DJ Esquire Fights for the DMC Hartford Regional Title – by Jeannie Choi
With the flick of his wrist, DJ Esquire—a club and competitive DJ—can always get the party started. Esquire heads to Hartford, Conn., to reclaim his first-place title at a regional DJ competition—a title he lost last year. Can he reclaim the number one spot? Watch to find out.
DJ Esquire Fights for the DMC Hartford Regional Title — by Jeannie Choi
Transcript
Esquire: I love what I do, and I have no regrets about any decision to make this my life.
[Music]
Esquire: Some people might say John’s a really really sweet guy and Esquire’s an asshole.
Esquire: It came to me in a dream one night. Um, I was on stage performing in my dream and I just heard the word Esquire being chanted in the background and that’s how it stuck.
Ticket Lady: 8:07, track 21.
Esquire: Thank you.
Esquire: This upcoming competition is the beginning of the 2013 uh DMC Battleground.
Esquire: I really wanted to win last year. I got second and I was totally disappointed.
Esquire: I tend to be very angry when I’m on stage espeically in a head to head sense because, I mean, it’s really kind of dog eat dog.
Esquire: I’ve been kind of taking the day, the entire trip up here like watching my routine. I recorded myself practising last night so that I could mentally remember.
Esquire: I want this really bad.
Train conductor: This station is Darien.
Esquire: I am always nervous when I perform. Uh, I find like I’m nervous more in smaller audiences because in a smaller audience everyone has a face and everyone’s staring at you.
ESQUIRE PERFORMS HIS SET
Esquire: I still to this day do not feel I’m the, I’m good at what I do. I always feel I can improve.
Emcee: Three-two-one. DJ Esquire y’all. (Applause.)
Esquire: I go into every battle feeling like I’m going to win, so maybe that’s just the attitude that you have to have.
Emcee: The champion tonight, the champion is … DJ Esquire from Brooklyn. (Applause.)
Esquire: Even though I do have you know 18 years in the industry, I still feel like I’m a student of the game.
I am still living my story as we speak.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, DJ Esquire, a.k.a., John Chavies, 35, is a competitive scratch DJ who uses an eclectic mix of hip-hop, ’80s rock and sometimes even video game theme songs to create unique tracks. He’s won several significant DJ awards, and even travelled to London in September 2012, to represent the United States in a global DJ Competition.
But Esquire’s winning streak hit a snag last year when the first-place title at a Hartford, Conn., regional DJ competition eluded him. On the day of that competition, Esquire drove to Connecticut with visions of filling his empty trunk with prizes and awards. Instead, he drove away with an empty trunk, which he later filled with beer to take home.
In this video, DJ Esquire returns to Hartford, carrying with him the desire to win, but also the fear of failing again. He’s been practicing his set repeatedly and does his best to remain calm. But his shy and introspective personality causes his nerves to act up as he climbs the stage again, one year later. In the audience is the winner of last year’s competition, DJ Fascinate, who used only vinyl to pull off a flawless set. Esquire decided to incorporate digital and vinyl to give himself a competitive edge. But the questions continue to haunt him: Will he pull off a flawless set that impresses the judges? Will his nerves get the best of him? Can he reclaim the number one spot? Watch to find out.
