It’s a big day for the folks at the E-TracX DJ Skool as one of their instructors take the stage in New York for the Goldie Awards DJ Battle World Finals. At age 20, Anrev, an E-TracX student turned instructor and mentor, is the first Singaporean and South East Asian DJ to step onto the stage of the world finals of this prestigious competition in a battle of beats against his international counterparts.
Turning back the clock to December 2015, Anrev was still a student at E-TracX then, with his first runner-up win in the All Beats Cineleisure DJ Championship. At the time, the greenhorn’s dream was to “introduce the essence of turntablism to the next generation of DJs around the world,” and believed his success was only the beginning. Little did he know how unexpectedly right he was, and what a long journey it would be to reach the top.
Or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted
In one moment
Would you capture it, or just let it slip?”
– Eminem
Over the following years, Anrev won award after award in international DJ/Turntable competitions. Unfortunately, as his accolade collection grew, so did his ego. “I let the pride and ego get to my head,” he reflected, “but E-TracX never failed to keep me grounded and show me what all this, the stuff I’m doing, stands for.” After experiencing failure in a local DJ competition last year, Anrev collected his thoughts and realised that the essence of DJ-ing was embedded in the community; in a spirit that involved more than just one individual.
Grateful to his E-TracX family for their support through humbling times, Anrev turned to helping others in a bid to redeem himself, and led the Skool’s Mentorship Programme with a couple of other E-TracX instructors towards the end of 2018. In just a few months, his efforts paid off as 3 of his mentees took home 1st, 2nd, and 4th place in a local DJ competition.
As he slowly regained confidence in his art, Anrev decided to participate on an international stage in the Goldie Awards 2019, as well as the local leg of the Red Bull 3Style World Championships earlier this year. Since then, he has managed to reach the finals in both competitions. Held in New York tomorrow, the Goldie Awards will go live at 9am SGT (GMT+8), after which Anrev will have to prepare for his other challenge held on 23 November regardless of his win or otherwise in the Goldie Awards.
Will he succeed in his quest for gold? Sit tight, and watch the live stream here!
