The Red Bull Thre3Style World Finals arrive in Toronto at the beginning of November, with a contingent of winning selectors from four continents touching down on Canadian soil. With a field this big, it's only fitting that Skratch Bastid be the first person to welcome its guests with open arms.

Born Paul Murphy, Bastid is a pillar in the Canadian DJ community and the quintessential friendly Canuck. Hailing from the unlikely hotbed of true school hip-hop that is Halifax, Nova Scotia, Bastid earned his stripes smoking competition locally and at world-renowned battles, such as Scribble Jam, with a combination of deft cuts and outlandish showmanship. One need only search his infamous "Justin Timberlake" routine for visual proof.

Bastid has evolved his battle routines into touring shows that still encompass the same fundamentals that won him titles. He creates atmospheres of fun with his left-field song choices and stage antics but appeases the purists by staying nice on the slice. It was no wonder that Red Bull Thre3style approached him to be its global ambassador.

With a repertoire that already embodies the values of the competition, Bastid has been shipped off to see the world and preach the gospel of Thre3style. Through his journeys, he has won over new legions of fans, created enthusiasm for a new brand of battle and witnessed the emergence of a new brand of DJ. As the competition enters its fourth year on a global scale, Skratch Bastid speaks on the growing pains of an event with ever-changing rules, ever-increasing popularity, and steady encouragement for the uninitiated DJ.

You've been anointed global ambassador of Red Bull Thre3style and have helped create a worldwide presence for it from the ground up. What has that experience been like?

I was quite involved with Thre3Style as it began in Canada. I was one of the judges and showcase artists in its early stages. As it went global, a lot of the other countries had no idea what the competition was about as it hadn't been defined yet. So they sent me to these foreign lands. I went to Japan and performed with DJ Krush, which was a personal tick off of the bucket list. Since then, I've been to New Zealand, Brazil, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Germany, all in support of Thre3style. I guess it's a testament to how much the competition has spread out globally.

Have certain countries adopted the concept of Thre3style faster than others?

Yes, but I think a lot of it comes down to the DJs and the communities that they exist in. Generally, multi-genre or open format mixing was popularized in North America. When you get to Europe, they're a bit more used to nights being genre specific. So it kind of needed to be communicated that, yes, you can play a few types of music that can be enjoyed in one sitting.

I've found that most South American countries have taken to Thre3style fairly quickly. I guess because their sub-genres are already a mash-up of their cultural music with newer sounds (e.g. baile funk).

Do you see common traits or customs amongst DJs that are universal regardless of what country you visit?

What I see are DJs trying to rep for their country as best as possible.
The better DJs are the ones who present their cultural flavor with the western multi-genre style. Fifteen minutes is a long time to be up there, so you get to see a good slice of a DJs catalogue within that time. You don't see DJs looking to conform to one style.

Really, the competition is young enough for people looking to define exactly what Thre3style is. Creativity is still one of the most important criteria, so I think people are still pushing the envelope. Within the past year, we've seen a lot of new approaches that we haven't done n the last four. So it's very exciting what these World Finals will bring.

Last year's world champion, Fourcolorzack, cast a very large shadow with his winning routine, and many DJ's have since adapted the 'tone play' style he popularized. What are your thoughts?

Zack is a great DJ. His style suits the competition very well. Tone play is very musical. Everyone understands that when you transform one melody into another it's like worlds colliding. The usurping of one melody into another is universally awesome.

The people that perform the best are the ones that do their own thing, like DJ Drummer from Chile who had a unique approach that flexed on his drumming style, and Nedu Lopes from Brazil, who's been top three in the world three years in a row and always has his own style of performing.

There's so much room for the competition to be defined. Every year brings a new wave of DJs who do things differently.

Dicers, MPDs, Maschines, Launchpads. The use of controller rule has opened up a new avenue of expression in Thre3style routines. Moving forward, do you see an increasing shift away from the traditional turntables and mixer setup?

I want the competition to be a reflection of what creative club DJing is all over the world. If it's happening in the clubs, it makes sense to pursue it creatively. It's walking the fine line between having no rules and setting rules. You can't have no rules, but within the past five years the amount of stuff that has changed with DJ software that they get to be more creative. They can also be more lazy, but the onus falls on the judges to decide whether someone is being lazy or creative. Same with DJ edits: some routines have completely taken away from the concept of mixing music. We want to see mixing. That's still a big part of DJing.

There's a fear that, down the road, the routines could be pre-produced to the point that's it's impossible to perform live.

Judging a Thre3style competition is still not 100% technique-based. It's a balance. While some things are hard to do, some ideas/concepts are hard to think of. As judges, we reward those two equally. Other competitions may lean more towards strictly technique. And while we don't dismiss technique, routines that are creative, not corny, and fun is the stuff that's rewarded. It doesn't have to be of a DJ Q-Bert level of difficulty, but it does have to be good and musical.

In the 90's, DJs like Premier and Pete Rock couldn't tell you the difference between a chirp and a flare, but their cuts were so funky, that you couldn't dismiss their skills. It's just a different ball game, in the long run.

One commonality at all of these competitions is the amount of camaraderie amongst the DJs, even as they compete against each other.

Connecting with other DJs is great for bouncing ideas off each other. Online, we can find a lot of our peers, but you can't really replace being in the same room as them and collaborating. It's amazing to have seen some of the connections made. Some of these DJs take their experience in North America back home and become better DJs. And to be recognized outside of their country is an accomplishment they wear proudly.

For me, seeing these ripple effects happen amongst the up and coming DJs is highly rewarding. It gives people the opportunity to break out of their weekly residencies and be unique on their terms. It's helped to evolve the local and national DJ communities.

Whose sets are you looking forward to hearing during Finals week?

From what I've heard so far, there are a lot of really good national champs. DJ Byte from Chile is back. He was really strong two years ago. I saw the regionals in Germany and Eskei83 is really dope. Adam Doubleyou did a really good job in Canada. Trentino from the U.S. has had a lot of time to prepare, probably the most time, so that has to mean something.

Those DJs I mentioned are pretty heavy, but one thing I've learned from judging these things is never underestimate anybody, because you can be surprised pretty quickly. DJ Drummer knocked out Fourcolorzack in the qualifying heats last year. Luckily for Zack there was a wild card, but Drummer showed him what's what in that first round.

How would you convince a bedroom DJ reluctant to submit a demo to hit that send button?

From the networking to the exposure to new fans to getting to play to a packed house, all are rare opportunities. And it costs you nothing but practice, which you should be doing anyway. If the only thing you walk away from it with is the precious fifteen minutes you can put together, then that's a good deal.

It's a very friendly competition. No matter how many disses get thrown around, there's no ever-lasting beef. It's more about building community. It's more like sparring than full-on UFC. And at the end of the day, we just want to throw the best party we can and celebrate those who dedicate their lives to it.