Diplo

Diplo: Solid Steel Excerpt 1 and Solid Steel Excerpt 2
From Solid Steel July 19, 2004

After hearing Diplo and Tripledouble's AEIOU Two mix over a year ago it wasn't surprising to see Diplo become 2004's posterchild for hip hop and dj music. He is what RJD2 was a few years ago, with constant comparisons to the almighty DJ Shadow, but unlike many Shadow wanabees, Diplo brought a distinctive southern sound, paying homage to dirty south, crunk, and miami bass. In my opinion, his debut Florida on Big Dada was one of the best releases of last year.

Having said that, I'm off to Davis, CA for the weekend to DJ my friend's annual Cinco De June party, so I'm leaving you with a couple snippets of a mix Diplo did for Solid Steel back on July 19, 2004. What's cool about this is it seems to almost play out like a dedication to Shadow as he remixes many of his tracks using southern flare as well as showcasing a lot of his own music. The track selection is top notch, and like other mixes of his there are many blood shitting moments, like Roy Ayers into Terror Squad blended with Shadow's "Six Days" and then into "Hardcore Instrumental Hip Hop," or the even more surprising Weezer blended with Youngbloodz, Lil' Flip, and Radiohead. Truly imaginitive work and worth the search on your favorite mp3 client.