The second quarter-finals of the number one DJ competition in the Caribbean, the Heineken Green Synergy, 'fired off' last week with DJ Diamond going up against DJ Wayne G in what turned out to be a very competitive battle. In the end, it turned up the excitement surrounding the competition to 'fever pitch'.

DJ Wayne G ended strongly

Before the big showdown, DJ Rohan was announced as the winner of the first quarter-finals in his match-up against DJ Jagga.

At the TV show segment, it was very close as agreed by resident judges Collin Hinds and Kurt Riley of FAME FM and guest judge, the elegant DJ Sunshine, as both DJs did very well in their presentation.

We caught up with Winford Williams of CVM TV, the creative director and producer of the TV series.

Williams said that he was pleased with how the competition has progressed over the years. "CVM was there before the TV segment came into play," he said. "Last year we had a reality series where we targeted sound systems in six urban areas where we had the rookies on the respective sound systems playing. We showed it on On Stage and had six half-hour series from it. It was really exciting and did a lot in giving these young selectors invaluable exposure. We have been reaching a wide audience and it has been just fabulous," Williams shared.

Each week the TV segment is shown on CVM TV at 7:00 pm on Fridays while the Olympic Games is on the way.

DJ Wayne G, aka Wayne Gutherie, hails from Kingston and is a freelance disc jockey. He was entering the competition for the first time. He sees his strength as having solid musical knowledge as well as having good turntable skills.

DJ Diamond is originally from Linstead, St Catherine, and is also a first-time entrant. He is a resident DJ at Margaritaville in Montego Bay and sees his strength as proper transition, musical selection and being able to create a memorable experience.

DJ Wayne G kicked off the competition in the five minutes segment. He had the studio audience dancing away as he played popular songs such as Nuh Linga and Sweep by Elephant Man. He then went back into time with Delly Rank's Headache and Cobra's A Gal A Chat. With the audience getting wild, he stepped up the pace with Mavado's I'm So Special and then threw down some wicked remixes which earned him a big response from the audience.

Wayne G ended strongly with songs such as Charlie Black's Any Gal Can't Bubble and Bounty Killer's Gal Yu A Lead. His only 'hiccup' in this segment was that he seemed a bit timid in talking on the mike.

Diamond came out firing in his five minutes segment and played some 'wicked' hip hop including Lil Wayne's Duffle Bag and smoothly mixed in Mavado's Slow Singing and Vybz Kartel's Weh Dem Feel Like.

He pumped up the vibes with Let It Rain and A Milli both by Lil Wayne into Rihanna's Take A Bow and ended with some Dancehall songs from Mavado and Kartel.

Kurt Riley said both played well but that he would pay his money to listen to Wayne G because he plays for the girls. Collin Hinds also agreed that both did well but said that he loved Diamond remixes and his speech and his dramatic. DJ Sunshine said she liked both Js. She said that Wayne G did excellent, spinning music through the different genres but she preferred Diamond whom she said was smoother and that she loved his techniques and his artistry.

The Tune for Tune segment was fun and both pulled out all stops to outdo each other. DJ Wayne G pulled out a big surprise with a song by Diane Warrick called Pray A Little Prayer for which he said Diamond's girl would be saying for him. Diamond hit back strongly with a remix he told the audience he penned which was a spin-off of One Republic's Too Late.

Wayne G showed depth in his knowledge of music and played Culture's Jah Jah See Them A Come.

Diamond was not perturbed and reeled off Louie Culture's Bogus Badge. Both DJs were guilty of talking too much and lost some edge. As Collin Hind pointed out, "Brevity is the essence of wits."

However, both went on to unleash some hard-hitting tunes and came out well in this segment.

In the judges' opinion, Collin Hinds chose DJ Wayne G, Sunshine also chose Wayne G while Riley said both dropped serious tunes and that he would let the voters decide.

At the radio segment at FAME FM on last Friday between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm the fun continued. Both DJ's played for 25 minutes on the Groove Theory programme hosted by the musical wizard's Arif Cooper and Kurt Riley. Also in the house was FAME FM's project coordinator Janice Young, Lady Deidra and DJ Inferno.

Interestingly, DJ Inferno was the first winner of the Heineken Green Synergy competition in 2004.

Inferno said that it was through this competition that he got the needed exposure that enabled him to get a job at FAME FM. He was very grateful for Heineken to give him that opportunity.

Playing first, DJ Diamond seized the initiative and 'rinsed' some 'wicked' tunes.

Diamond played several hit songs from the different eras from 50 Cents In Da Club, A-yo- Technology, Lollipop by Little Wayne, to classics such as Keyshia Cole's Sent From Heaven.

He went into some popular dancehall songs in Mavado's We Shall Overcome to Doh by Serani and Bugle. He continued to play popular songs such as Serani's Stinking Rich and Konshen's Winner.

He went back in time with songs such as Super Cat Wi a Rude Bwoy, and Beenie Man's Wi Know Dem Nuh Like Mi. He then ended playing some songs on the remixed Show Time rhythm.

If DJ Wayne G was to fail it would have been in this segment as having started enterprising but good by playing some dance music including the big hit song Feel So Good by Sonique and the upbeat Shorty Swing My Way. He seemingly lost his way and started playing real off-keyed, playing some reggae music which 'killed the vibes', just not fit to play in a DJ Competition. He also played over Serani's Doh which Diamond had played in his round.

However, in the end the last decision is up to the voters. You can vote for DJ Wayne G by texting number 11 to 444-6935, or 444-MYDJ or for DJ Diamond text the number 6 to 444- 6935 or 444- MYDJ. Voting ends at 12 noon this Wednesday

The 3rd quarter-finals takes centre stage this week with DJ Jigga going up against DJ Chemist.

Meanwhile the coolest beer Heineken will roll into the coolest town, Mandeville this Thursday, August 21, 2008 at Courtney's Jerkys for one in the series of Heineken Green Synergy road shows.

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