About Mad Decent Records

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The artist known as Diplo is actually Thomas Wesley Pentz. The recording genius was born in Mississippi and has lived in various Southern cities. His interests in music are black cultural oriented and Brazilian. He records under the record label Mad Decent, a recording company based in Philadelphia that has also produced many other labels for many other artists. Here’s a quick Las Vegas Music promo for the nightclubs XS and Surrender starring Diplo.

Mad Decent Record Label

The recording company was nominated for a Grammy for Diplo’s production of “Paper Planes”. His band is scheduled to appear next on January 26 in Montreal, Canada, for the Igloofest. Besides the recordings of Diplo, Mad Decent has brought into the Western music market music from such obscure countries as Brazil and Angola. The music from these countries has been dubbed by various names like funk and ghetto rock. The innovative recording studio has embraced music from reggae to ghetto house and continues to encourage cultural musicians whose musical style is culture based.

In its efforts to encourage musicians from minority groups and from regions of the world who would otherwise go unappreciated, the recording company holds block parties in cities like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. These block parties are cultural music extravangas and groups like Lunice, Vampire Weekend, Das Racist, Death Grips, Diplo, Sinden and others are featured artists. The music produced by the recording company is expressionistic as well as cause oriented. Many of the musical titles of the recording company’s artists are like the names of the bands they record and are descriptive of the cause the artist is espousing.

The Music

Basically, the music is a genre that can best be described as Southern black rhythms and the words themselves are not as important as the musical tones. The titles might be provocative to encourage the support of fans who like their music. Encouraging the participation of people living in what might be called ghetto neighborhoods is part of the venue of the recording company known as Mad Decent. The company is selective of its artists and has maintained its hold on a genre of music that would otherwise not have as wide an audience as it has without its labels.

Diplo – A Brief History on a Soon-to-be Legendary Artist

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Diplo, the Ultimate Mixmaster

Thomas Wesley Penz was born in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1978 but he is known by the stage name, Diplo. His way into music is as mixed as the genre he developed. Moving to several southern locations, his family ended up in South Florida. After attending universities in Florida, Diplo completed his degree in film studies at Temple University in Philadelphia in 2003. Having spent much of his formative years in southern Florida, it is no surprise that his music is heavily influenced by Miami bass music. His music combines this with electronica, 1980s pop music, and southern hip-hop creating his own sound.

In between moving from Florida and completing his degree in Pennsylvania, Diplo moved to Japan. While there, he created a demo tape of his music and sent it to Will Ashton in the UK. Ashton founded the UK hip-hop label, Big Dada Records. Ashton signed Diplo after which Dilpo moved to Philadelphia. While attending Temple and after graduating, Dilpo held a variety of jobs barely meeting his day-to-day expenses. He soon met like a musical soulmate, DJ Low Budget. Together, they run a club, Hollertronics which is also the name of their style of music. Hollertronics essentially developed a cult following on the East Coast. In 2003, Dilpo and Budget released a mixtape, “Never Scared.” “Never Scared” made the New York Times list of top albums that year.

In 2004, Diplo released his first solo album under the Big Dada Records label. The album, “Florida,” was more reflective than music performed earlier with Budget. “Florida” brought together instrumentals and melodies. Later, he recorded “Piracy Funds Terrorism, Vol. 1.” This mixtape’s music included work with M.I.A, a British musician, also in the alternative music scene. Wanting to expand into other music genres, Dilpo grew interested in Brazilian street music called funk carioca, which is similar to Miami bass music.

In 2005, the multi-tasking musician started his own label, Mad Decent records. Diplo’s label signed a distribution agreement with Fontana and Downtown Records in 2009. This brought about collaboration with DJ Switch creating a fictional musician, Major Lazer. Diplo kicks off his 2012 tour on January 21 in Sweden before beginning tours in the US and Canada in late January ending in the south in December.