Sitting here after spending the past few days getting to know the personalities, sites, and sounds of the people competing and putting on the Red Bull Thre3style competition, there is a palpable sense of tension amongst participants and attendees alike.

Thre3style originated as a Canadian event, the proper evolution of the sound clashes of old with the DNA of the turntablist competition classics of old, ITC and DMC, mixed in. The classic competition setup was a way for DJ’s to go at it as their brethren in the other arts of hip hop did; however, the modern version of that setup and time spent with the competitors this week shows just how far the artform of DJ’ing has come.

No longer relegated to the background of a hip hop set, the art …