playing to a slow growing crowd, followed by a short set by five MC’s from the House of Reps who got the crowd going. Some technical problems came early and were set to plague the rest of the night. Like clockwork, the acts rolled out on time and just after 9.30 Rhyministers emerged. The energetic duo (with Buick on decks) stepped it up a notch and got the growing crowd out of their seats. After 10 pm Maggot Mouf appeared (accompanied by DJ Nathan) the ex-Canberra local now based in Melbourne, was a crowd favourite and got their attention with some backup from little brother Trashgut, a cameo from MC Anton from AlikeMinds and from host MC Newsense. By the time Dazed & Flawlezz hit the stage at 11 pm the crowd was lining the walls of the Greenroom. The Sydney based act (with DJ Mad Cow on decks) introduced a variety of quality sounds but with little crowd interaction and more technical trouble, the crowd grew restless. Towards the end of their one-hour set, the crowd got moving and mouthing along with favourites including For the People. The steady flow of giveaways kept the crowd amused throughout the night with Newsense promising more for those stepping up to the front stage.

When midnight rolled in, the Greenroom was packed, with Newsense announcing the comp was about to begin. The five contestants Viacom, Exit, Rushnosh, Skully and Buick had six minutes to impress the crowd and judges Dred, Nathan, Mexi and NGO with their skills. Viacom opened and the crowd was all eyes on the projector giving them a birds-eye-view of the decks. Exit was next, getting the crowd’s attention with the voice of US radio announcer Andre Baruch announcing the Kennedy assassination. He was off to a good start but one second of silence and a few shakes of his head signalled that things didn’t go as planned. Rushnosh put on a good show opening with the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song, he was all high energy but a little slip-up with a slip mat wasted a few valuable seconds. He quickly regained composure but eventually ran out of time. Next up was last year’s runner-up Skully who spent some time setting up but once started, seriously turned up the bass. Popular with the crowd and with lots of eye contact, he fed off them and focused less on the decks, even conjuring a chorus of “woot woots”. Back to defend his title, two-time winner Buick was welcomed with loud cheers and those who have never seen him live, quickly realise why he’s the reigning champ. A pleasure to watch and with his choice of samples and smooth mixing, Buick built momentum effortlessly, showing he was in a class of his own.

It seems the crowd only came to see defending champ, with most leaving after his set. Either it was too long a night (after all, it was after 1 am) or maybe they just knew Buick was going to take the hat-trick – which he did, making ACT DMC DJ Finals history. Skully came in 2nd place with Rushnosh 3rd.

Judges Nathan and Mexi aka the $2 Scratchies ended the night.

Buick will be making Canberra proud in September when he represents ACT at the DMC Australian Championships in Melbourne.