BEAT SHOGUN — THE BEATMAKING BATTLE
Beat Shogun was a beatmaking competition initiated as part of Bloods’ 20th-anniversary celebrations in 2022. Rooted in hip-hop culture and the tradition of sample-based music production, the project was conceived as an arena for beatmakers to bring processes usually kept behind the scenes—chopping samples, programming drums, building loops, and shaping compositions—into a live performance and competition format.
In Beat Shogun, beatmakers were positioned not simply as studio producers, but as performers. They faced one another with beat compositions created and performed using their own production setups, whether hardware- or software-based. The format drew on the sample-based character of hip-hop beatmaking: taking fragments from existing records or sound sources, then chopping, manipulating, and reassembling them into new compositions.
The competition unfolded in two stages. The open preliminary round took place online, with no formal registration process: participants submitted short videos of their beat performances through Instagram. From all submissions, the judging panel selected three beatmakers to advance to the final. Conceived as an in-person gathering in Bandung, the final brought the finalists before a live audience and the judges, alongside performances by DJs and rappers. The entire event was also designed to be documented and subsequently released through Bloods’ digital channels.
The judging panel was drawn from Indonesia’s hip-hop and beatmaking ecosystem: Ridwan Gunawan (DJ Evil Cutz), a beatmaker and DJ with a background in DMC and Red Bull DJ Battle competitions; Fajar Nurmanto (Jaydawn), a beatmaker and recording artist who has produced music for artists across genres; and Leno Rei, a beatmaker, DJ, and music media organiser.
Beyond its competitive dimension, Beat Shogun can be understood as an attempt to move beatmaking from the production room into public space. Throughout hip-hop history, beatmakers have often remained behind the MCs or the records they produced. Beat Shogun reversed that position: the beat became the primary material, while the production process itself became part of the spectacle. Samplers, pad controllers, laptops, and other production tools ceased to function solely as studio equipment and became instruments of performance.
The battle format also connected the project to one of hip-hop’s foundational traditions: competition as a mechanism for demonstrating skill, character, and individual identity. Where MC battles work through language and turntablism through the manipulation of records, Beat Shogun positioned beat production as the field of battle—testing how a producer selects sounds, constructs rhythm, reshapes samples, and establishes a musical identity within limited time and space.
The selection of prizes reinforced this focus. Three music-production devices were awarded to the winners, with the Akai MPC Live II as the grand prize, followed by an MPC Studio 2 Pad Controller and a Novation Launchkey MK3. The prizes therefore served not only as rewards, but also returned conceptually to the practice at the heart of the event: providing tools that would allow beatmakers to continue producing and exploring music.