Diplo Pitchfork Interview
Diplo’s cross genre mixes have been tearing up dance floors across the globe over the past couple of years. Really appreciate this guy not only as a DJ/producer but as a musicologist. He is just someone who geeks out on good music like the rest of us. We have nothing but respect for what he does. Recently, our friends at Discobelle posted his contribution to Pitchfork’s mix series. As you will see, its gives us all another lesson in staying open minded. The interview that came along with the mix was a good read so we thought it was worthy of getting out there again. He walks through why he chose each song in the mix as well as expanding on his recent collaborations with Switch. Cant wait to see those two in action together in LA this month!
Interview: Pitchfork Mix 02: Diplo
Interview by David Day
Pitchfork: Jamaica doesn’t have to do with Heaps Decent?
Diplo: Jamaica was basically me and Switch. We worked a lot on that record with M.I.A. and basically gained each others’ trust, so we decided to put out a record together. We recorded with Elephant Man, Sizzla, Vybz Cartel– pretty much all the big dudes. Gyptian…we did some roots and culture stuff which was really cool.
Pitchfork: I didn’t know Switch was so into Jamaican music.
Diplo: He’s just a musichead, bottom line. He’s been working with Santogold recently, too. He’s just a beatmaker, you know? He does house because that’s where he started. But he and I both are just really into the engineering aspect of sound. We’re into all sorts of music. In Europe, it’s just kind of your job. Here in the states you can get away with playing all sorts of music in the club but in Europe, house music rules.
Pitchfork: And the tour’s going to be a little more of the club stuff…
Diplo: Well Switch doesn’t have that big of a fan base in America. I mean he’s like the J. Dilla of house music. Like all of our favorite producers– he’s their favorite producer. But he’s pretty unknown to the people. We’re really trying to work this record together, you know, because we would rather work with Santogold and M.I.A. instead of all these people that get thrown at us, because we feel like we’re doing something really cool. Something that is going to last.
01. I Like Turtles
02. Mr. Vegas: “Lean Wit It”
Pitchfork: So let’s talk about the mix, you started off with Mr. Vegas.
Diplo: I mixed that “I Like Turles” thing in there in the last second. It’s a YouTube video that was hilarious.
Pitchfork: Vegas is a real soulful dude.
Diplo: He’s one of the most musical guys out there, he’s a guy that has that crazy-high nasal voice, and this is a redone relook reedit of “Hot Fuk”, which was a big in dancehall last year. He did a flow version of it, and I’m into dancehall artists sampling old rhythms, and that’s like a real classic rhythm.
03. M.I.A. [ft. Bun B and Rich Boy]: “Paper Planes”
Pitchfork: I guess “Paper Planes” kind of does that too, calling out Wrecks-N-Effect.
Diplo: When we worked on that song we were watching “The Wire” pretty hardcore, listening to a lot of hip-hop. And, conceptually, we’re into a lot of sounds on the radio, but M.I.A. and I didn’t think there was any point to any of the lyrics. So the lyrics really just get to the bottom line, like, “What do you want to do?” “I want to shoot!” [laughs] And sampling the Clash was very apolitical– “Straight to Hell” has really cool lyrics. And I really wanted her to sing. She half-sang on it and it’s really pretty.
Pitchfork: It definitely has hit potential, and then you put some Houston cats on it.
Diplo: Bun B is just a really smart guy, one of the most intelligent rappers out there. He performed at Hollertronix with M.I.A. and Spank Rock and Plastic Little at a Halloween party we did back in 2004. It was ridiculous. It was crazy. And he’s always looking to do more of this kind of stuff and he got the idea on how to change the song. And Rich Boy just laid down a verse. I really like his style.
04. Schooly D: “Gucci Time”
Pitchfork: And Schooly D kinda leans back, too.
Diplo: It’s a huge song and kinda of one of the original versions of that lyrical thing we were talking about. It’s a silly record, it was huge. Schooly D was one of the first rappers, really the first rapper, to make an impact outside of New York. And he uses that crazy reverb. I wanted to get it into a warm-up set.
05. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: “Rockers to Swallow”
06. Jellybean: “Sidewalk Talk”
Pitchfork: How’d you get an a capella of “Sidewalk Talk”?
Diplo: I just got a lot of records! A lot of Philly DJs put out loads of bootlegs. I don’t know how they get all this stuff. I had that impulse a cappella for like eight months, and that’s how I got a bootleg of that out before the release. People would always ask, “When’s the real one coming out?” It works sometimes.
Pitchfork: Yeah, but Madonna would never give you an sample for a track.
Diplo: Maybe…No, I’m kidding [laughs]. Probably not. She had to go to Abba’s house to ask for the sample of “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)”.
Pitchfork: And you have a Yeah Yeah Yeahs thing in here, kind of a little New York set.
Diplo: Yeah, I lived in New York for a year-and-a-half, but now I’m back in Philliy. I’ve even set up in an old mausoleum here. I’m actually working on it tonight. Putting up some egg crates on the walls and stuff.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs track is off the new record and I love it. Blaqstarr played in L.A, with me about two months ago, and [Karen O] just came in and really ran the place. She went pretty crazy. She’s totally awesome because no one’s really a rock star anymore. But she has such personality. We have a new rock band coming out, I want to rock again.
Pitchfork: What’s the rock band?
Diplo: They’re coming out on Mad Decent. I can’t really say because it’s not done yet, but they’re from Africa. It’s psychedelic. It’s really cool.
07. Belle Stars: “Iko Iko”
Pitchfork: And an “Iko Iko” cover from the Belle Stars.
Diplo: Yeah, that’s a really nice version, isn’t it?
08. Scala & Kolacny Brothers: “Heartbeats”
Pitchfork: And my friend definitely wanted to ask you where you got that choir singing the Knife song.
Diplo: Actually, I don’t really know man. Is it one of those pop choir CDs you can buy at Wal-Mart or something?
Pitchfork: Really, they covered the Knife? You’re puling my leg.
Diplo: No, that song was pretty big wasn’t it? I have a lot of these choir things.
Pitchfork: I guess so. Do you have a Daft Punk choir CD? [laughs]
Diplo: You want me to e-mail it to you? I’ll e-mail it to you to prove it. [The version in question is by Scala & Kolacny Brothers, a Belgian girls choir– Ed.]
09. Diplo & Switch [ft. Elephant Man]: “East, West (Remix)”
10. Nirvana: Drain You / Huey: “Pop, Lock & Drop It”
Pitchfork: And then you have a thing you and Switch did with Elephant Man.
Diplo: Yeah. it’s one of the demos we did. I threw in the [Nirvana and Huey] because it was a cool thing.
Pitchfork: It’s got to be kind of a trip to have Elephant Man give a shout to Mad Decent.
Diplo: Yeah, I have a lot of drops like that. It’s just part of the culture down there. I want to do a whole mix featuring them. I tried to do it in Brazil, but it didn’t really work.
11. Marc Houle: “Bay of Figs (Ward 21 Mix)”
Pitchfork: I wanted to ask you about “Bay of Figs”, the Marc Houle track.
Diplo: There are just certain techno tracks that work. I don’t really know. I put Ward 21 over it to make it sound really good, but I am outside of the DJ scene right now that is sort of playing all the same records. A lot of minimal techno. I like a little more meoldy and a little darker stuff. Marc Houle works, but I can’t hear it more than one or two songs at a time. I mean, I go to a club in Berlin and I want to kill myself.
Pitchfork: Yeah, the darker techno is definiately where it’s at, the acidic stuff.
Diplo: I got that track from Drop the Lime, who is a really cool guy. Hes one of the guys doing really cool things in the NYC scene.
12. DJ Tamiel: “Bump Like This”
13. Queen [ft. David Bowie]: “Under Pressure”
Pitchfork: DJ Tamiel? I’m not sure who that is…
Diplo: He’s a dude from New Jersey that, as far as the Baltimore Club scene, is killing it right now. There are a bunch of kids in Newark, like 16-18, doing new stuff. Jersey is really getting into the club scene now. So I mixed in a bunch of samples and stuff in there.
Pitchfork: Yeah, Kraftwerk, “Bette Davis Eyes”, Pitbull…
Diplo: Yeah, “Bette Davis Eyes” is something on Hollertronix. Money Studies. I’m trying to keep selling those white labels to Turntablelab and in record shops. Only on vinyl.
Pitchfork: I wanted to ask you about your days at Turntablelab, they used to have your crate-digging picks as Diplodicus up there. Those were great, but they aren’t up there anymore.
Diplo: You mean the ones I did like four years ago or…
Pitchfork: Yeah, the ones where you picked out all those crazy Krautrock records and shit like that.
Diplo: Yeah, I think they’re doing to do a book about those…I did a whole mix of all that stuff. It’s my psychedelic mix, with the Rotary Connection and Krautrock and all the garage band stuff. I thought it would be cool to make a mix of that garage and psych stuff because no one really knows I’m into it, but I have loads of it. If nothing else, I’ll put it out on a podcast or something. It’s just a get high mix. Charles Stepney productions, Motown, all kinds of cool great cold stuff.
14. Eddie Money: “Take Me Home Tonight”
15. Soulja Boy: “Crank Dat Superman”
16. Bat for Lashes: “What’s a Girl to Do (Break)”
Pitchfork: And then a little Eddie Money. Eddie Money is a funky dude!
Diplo: Yeah, I put Bat for Lashes’ “What’s a Girl to Do?” in this mix, and it has a Motown/Beach Boys feel to it, but it wasn’t funky enough, so I put Eddie Money here because it also has that great production, that wall-of-sound thing going on. And then I put Soulja Boy in there because it’s the most relevant song to Earth. It’s the most current– every 16-year-old is dancing to it in the streets right now up here. And the YouTube phenomeon called Crank Dat Superman. And now all these different superhero dances that all the kids in Atlanta do. And they’re making YouTubes of little kid’s dances. That’s the culture of kids and dances right now– Crank Dat Aquaman, Crank Dat Spider-Man…
Pitchfork: Well, you worked with kids for a long time…
Diplo: That’s why I DJ and shit. Hollertronix wouldn’t have started without the kids I was teaching back in North Philly. People don’t understand the crazy stuff, the alternative forms of distribution like mixtapes. They were the biggest inspiration. Without understanding that you’d be kind of, kind of…
Pitchfork: Old.
Diplo: Old…[laughs]. The kids in Philadelphia are crazy right now. I wish someone would come and take a picture of some these clubs. These all-black underage clubs where kids are wear rave clothes and listen to house music. They all dress like rock stars or nerds or ravers from the 90s.
17. DJ Shadow: “Organ Donor (DJ Sandrinho Remix)”
Pitchfork: DJ Sandrinho is now on [Berlin’s] Man Recordings.
Diplo: We collaborated a lot when we were in Brazil. We played together a lot.
Pitchfork: I know Daniel, the guy that runs Man, a little bit.
Diplo: Yeah, Daniel Haaksman. He’s the one dude that was first [to Brazil] and keeps going down there and bringing people back to Europe to play and collaborate. He’s doing a new compilation called Funk Mundial which is all Herve and Seiji and Stereotyp and Al-Haca and European musical club dudes like that collaborating with European rappers.
You gonna surf now? Sorry…my neighborhood…skateboard local came up to show me a surf magazine.
Pitchfork: Does he dress up like superheroes?
Diplo: What do you dress up like, Niykqui? He dresses up like skateboarders.
Niykqui: I dress like everything.
Diplo: How old are you?
Niykqui: I’m 10.
Diplo: Oh, you’re not old enough to buy a chain wallet yet. He has a MySpace. What’s your MySpace? Backslash…?
Niykqui: Umm…
Diplo: Niyquifromphilly?
Niykqui: Nikiko?
Diplo: He doesn’t even knows what it is…I saw it the other day, he’s like top friends with Amanda Blank and shit…Look, I’m doing an interview, can you guys go skateboard somewhere?
[Niykqui inaudible]
Pitchfork: Does Amanda Black have a huge record deal yet?
Diplo: Maybe.
Pitchfork: What’s she up to?
Diplo: She signed a deal with a label and she’s working on a record. She’s got a little something that will be cool. She’s on tour with a band right now called Sweetheart, which is pretty weird but pretty cool. She’s with a band still. But she’s on a lot of things. She was just in a video shoot on Friday downtown in Philly. It was a big-budget thing in a club.
18. Diplo & Switch [ft. Beenie Man] “Solta Frango”
19. Mr. Vegas: “Hot Fuk (Diplo Mix)”
Pitchfork: Well, this is the track you’ve mentioned “Hot Fuk”.
Diplo: I just mixed it with an old Chicago house track. I don’t really remember the track hold on…I mixed it with um, some [plays track in background].
Pitchfork: Oh, that was it, you just played it!
Diplo: Yeah, I’m at my house…hold of for a second… [phone rings] Hey, I’m home, I’m on an interview, can I call you back? That was Switch, he’s in L.A. right now. Because of the hurricane his flight was diverted coming in from Jamaica.
20. Enur [ft. Natasja]: “Calabria (2007 mix)”
21. Spoon: “Paper Tiger”
22. Circle Children: “Zulu”
Pitchfork: Oh, wow. So, then…
Diplo: I mixed the Calabria joint. She’s like this big rave singer form Denmark…Ministry of Sound just bought it because it was a big hit in Ibiza a few months ago. The song is actually an old Italo disco song. I’ve never been to Ibiza, but there’s a club in Philly called Ibiza [laughs].
Pitchfork: And then I hear an actual vinyl record, like I hear a crackling.
Diplo: Yeah, that’s the Armand Van Helden thing [Circle Children], one of the first Baltimore club records. From like 1994. One of the first Baltimore club things. I think he was just making a bunch of records.
23. M.I.A. [ft. Akon]: “Boyz remix (Hi Powered Boyz Get Down)”
Pitchfork: And then the Akon remix with the Battles sample!
Diplo: Yeah, this is for Pitchfork right! [laughs]. So I had to put Battles in there. The tempo is so weird, like 10/6?
Pitchfork: Yeah I always wanted to drop that Battles track in a club.
Diplo: It’s impossible to mix!
24. Boy 8 Bit: “Suspense Is Killing Me”
Pitchfork: And then Boy 8 Bit, I don’t know what that is.
Diplo: I don’t know who that is either, that’s another thing that Drop the Lime gave me and I was just like, wow.
25. KW Griff: “Tony’s Back”
Pitchfork: Where are we now…”Tony’s Back”.
Diplo: It’s a song by KW Griff, it’s a huge song in Baltimore right now and there’s a sychonized dance that goes along with it. We were in the club shooting a video for a Blaqstarr at a party in Baltimore. Like about 1,800 kids on a Sunday night. And I just love the Superman sample in it. Do you hear it? Just the way he chopped it to get into the song. He’s one of the legends of club.
Pitchfork: Who’s Tony?
Diplo: Tony is this gay guy, one of the first people in the Baltimore club scene. He was this transvestite who used to run the scene, back when it was first starting out because it was a house scene and a hip-hop scene. People would throw these parties and in the pictures, always in the back was this transvestite. This very tall, gay black man. He died of AIDS back like 10 years ago, but he was one of the most important fixtures.
26. Diplo: “Work Is Never Over”
Pitchfork: And then the Daft Punk thing.
Diplo: Yeah, I put that in there and left it in there after A-Trak gave me his mix. The A-Trak mix is bad– really, really. [NB: In case there was any confusion, and apparently there was, when Diplo says “bad” he means “good.”– Ed.]
Pitchfork: I read that A-Trak introduced Kanye to Daft Punk, is this true?
Diplo: I wouldn’t doubt it. A-Trak is a part of our whole scene. He plays everything across the board. He just loves music. I know he introduced Kanye to a lot of things, one thing in particular was the movie Anchorman [laughs]. And now Kayne quotes the movie in his songs all the time and you can hear it. I was in a battle with him in Florida back when he was young and I was a scratch DJ. He was like four years younger than me, he was like 13 and shit. We’re working on a record together, like a club thing, we keep trying to make it, but we’re so busy. We’ll keep working on it.
27. M.I.A: “Bamboo Banger”
28. Sizzla: “Bamboo Banger (Dubplate)”
29. Blaqstarr: “Supastarr”
Pitchfork: And did you record this Sizzla dubplate in Jamaica?
Diplo: Yeah. That’s my favorite track from that record, “Bamboo” that’s just a fresh beat. The whole story of that beat goes back originally to a remix of Gwen Stefani, I think. The story is he got turned down. Either she wasn’t into it or the record company wasn’t into it.
Pitchfork: I love his voice. He’s a pretty righteous dude.
Diplo: Amanda Blank collaborated with him a month ago. She was there and she stayed at his house. It was really weird. Not just to have a woman in the complex, but a white woman? But he’s cool, he’s a little righteous, but I think he changed dancehall and brought it back to be more politically conscious and be louder and more in the politics of the dancehall. And then I brought in Blaqstarr, which came out on Mad Decent earlier this year and people in the club really dig it.
30. Shai: “If I Ever Fall in Love Again (Dub)”
31. Orbital: “Halcyon”
Pitchfork: And then Shai?
Diplo: This is actually a piece of vinyl, too. One of my favorite r&b songs, and this is the dub version. It’s like one of those records I bought when I was a kid in Florida. That whole mix is like that, into Orbital. It’s songs I loved when I was a kid in Florida. It’s one of those UK records that was a huge influence on me. That and Basement Jaxx and Nightmares on Wax. And then we go into the Erol Alkan mix which is fucking awesome– isn’t it awesome, that song?
32. LA Priest: “Engine (Erol Alkan Remix)”
Pitchfork: Yeah.
Diplo: He gave sent me that a long time ago, and I did an edit, because Erol Alkan’s remixes are like 10 minutes long and I can never play a song more than a few minutes. It’s a fucking huge song. Awesome melodies, I just have so muchrespect for Erol Alkan. He’s just doing a lot of cool things, he really gets himself out there, too. He’s a really big part of the scene.
33. Petter: “Some Polyphony”
Pitchfork: And Petter is a great track.
Diplo: Like I said, there’s a few records that come out of that scene that blow my mind. There’s some other ones, too, and I should know their names, but the label is like reading code, it’s like HTML.
34. Rihanna: “Umbrella (Vandalism Mix)”
Pitchfork: And then the Vandalism comes in with a big roar.
Diplo: That’s my huge house anthem remix of Rihanna. I’ve been playing that song for a long time, and I am sort of retiring it. It’s a cheesy thing to put on it but I really like that mix. Those guys are from Toronto and I met them when I was DJing a party in Montreal. I did a little re-edit, because they do so much weird stuff in it. But I want to support local DJs in mixes. Things are really happening in Americ,a like they are in Canada. The stuff people are sending me is so much better than it was years ago and even more up-to-date. I just want to have America be on par with Europe as far as club producers and stuff, and having an underground again. The only cities that have an undergound anymore are Chicago, and a little one here in Philly. But even New York is lame. Everyone just copies things and throw magazine parties. Drop the Lime and Trouble and Bass are about the only people doing shit in New York. But I think there’s a lot of kids doing cool things right now.
Pitchfork: It’s the fucking internet!
Diplo: [laughs] Exactly. That’s where all my shit is at nowadays.
35. Justice: “Phantom Pt. II (Soulwax Mix)”
Pitchfork: And Justice is a perfect example of that. Everyone had the Justice shit before everyone else.
Diplo: Yeah, this is the part of the mix where I’m just like, “Fuck it. Let me throw all these songs in there that I think are important right now. [laughs] You know what I’m saying?
36. The White Stripes: “Little Cream Soda”
37. ZZT: “Lower State of Consciousness”
Diplo: Justice and the White Stripes? Everyone is like, “Why are you putting a rock song in there?” But that song is awesome, isn’t it? It’s so ridiculous. The lyrics are so silly. It’s like [singing] “I just wanted an ice cream! Oh well! Oh well!” I love the White Stripes and no one’s been talking about this record. It’s as good as all their records. And I just wanted to put one of their songs on there and then I mixed into ZZT, and that song is as close as you can get to heavy metal right now. You drop that in the club right now and it’s like going to be “Headbangers Ball” or something. Justice did a remix of that song, too, but I just really like the original version Tiga and Zombie Nation did.
Pitchfork: And it takes skill to mix that record in.
Diplo: It’s impossible to mix man! I don’t think it’s possible. I DJed with Switch and he played it for like 10 minutes straight. He just played the whole song.
Pitchfork: And it’s dark! It’s another one of these dark songs.
Diplo: The Europeans are getting darker and darker. There’s a little place in my heart for that stuff, too.
38. Kia Shine: “Crispy”
39. Bart Simpson: “Bartman (So Kripsy Mix)”
Pitchfork: And then, you gotta end it somehow, so why not get Krispy. Did you have to slow down the ZZT track?
Diplo: I time-stretched it and recorded it and then I BPMed it, cause you can mix anything out of that ZZT track, it doesn’t really matter. It just goes into like madness. I don’t know what the fuck those sounds are.
Pitchfork: Yeah, I was listening to it in the car and our car alarm went off. We turned the alarm off, but couldn’t tell if it was off or not.
Diplo: [laughs] That’s the just the computer genius of that record. I’m trying to get down like that later this year. And it’s not distorted. Nothing overmodulates. It’s just one of the most perfectly made records of the past couple of years. I might try to drop it on this tour. I might remix it, do a little more four-four.