"Because I spent time in L.A., too, growing up on gangster rap. My cousin was a gangster bitch, and she knew the Bloods and the Crips and she was Sri Lankan, so we’d go to all these clubs down on Crenshaw. Then I would come back to college at Saint Martins, and I was learning a whole other way. Like having that whole ‘90s hip-hop from L.A. and then going to Saint Martins, where it’s all the Britpop stuff about being shy and hating yourself. I was a Sri Lankan refugee, like, the scum of society, and then I went right to Los Angeles, into African-American culture, and it was just incredible. I’ve never seen black people like that in England. In England black people still live within the parameters of white society. It was an eye-opener. Then I’d be in school and the students would be like, 'I’m white, and I’m male, and I don’t know what to do, I hate myself.' I was just like, there is this contemporary culture in America that’s writhing with so much good shit and bad shit that no one is really making art out of yet, you know?"
You know how when you read crap like, the DOW affects the hem lines of womens' dresses, and you think to yourself, Dude, who's the douche who majored in American Studies at Sarah Lawrence College?...? Well, in our weakest moments, we all get seduced by that kind of dumb calculus. My latest fantasy postulation? Diplo's been off his game 'cause he's been so busy traveling around the world, touring, and if the economy tanks, he'll stay local in Philly, and get back to producing greats like he was in '04-'06.
I remember walking into Other Music in early 'o4, and Geoff handing me the Montreal Mix and other Diplo mixes on a home made CD. This was pre-internet music blogness, and having that CD made me the coolest guy below 110th St. It was nutty coolness overload. But then Diplo blew up, starting hanging with A-track, and playing the Microsoft corporate Christmas party (wtf).
Anyhow, his latest isn't tops, but it's in the right direction, and it's fueling my fantasy that a low DOW=a tip top DIPLO.
And because the liner notes (pasted below) are a study in coolness, here's "The Dutch Antilles Mix"--Diplo...
"if u go to the caribean u probably in like jamaica or bahamas or PR or somewhere thas relatively normal.. but sometimes u might end up steppn of a boat and hearin people speaking some weird german and trying to braid your hair..... thas when u realized ur in st maarten, curacao, suriname or one of the other netherland antilles.. those are wierd places for sure. recently i was clubbin with atrak in amsterdam and hangin out with some of the kids in holland.. its a wierd mix in the clubs.. all the girls ook like they are chinese african indonesian dutch martian and are hot and everyone knows the lyrics to house tracks and lil wayne.. its a special place. but they island kids there wer makin wierd music for a coupla years.. i had to inspect this stuff.. seems back in the day in curacao or N.A. this DJ mortje.. was playin reggae inst at 45 and gettin parties turned out .. then later on the sound moved back to holland and kids renamed it bubblin'... now they puttin anythign that represnts in amsterdam under these drums.. paul johson - check, tiesto- check, ciara - check, wierd polka - check, jumpstep - hell yeah.. ok so basically this is a mad decent radio made in heaven.. big up infatda sound form AMsterdam and laid back luke for the help and big ups any of my surinamese, aruban, bonairian, curacaoian, saba, sint eustatians and st maartians in the buildin"
For the uninitiated, "SOY CUMBIA!"--Diplo (left click to play, right click SAVE AS to download)
"Because I spent time in L.A., too, growing up on gangster rap. My cousin was a gangster bitch, and she knew the Bloods and the Crips and she was Sri Lankan, so we’d go to all these clubs down on Crenshaw. Then I would come back to college at Saint Martins, and I was learning a whole other way. Like having that whole ‘90s hip-hop from L.A. and then going to Saint Martins, where it’s all the Britpop stuff about being shy and hating yourself. I was a Sri Lankan refugee, like, the scum of society, and then I went right to Los Angeles, into African-American culture, and it was just incredible. I’ve never seen black people like that in England. In England black people still live within the parameters of white society. It was an eye-opener. Then I’d be in school and the students would be like, 'I’m white, and I’m male, and I don’t know what to do, I hate myself.' I was just like, there is this contemporary culture in America that’s writhing with so much good shit and bad shit that no one is really making art out of yet, you know?"
