Three-Time DMC World Champion DJ Craze Plays Phnom Penh's Pontoon Club on October 2

Date: October 2, 2026, 10pm Venue: Pontoon Club, 80 Jayavarman VII (Street 172), Phnom Penh, Cambodia Tickets: No cover price listed. Reserve a table at 010 300 400 or [email protected]

In 2000, a Miami turntablist named DJ Craze won his third straight DMC World DJ Championship, a feat no solo DJ had managed before him and none would repeat for another two decades. On October 2, that same pair of hands is behind the decks at Pontoon Club, a nightclub on one of Phnom Penh's busiest bar streets. Pontoon's own listing doesn't undersell it, promising "nasty cuts, heavy bangers, and pure turntable madness all night."

It's an odd kind of booking for this city. International names that make it to Phnom Penh's clubs are usually EDM circuit regulars or regional trance acts, not a battle DJ who cut his teeth in DMC prelims and went on to scratch on tour for Kanye West.

Three Titles, Never Matched Since

Born Arist Delgado in Managua, Nicaragua, in 1977, Craze fled the country with his family as a toddler, first to San Francisco and then to Miami, where he still lives. He won the DMC World title in 1998, 1999 and 2000, a three-peat that remained the only one in DMC history until 2020. In the same stretch he also picked up the USA DMC crown and the World ITF Scratch Off title, both in 1998. Time named him America's Best DJ in 2001.

He later spent 2008 on the road as Kanye West's tour DJ for the Glow in the Dark tour, and co-founded Slow Roast Records with Kill the Noise. His catalogue since has ranged well past scratch routines into hip hop, Miami bass, dubstep and drum and bass, but the turntable fundamentals are still what he's booked for. His own YouTube channel still carries a routine cut to Kanye's "New Slaves," drawing admiring comments from DJs half his age about a champion still doing the thing that made him one.

A Scene Still Rebuilding

Phnom Penh's house and techno scene has spent decades piecing itself back together after the Khmer Rouge nearly erased Cambodia's music culture entirely, as Loopliner reported in August. Pontoon isn't a specialist techno room. It runs a different theme most nights, hip hop and trap early in the week and house and tech house creeping in on weekends, which is typical for a club in a city with more visiting DJs than dedicated dancefloors, as Loopliner's own guide to Phnom Penh nightlife lays out. A name with Craze's résumé landing there regardless is worth noting for a scene that rarely gets a headliner this decorated, in any genre.

If You Go

Pontoon is at 80 Jayavarman VII (Street 172), a short walk from Phnom Penh's riverside bar strip. Doors for Craze's set are 10pm on October 2. The club hasn't published a cover charge; call 010 300 400 or email [email protected] to reserve a table.

Cover photo: DJ Craze performing at True Luv 4, Springfield, Massachusetts, 2002. Photo by Alkivar, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.