Diplo

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Diplo
Diplo in 2005
Diplo in 2005
Background information
Birth name Wesley Pentz
Born Flag of the United States Mississippi, U.S.
Genre(s) Hip Hop, Instrumental hip-hop, Electronica
Occupation(s) Producer, DJ
Years active 2003–present
Label(s) Big Dada
Associated
acts		 M.I.A., Bonde do Rolê, Spank Rock, Amanda Blank, Plastic Little
Website Official site
For the British international monthly publication see Diplo magazine. For the international monthly publication nicknamed Le Diplo, see Le Monde diplomatique. For the Puerto Rican poet known as Diplo, see Ramón Rivero.

Diplo (born Wesley Pentz, also variably known as Diplodocus, Wes Gully, and Wes Diplo) is a Philadelphia-based producer and DJ. Together with DJ Low Budget, he runs Hollertronix, a club and music collective. In addition to his solo career, he has worked with and dated British-based Sri Lankan singer and artist M.I.A.[1]. Pentz's alias, short for Diplodocus, derives from his childhood fascination with dinosaurs.

Diplo met M.I.A. when he was DJing one night at the Fabric Club in London. "Besides me being a white dude from Florida and her being a Sri Lankan girl in England, everything else was the same: [We were both] film graduates, [listened to] all the same music when we were kids, were going in the same direction right now in music, it was amazing."[2] he said of their meeting. Coincidentally, Diplo was playing her single "Galang" as she entered the club.

As a DJ, Diplo is characterized by his eclectic, often 80s-oriented mashups, mixtapes, and live sets. On his full-length solo effort, Florida,his sound is closer to sample-based cinematic instrumental hip hop, such as the work of DJ Shadow. The record Florida was pressed twice,one with a CD and one with a CD/DVD,the DVD was created by System D-128 another artist that has collaborated with Diplo on some musical recordings but mostly video projects from the information provided currently from the internet. Before the Diplo Florida DVD there was another DVD that surfaced called "Diplo Banned in Libya" which was released by Money Studies, the 1st label to release a solo project by Diplo under the moniker Diplodocus, it was a 45 called "Thingamajawn" which there is a full length music video for as well. Similar to the Florida DVD "Diplo Banned in Libya" is an experimental mix of videos created to some of Diplo's work from Florida and other sources that are unknown.

Born in Mississippi[3] and raised across the southern United States, Diplo picked up much of the local culture while growing up there. Music styles such as dirty south, crunk and Miami bass are now key ingredients of Hollertronix's output. Pentz's solo work is also influenced by Southern Gothic and other southern literature. Additionally, world music is a strong musical influence on Diplo, especially baile funk or funk carioca, which he encountered while DJing at a house party with Hollertronix[2] and has used for sampled beats in numerous productions.[4]


Diplo is signed to the Ninja Tune-imprint Big Dada. In 2006, he started his own label, Mad Decent, signing Brazilian baile funk group Bonde do Role and DJ Blaqstarr.

He attended the University of Central Florida and Temple University in Philadelphia.

Contents

  • "Newsflash" (2003) (as Diplodocus)
  • "Epistemology Suite" (2003) (as Diplodocus)
  • "Thingamajawn" (2003) (as Diplodocus)
  • "Diplo Rhythm" (2004)
  • "Reload It" 2005 (as Diplo)

Diplo presents these podcast serials.

  1. ^ Dan DeLuca,"Musical Diplo-mat", The Philedelphia Inquierer, Jan 19, 2006, Pg C01
  2. ^ a b Pytlik, Mark (4 April 2005). Interview: Diplo. Pitchforkmedia.com. Retrieved on 6 September 2007.
  3. ^ Dan DeLuca,"Musical Diplo-mat", The Philedelphia Inquierer, Jan 19, 2006, Pg C01
  4. ^ The Rise of Favela. Arjan Writes. arjanwrites.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplo"
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