Diplo Quotes

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Diplo

Profession : Musician

Birth : November 10, 1978

Man, I don't got any real fans. Just fair-weather ones and groupies.

Diplo

Gucci is a rapper that doesn't try and be anything he's not - he's straight up. Yeah, maybe it's ironic and all, but I'm just a fan and have been one since day one. Gucci Mane is the cool uncle I never had, even though I'm sure I'm probably older than him.

Diplo

I've been in jail a couple times. I've been caught shoplifting.

Diplo

90 percent of the records I make are spontaneous.

Diplo

When we think about big records, a lot of producers are thinking of how to make it as standard as possible. I think those days are gone. I think you have to surprise the audience in 2015.

Diplo

K-pop is a weird term because K-pop has everything - rap records - it's very pop-sounding; there are really boy-band-sounding records.

Diplo

PC Music is a really post-modern attempt at pop.

Diplo

I put out this record on Ninja Tune called 'Florida' when I was about 22. And at the same time, I was DJ'ing and beginning to mix stuff up and promote shows in Philadelphia and New York and my own parties and make mixtapes, put out bootleg white labels.

Diplo

In Philly, there are a lot of social programs. If you have a degree, you can go and apply. I was basically a social worker, but I became sort of a sub teacher in a special program, helping kids with reading or math. But we would also do plays, learn about music... We were doing lots of fun stuff, but that was such hard work.

Diplo

When I first started producing, all I had was this little crappy sampler called a S20, which had, like, a minute sample time. I was making crappy beats since I was, like, 17 or 18, using Florida rappers, where I'm from. Then I started DJ'ing because I just wanted to have a new job. I was a schoolteacher for a while, and it was the worst job.

Diplo

If I make a song, and it's my song, like 'Lean On,' we're going to make money off the synchs, the Spotify, and we get to headline festivals on it. That's the model I want to explore.

Diplo

The traditional media never gave Bernie Sanders the time of day. But he went viral the same way hip-hop and new dances go viral. And I'm part of that culture.

Diplo

Even in America, we're not a huge act by any means, Major Lazer.

Diplo

We first started to rent old VFW halls in Philly or whatever; we rented kegs and did parties and played our own music. We had to find a way to do it because nobody else was helping us, and I think now it's important to keep those dialogues happening, those parties happening.

Diplo

My first production job after M.I.A. was actually the xx, but they didn't like what I did, and at the end of the day, we used their demos.

Diplo

I love Marvin Gaye. I like jazz and all that stuff.

Diplo

I used to be a record collector. Mark Ronson, Questlove and I used to be part of, like, a record-trading crew.

Diplo

You can never figure out what the future sounds like. As soon as you make it, it's the past.

Diplo

I'm not a superstar, per se... but I'm a musical creator - a producer in the same vein as what Quincy Jones was, or Pharrell and Timbaland were.

Diplo

People like me, DJs and producers, have a bigger say and a bigger voice than we've ever had before.

Diplo