This year’s Miltown Beat Down was without a doubt, our best competition to date. We had more quality rounds of battle, and many of the contestants could have easily won the whole thing. I was genuinely excited and motivated by the level of competition we saw this year.

Let’s go back and look at the battles from the semi-finals.

Reason [483] vs. Madden Miles [449]

This was an exciting spectacle to say the least. Madden Miles teamed up with Unlooped violinist Alida LaCrosse. This was a level of creativity we had NEVER seen before in the history of this event. While the performance was amazing, the beats did not knock as hard at 2011 Champ Reason.

Jazz Ward [515] vs. Elete Trax [336]

The boys from Jazz Ward proved to be a force to be reckoned with! They brought some HIGH energy beats in this round.

Goodwill [335] vs. Came One [468]

Will brought his usually diss-heavy battle beats, but Came One’s boom bap was a little heavier than Goodwill’s.

White Russian [446] vs. James Jaxin [510]

This was a very close battle. Judges were torn on this one, but it seemed to boil down to audio fidelity. James Jaxin had bigger hits coming out of his NI Maschine, than White Russian’s computer. In the end, hardware won this battle.

Professor Problems [522] vs. Lex Luther [510]

The closest call of the night by far. 2010 Champ Lex Luther brought out some big guns, and was not afraid to play offense in this battle. However, creativity and performance brought Professor Problems ahead. This beat seemed to be the one that took Lex down…

D-Ski [410] vs. Sam Winters [395]

While Sam Winters impressed the crowd and judges with his unique beats on the OP-1, D-Ski was ready with some hot and heavy DJ Premier style boom.

Trademark [378] vs. *Hitmayng [326]

This battle was closer than expected. *Hitmayng had some creative new styles, unlike anything we’d heard that night. But in the end Trademark showed us what a battle veteran can do to his competition.

40 mil [412] vs. Klassik [488]

This was the battle I was waiting for all year. The “people’s champ” 40 MIL and MTBD freshman Klassik have known each other for years. There was no doubt that both of these gentlemen wanted the win. They both wanted to WIN IT ALL. 40 MIL held nothing back, and actually made it personal with a “tight pants” diss sample. ( Klassik does wear some tight ass pants… LOL) But Klassik held nothing back, and again performed his beats live, with his Axiom. His unique style impressed the judges and Klassik moved on to the finals.

Or winners Reason, Jazz Ward, Came One, James Jaxin, D-Ski, Trademark and Klassik moved on to Saturday night’s competition with some very exciting rounds.

Reason [418] vs. Jazz Ward [506]

Reason seemed to hold something back in this battle. He may have gone into this one a bit too confident. The kids from Jazz Ward surprised the audience again, as they defeated 2011 Champ REASON.

Came One [458] vs. Jame Jaxin [399]

James Jaxin again brought some heavy beats, but Came One was ready to go and got one up on James in this round.

Professor Problems [500] vs. D-Ski [360]

This was a battle of two completely different styles. D-Ski was locked and loaded with lots of big beats, but Professor Problems decided to go for style points. He brought some dark beats into this round, and scratched his bass lines and samples into his beats. When some one does that, it’s almost impossible to beat them.

Trademark [473] vs. Klassik [511]

Trademark was ready again with diss-samples and battle beats, but Klassik opted for a smoother approach in this round. Cool dance focused beats impressed the crowd and the judges; and Klassik made the final four.

Our 2012 FINAL FOUR; Jazz Ward, Came One, Professor Problems and Klassik brought some heat for the last few rounds.

Jazz Ward [512] vs. Came One [554]

They had a great run in this year’s battle, but the boys of Jazz Ward seemed to run out of steam in this round. They had some great beats, but Came One went for the throat in this battle, and came out victorious.

Klassik [488] vs. Professor Problems [508]

There was no shortage of creativity and performance in this battle. I personally thought this was one of the most exciting battles to watch in the history of the event. In the end, Klassik lost the battle, because the judges felt he compromised his style to try to beat Professor Problems with a more aggressive style. There is no doubt that Professor Problems was killing it in this battle, but with such different styles, it’s tough to call battles like this one.

The 2012 Miltown Beat Down finals wrapped up with Professor Problems battling Came One. Stylistically these two were close. Professor Problems had more technical prowess, while Came One had bigger boom bap. After a very close battle, Came One was crowned the 2012 MILTOWN BEAT DOWN CHAMPION.

I must say, that I am more than impressed with the beats we heard this year. We’ve already begun plans to get the 2013 battles going in the winter, and I’ve heard from many of the producers that they plan to collaborate on a number of projects.

Watch for a 2012 MILTOWN BEAT DOWN BEAT TAPE coming soon, and a MTBD mini-documentary!

Thanks again Milwaukee for being so amazing. Thank you for supporting these producers. Thank you for supporting this event.

Thank you all!

With love,

Jordan aka DJ MADHATTER

Photos courtesy of LisaLisa Jamz Photography!