LJWorld.com

"It takes all kinds."

That's the motto KJHK's Wax Clash has lived and died by for the past four years. Dozens of disc jockeys -- established or aspiring -- have scratched, mixed, beat-juggled and party-rocked their way to immortality ... or ignominy.

For every DJ who emerged as a champion -- DJ Sku, DJ Aether, DJ Boner Donor, DJ Syren -- there are plenty more who walked away embarrassed, distraught and emotionally de-pantsed.

And then there's the rare loser who walked away proud ... but probably shouldn't have.

Edwin Morales of Downplay Productions recalls one such spinster. The pugnacious pugilist carved his name in the Wax Clash hall-of-shame by getting loaded on 3.2 beer (and then some) and completely embarrassing himself with an atrocious set of techno rave music.

"Yeah dude, that was intense," Morales recalled. "He had his own record bitch handing him records ... he was extremely high on methamphetamines.

"He was so bad that he was cool."

While the Wax Clash has prided itself on allowing anyone with a stack of vinyl and size-12 cojones to compete, the growing sentiment among organizers and DJs is that the bar is going to have to be raised if the event is going to endure.

"Our goal this year is to kind of change things because we've had a lot of complaints," said Courtney Ryan, live events coordinator for KJHK, the student-run radio station that has sponsored the battle since its inception in 2000.

DJ Sku (Corey Aguilar) will compete in the Wax Clash DJ battle at 10 p.m. Thursday at Liberty Hall, 644 Mass.

"When we started this thing, we had a lot of the high-profile DJs from the area competing ... that's kind of gone down in the last couple years."

The forums at Lawrencehiphop.com seem to indicate the same, with posts like "WACKlash" and others that bemoan past battles' formats, lack of organization and mediocre talent.

This year's Wax Clash should be juiced up by the return of two of the DJs who helped build the battle's reputation -- three-time champ DJ Sku and chronic runner-up DJ Proof (who estimates he's taken second place four or five times). Defending scratch champ DJ Boner Donor and runner-up DJ Aether also will be present.

If the last time Sku and Proof met in the Wax Clash was any indication, the competition should be fierce.

"I was in the middle of my set and he just started cutting in on my stuff, like scratching over me," recalled Sku, a.k.a. Corey Aguilar. "That's just part of battling -- it's competition. He was obviously feeling it that night and just wanted to go at me."

The altercation invited criticism from some local hip-hop-heads but caused no riff between Proof and Sku, who are friends and compete against each other regularly.

Courtney Ryan, live events coordinator for student-run radio station KJHK, and Phil Torpey, a KJHK "Breakfast for Beatlovers" jock, organized this year's revamped Wax Clash DJ battle.

Though Proof, a.k.a. Ian Sotomayor, admitted feeling a bit "disenchanted" with the Wax Clash, he decided he'd throw his chips back onto the turntable this year.

"These types of things are good for that exposure shot," said Sotomayor, who owns a mobile DJ business and bartends at Free State Brewery. "That's my attitude on going back into it here on the 18th."

Bikini wax

Besides upping the level of competition, event organizers have been tending to a number of other sore spots.

Unlike last two Wax Clashes, this one will not be divided into "mix" and "scratch" categories (the format attracted criticism from some DJs). The battle will instead utilize a head-to-head format and ask the crowd to determine a winner.

"Basically we're just telling the DJs to bring every trick in their book and just rock the crowd, 'cause that's -- at the end of the day -- what a DJ is supposed to do," said Phil Torpey, a KJHK "Breakfast for Beatlovers" jock who is helping organize the event.

Torpey is seeing to it that hip-hop's "four elements" -- MCs, DJs, break dancers and graffiti artists -- are present by inviting local b-boy crews and area MCs. In lieu of showcasing local graf artists (who would likely be hesitant to throw their tags up in front of hundreds of spectators), organizers will instead screen old-school hip-hop movies like "Wild Style."

"Really it should be a celebration," said Torpey, who also hosts "The Parlance" once a month at Eighth St. Tap Room. "People should be talking about this and anticipating it and thinking about it as a really big thing to look forward to every year."

Another improvement are the prizes awarded to the battle champ: a Vestax DJ mixer (retail $400), a posh pair of headphones and an opening slot with DJ Shortkut (Beat Junkies, Invisbl Skratch Piklz) the next day at The Bottleneck.

These prizes were what attracted DJ Sku, who skipped the last two Wax Clashes, even though he regularly travels as far as Chicago, Madison and St. Louis to compete in DJ battles.

"The MC battles around here were paying like $500, the b-boy battles were paying like over $2,000 and here comes the Wax Clash and they're giving away like a $50 gift certificate to Love Garden," he said.

Scaredy cats

Though the competition is stacked with established talent, it also will provide a handful of newcomers an opportunity to showcase their skills in front of a crowd that -- if past events are any indication -- should number 300 or more.

"It's always cool seeing new DJs come out of their bedrooms, 'cause it's hard to get up there in front of all those people," Sku said. "You're nervous; you're shaking; you hope your needles don't skip. ... Every time I'm up there I'm scared. I just don't show it."

According to Proof, the saturation of DJ "how-to" books and battle videos has made it easier than ever for aspiring DJs to learn the tricks of the trade.

"Nowadays cats got it pretty easy," he said. "I had no idea what the hell a slipmat was because I had yet to see somebody cutting off papers or felt and putting them under their wheels so they could get it to back-cue that much quicker.

"But I don't knock that at all because, then again, when it comes to the mix and when it comes to party rocking, there's no way those kids got anything on me."

Copyright 2012 The Lawrence Journal-World. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. We strive to uphold our values for every story published.