OUR THING #1
A Creative Community
One of the granddaddies of mash-ups, Diplo also has the Midas touch when it comes to remixes: M.I.A., Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Le Tigre... the man can take a good song and make it even gooder. Born and raised in the South, the DJ and producer has called Philly home for the past several years. In our interview, he talks of legendary North Star Bar DJ brawls and what he really wants to do with his life: be a teacher and write children's books. Who would have known?
myspace.com/diplo
maddecent.com
For all those folks out there who may be taking high doses of Ambien, please state your name for the record.
Wesley. Sometimes known as Diplo/Mad Decent.
Where are you from, dawg? How long have you lived in Philadelphia?
I'm from Florida/Missippi/Tennessee/Alabama, but I've been in Philly about seven or eight years, trying to figure out what's next.
How did you end up in Philly?
I was on my way to the big New York but decided I couldn't afford it and ended up in East Falls. I went to Temple University for film and started to develop a business of selling records, teaching kids, and djing on some weeknights.
What was your first Philly job?
I worked at the Ritz Theatre on 2nd St., and the Philadelphia Zoo for about week... Then I dropped out of Temple, got a job as a school teacher at 9th and Lindly (Birney Elementary) and then went on to TSS (social work wraparound stuff) at De Bourges and couple of other North Philly schools. That's as real as Philly gets.
Who were some of the first other musicians you met up with here, and how did they influence you?
I have no influences. I come from nothing. I'm like the swamp thing, just plants and garbage. But I was a big fan of the hip hop DJs here. Ralph (Major Taylor), Cosmo, Jazzy Jeff, Low-Bee, Rich Medina, King Britt. Those are the clubs I went to in the beginning when I was still underage, any crappy R5 show, etc. Sean Agnew did a lot for the city actually. I was just kinda stuck in a basement by myself in Philly for about two years with some old Florida crew that came up with me. I kinda started with nothing and then went into strategic alliances for the last five years, and will eventually try and run for mayor in a coupla more years.
How did you start DJing?
Back in Florida I was a pretty bad DJ, but didn't realize how to make any money at it till we did Hollertronix.
You used to do this DJ night way back when at the North Star Bar called "Old Head Vs. Young Bol." Was that like Hollertronix training?
It was actually "Ol Head vs. Yun Scrappy" (after the Beanie Siegel lyric from 'Rock the Mic') That was more like training for the UFC or PRIDE. We used to have big fights in there, mostly the DJs would fight with each other. Me and Triple Doule (System D128) or Duey (again, System D128) or Ben Harris, but I fought Dan Yemin once. I didn't even know he was a hardcore legend; North Star was just his local bar. But yeah, I guess the party was... a little more left field... I think we got people dancing only like five times in the year that we did it. And back then, even Hollertronix wasn't Hollertronix yet. It was me and Ben Harris at the UKIE (UACA aka Ukranian American Citizen's Association aka the Ukranian Club or Ukie) and the party was called "Get Krunk Now." We had a keg then, and we didn't know the Obolon beers they already served at the bar were so cheap, so we ende up making like 20 bucks after costs. I was like 24 or something then. I had just gotten fired from a job and I didn't pay rent that month. Low-Bee (DJ Low Budget) saved the party in the next couple of months because he actually had fans in Philly.
How long have you been producing music?
About four years getting paid for it.
Were you always primarily interested in production, and DJing paved the way into that, or was the other way around?
Always other way around. DJing was just a side job and I was trying to pay rent. I didn't know it was gonna be the bread and butter for me. I was never that good technically, I just had interesting ideas I guess. But I'm more into production now, completing about 20 remixes so far this year. I don't think anything would have gone my way honestly if it wasn't for you and Kurt (NBC of Plastic Little) at the UACA parties. No one was really poppin Lil' Flip's "This is the Way We Ball," etc., but you guys would start riots. This was before the big tracks like "Never Scared" or "Stay Fly." We had this energy there that everyone was just waiting for, it was more like a hardcore punk show than a DJ night. Since then I've just been trying to harness that energy like an energy drink. You feel me?
Who were some of your musical inspirations, both old and new, who you'd hear and be like 'They know what the fuck they're doing'?
I'm like more of a songwriter, or trying to be, with the people I'm producing now. So I'm down with stuff like the Clash and like older hip-hop or some Cat Power kinda shit. Man, I'm still just trying to make the kids go crazy and give some music that has a longer shelf life because these days the music is kinda here and gone. But I'm still inspired by the kids I work with. Boy 8-Bit and Blaqstarr are two dudes that are making shit that makes me scratch my head and think 'Kids will get it in about two years.'
What are you're goals as an artist? What are you aiming for when you make something?
Well, I want to really push shit further. If I told you about Hollertornix today, you know like how cutting edge it was to mix krunk and Baltimore club and '80s music... LOL that ain't shit now... it's almost commercial to people, but thats what got my foot in the door to do stuff in Brazil, to work with MIA, to remix bigger names, to travel to new places...etc. Man, I've been lucky but I'm really trying to refine my skills as a producer. I'm at like 75 percent right now, just settled into my first studio and just really got my shit right. Music is one thing but I see myself writing Harry Potter-type novels for 13-year-olds in five years.
Has living in Philadelphia contributed a great deal to what you make? Are there any connections?
Well, Philly is a working class city. It's pretty bottom of the barrel as in terms of a place for comfortable life experience, but thats not what I wanted. I like passing that crazy warehouse on 11th and Race St with no windows. I mean, it seems like a limited place in some aspects but you can't find a better source of like energy. These are the real artists in a lot of way because we couldn't make it to NYC, we had to settle for it's retarded cousin. There is no endless source of money in Philly, so you have to be like a prospector and dig that shit up and work hard. You can't be a phoney here: People will call you out in a second and then it's over for you. I could say that it's Fairmount Park or jumping in Devil's Pool, but you can find those places anywhere really. I dunno... it's something about the Philly/Baltimore Axis of Evil, we got real things happening here, it's the energy...
When did you start the Mad Decent label? Who are some the artists you work with on Mad Decent? And is your ultimate goal with starting a record label to be able to purchase a tiger and put it in your backyard like Scarface?
I'd like to start some type of animal park on top of the mausoleum but they just opened that live chicken and rabbit shop across on Spring Garden St. I'm not sure if I can deal with that place actually... that jawn smells funky. But man, Mad Decent...We're just trying to become a place where we can turn out music and films, art, whatever really... It was pretty painstaking and boring but we just got the infrastructure set up for that to go down, to have the parties and get the jobs to remix and get the kids to buy our shit and support it. We got the film coming out this year too; Favela on Blast. I mean I'd like to be a mogul but the kids that fuck with me are all broke anyway and the other half is working with this thing I set up called 'Heaps Decent' in Australia, South Africa, and Brazil too. It's sort of non-profit thing. Man, at some point I gotta stop Djing and then I'm going back into school teacher mode and doing this type of stuff.
Why the name Diplo, which I know is short for Diplodocus, which is a dinosaur? What affinity do you have toward that creature?
I guess it just come back to me being about kid stuff. Like when you're young and you live on a different planet. That's where I was drawing my inspiration from on my first album, Florida and I always try to put that feel into what I work on. I can't explain it, but it makes sense to me, and i just commited to doing this stuff—music as a career when I was about 24 and I got the tattoo and said "Fuck it, if I can't live on my wits and being creative I gotta stare at this dumb tattoo all day and be mad at myself."
—Interview conducted by Jayson Musson.