2012 Miltown Beat Down registration is officially closed.  We’ received over 80 submissions this year.  A new record!

We will announce the 2012 contestants next week.  Until then,  we ask you to mark your calendars for this year’s battles.  The 2012 Miltown Beat down preliminary rounds will be held August 9, 16, 23 and 30th.  As we have in previous years, we will host these round at the Jackalope Lounj, inside the Wicked Hop.

Stay tuned for more information.

Each and every year, the Miltown Beat Down has challenged producers to take a creative leap with us.  We are well aware of that the beat battle is not unique to Milwaukee, but the MILTOWN BEAT DOWN is unique in the world of beat battles. In the past we’ve offered accapellas for our producers to remix, or samples to use to create a new beat.  This year we are providing producers with the stems to a variety of new tracks.  These songs span a wide range or genres, tempos and styles.  The goal is to encourage producers to step out of their comfort zone, and create something new.

What more can I say, (MKE) play the beat beats…

Oh my god.  If you missed the 2011 Miltown Beat Down Finals, I feel sorry for you.  This was without a doubt, the best MTBD battle in the 6 year history of the event.  The beats we all great, the energy was high, people were having a great time, and it was one of the best looking events I have ever produced.  All around AWESOME!

The competition was tough on Friday night.  Each producer brought their A game for this final bout.  We kicked things off with the sounds of DJ KiKi.  He is a 17 year old MKE DJ who came up through the True Skool DJ program.  Kiki graduated high school on Thursday, and then rocked Turner Hall on Friday.  WOW!  Then we turned the party over to Kid Cut Up. (If you want your party  kicked in to high gear, hire Kid Cut Up!)    During Cut Up’s set, the 2011 finalists joined me backstage for dinner and conversation about beats.  We spoke with Young Guru about Milwaukee, basketball, Hip Hop and music.

By 8:00pm, we had a nice number of folks in the house, so we kicked things off with the 2011 Wild Card Battle.  This competition was our way to bring some of those who did not make it to the top 8, back into the event.  We had Andy Peter battle Bubba in the first round, then Luxi battled her boyfriend, ClassiCal.  (That was an interesting battle for sure.)  Bubba and ‘Cal made it to the end with ClassiCal winning the 2011 WILD CARD BATTLE.

Then…

We began the battle!  This year’s finalists were 40 MIL, GoodWill, AudioPilot, Reason, TradeMark, Sam Winters, Champ and White Russian.  These fellas brought their best foot forward for the night’s rounds.  Each battle was high energy and very tough to call.  Most of the rounds were won by a small margin, 20 points here, 30 points there, a real tough night of judging.  When all was said and done, there were two men standing… REASON and AUDIOPILOT.

Before we got down with the final battle, we had a brief intermission with our special guest judge YOUNG GURU.

Young Guru played a high energy set of his personal favorites, songs he’s produced, and wrapped up his live set with an amazing scratch set, breakin’ down the Run DMC classic “Peter Piper”.  ( so fresh! )

So then we got into the last battle for 2011.. REASON vs. AUDIO PILOT.

This battle was personally very exciting for me, as we had 2 MTBD veteran producers, who have worked together in the past, and even recorded together, now BATTLING for the crown.  They each brought high energy beats, but in the end REASON was victorious.

Reason went home with a Native Instruments MASCHINE, Komplete Audio Interface, Massive sound design plug-in package,  Aerial 7 headphones and a $100 MODA 3 gift card.  CONGRATS REASON!

If you’d like to hear more of REASON’s music you can download his new album here…

and if you are a fan of his beats… Check out this INSTRUMENTAL version…

For more you can visit REASON’s website at www.4ar.biz

CONGRATS again to Reason and to our runner up AUDIO PILOT.  You can follow up on both these producers on www.unifirecords.com

Special thanks to all the sponsors for this year’s event. We could not have produced such a high quality event with out your support. To Kid Cut Up, you are the best DJ in the mid-west, and maybe the world! Thanks to all the producers who put their heart and soul into making good beats so Milwaukee’s Hip Hop scene can be so great!

Thank You MILWAUKEE!

We will see you all next year!
PEACE!
– Jordan “Madhatter” Lee

Well here we go!  This Friday night, it’s the 2011 MILTOWN BEAT DOWN FINALS.

We have got a lot of great beats in store for you, and a few surprises.  Many are wondering what the schedule for the night will be, so HERE IT IS!

6:00pm Doors open at Turner Hall.  We will have a special DJ set from the students of TRUE SKOOL, featuring DJ Kiki and hosted by DJ Bizzon of WMSE’s Mad Kids Hip Hop show.

7:00pm  Milwaukee’s best, KID CUT UP and DJ Bizzon rock the party along with VJ SLYM.  There’s no better way to get the party started then with *NO REQUEST SOUND SYSTEM.

8:00pm 2011 WILD CARD Battle.

We’ve had so many great producers come through the Miltown Beat Down this year.  It was a shame to see many of these producers NOT move on to the finals, so we’ve re-introduced the WILD CARD battle.  This year’s battle will NOT provide a spot in the top 8, but rather it will be a separate battle for a separate prize package, courtesy of NOVA MUSIK and Native Instruments.

Round 1:  ANDY PET.R vs. BUBBA
Round 2: LUXI vs. ClassiCal
Round 3: Winner vs. Winner

9:00pm  2011 FINALS

GoodWill vs. Audio Pilot
Sam Winters vs. Champ
TradeMark vs. 40 MIL
Reason vs. White Russian

Winner A vs. Winner B
Winner C vs. Winner D

We will then take an intermission to enjoy the sounds of our guest judge… Jay-Z’s tour DJ and sound engineer, YOUNG GURU.  Guru will bless us with some of his favorite selection and personal greatest hits!  A set NOT to be missed.

After Young Guru’s set, we will have the 2011 FINAL battle.  The top 2 producers will battle for the grand prize package, which includes products from Aerial 7 headphones, Moda 3, Puma, and a Native Instruments MASCHINE.

There will be no shortage of great beats this Friday night, so don’t be late.  Doors open and 6pm and tickets are available HERE.

We hope you can join us this FRIDAY NIGHT.

WOW!…

There are few words that I can use to describe our final round of preliminary battles other that WOW!  There were surprises, upsets, and some of the best beats we’ve heard all year.  One of the most shocking developments of last night’s battle, was the defeat of both our 4th and 5th MILTOWN BEAT DOWN champions.  This past night was one of the toughest for the crowd to come to a vote on.  I saw many people change their vote from one battle to the next, showing little loyalty for anything other than their favorite beats.

Here is how the night broke down…

SAM WINTERS [417] vs. SAUL GARZA BEATZ [209]

MARK VALDEZ [319] vs. JIHAD BARACUS [406]

JAMES JAXIN [427] vs. BAKTRAX  [326]

LEX LUTHOR [329] vs. CHAMP [357]

The first round of battles were often determined by one amazing beat.  For example, the Lex vs. Champ battle was tipped toward Champ at the beginning, and then Lex pulled out one of the best beats he’s ever played in the battle.  A “beat off” was called and the final beat from each producer brought the scores to a close call.

There were many audience members who were torn on who to vote for.  You could see it in the faces of the crowd when we’d ask them to vote.  Our 5 judges not only listened to what the crowd said, and tallied up the points for creativity and  sound quality *. (Sound Quality is a relative factor at Jackalope Lounj based on the limits of this small room’s sound system.  But for the record, many of the producers in this battle sounded GREAT in the Jack, so while the system may be less than perfect, the playing field was level.)

We moved into the finals of last night late into the 11 o’clock hour.  Here is how that went down..

SAM WINTERS [428] vs. JIHAD BARACUS [321]

This was a particularly tough one.  Jihad brought the expected high energy, sonic power house boom bap that we’ve come to love from him.  Sam “flipped the script” on ’em and brought some reggae and dance tempo beats.  In my talks with the judges,, many of them felt strongly that this versatility worked in Sams favor.

JAMES JAXIN [244] vs. CHAMP [301]

This was a very interesting round.  These guys were both playing by the same set of rules.  High sonic quality, impactful club beats.  If anything, the judges felt that James lost more that Champ won.  But the numbers don’t lie and CHAMP was victorious.

Well there ya have it!  Our 2011 run at Jackalope Lounj is done.  I need to take this moment to give some shout outs to the fine folks at the Wicked Hop and Jackalope Lounj for hosting this year’s battles.  To RUFIO, the best bartender in Milwaukee, I thank you brother.  We could not have done this without you.  THANKS!

A very special thanks to our judges; JC Poppe, DJ Slym, Tarik aka the Architect, Why-B and Cecilio of King’s Go Forth.

And to the best DJ in the Midwest KID CUT UP, you are the man.  Thanks to you, the part NEVER stops.  Love ya brother.

Well all that we have left to focus on now is the 2011 MILTOWN BEAT DOWN FINALS.  If you have not yet purchased your tickets, be sure to CLICK HERE.  We will have some more details up this weekend on the finals and our special WILD CARD BATTLE.

Thanks for all the love Milwaukee.

-Jordan