In junior high, when Kentaro Okamoto first encountered DJing on a televised DJ battle, he could never have suspected that he would end up winning the 2002 DMC World Final Championship for his talent on the turntables, or spinning alongside hip-hop royalty like The Roots and Pharcyde.
But that's what happened, and now he can add to a growing list of his hip-hop accomplishments a new contract with the U.K.'s Ninja Tune and Japan's Beat Records labels. The new partnership will be celebrated tonight at Zen TV II, a huge bash in eastern Tokyo's mega club Ageha, with a performance alongside new label mates Coldcut, Hexstatic and others.
DJ Kentaro, age 24, is hard to define. A self-proclaimed crossover DJ with obvious technical deftness, his mixing style crosses from hip-hop, jazz, jungle, downtempo, breakbeat to dancehall, dub and drum 'n' bass.