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The role of a producer in the music industry is typically thought of as the person or persons who create the backing tracks for an artist to sing over. Defining one’s career as a producer is then about defining one’s sound as distinct from others. But not everybody plays by those rules.
Among producers working today, few have re-defined the role of producer as much as Diplo, who dropped his latest EP, Express Yourself, yesterday. If asked to identify Diplo’s defining aesthetic as producer, one would be hard pressed to look at his production credits and find any consistent sonic thread.
Sure, Diplo makes tracks for the club—many of them referencing genres like house, Baltimore club, baile funk, and dubstep—but while he's always referencing dance music, Diplo is ultimately a master curator, negotiator, delegator, and A&R for of-the-moment sounds and the originators behind them.
Looking at Diplo’s best productions, it becomes clear just how variously he has impacted the music industry—from his early work with future superstar M.I.A., to trance collaborations with Tiesto, and chart-topping hits with Chris Brown. There isn’t a harder working, more dynamic figure than Diplo, and these are the tracks that prove it.
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Written by Stefan Nickum (@t3nd3rman)
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20. Die Antwoord “Evil Boy” (2010)
Album: $O$
Label: Cherrytree, Interscope
Producer: Diplo
South African rap duo Die Antwoord (made up of rappers Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er) became an unlikely sensation in 2007 when they challenged the world’s ideas about what hip-hop could look and sound like. Influenced by Johannesburg’s Zef culture, where a kind of white trash carelessness is combined with gold necklaces and modern fashion elements, Die Antwoord came with a complete package of stylistic difference. Each MC is eccentric and menacing in their own way—Yo-Landi raps with a high-pitched ghoulishness, and Ninja balances comedy and a sinister intensity as good as many of rap’s greatest storytellers.
The production on Die Antwoord’s debut record $O$ reflects the duo’s wide array of cultural influences and oddball personality, so it comes as no surprise that Diplo got involved in the $O$ single “Evil Boy.” Collaborating with French tropical house producer Douster, he laced Die Antwoord with a feverish kuduro-style rhythm, and a creeping synth hook that captures the group’s silliness without turning them into a joke. This is 21st century party rap, and Diplo will be at the forefront of making it sound that way.
19. Black Lips “Veni Vidi Vici (Diplo Remix)” (2007)
Album: Veni Vidi Vici-Single
Label: Vice Records UK
Producers: Black Lips, Diplo
Atlanta flower punk band Black Lips are notorious for their stage antics—drunken flashing, urinating, setting guitars ablaze, etc. Despite the group’s decidedly punk performance ethos, the Black Lips’ sound is all bluesy sun and fun. Their 2007 album Good Bad Not Evil was one of the year’s best, moving quickly if sloppily through sounds blending Motown, garage rock, and pop. During the time of Good Bad Not Evil’s release, Diplo had reached a crescendo as an indie darling—delighting critics and hipsters with DJ sets that included the Yeah Yeah Yeahs alongside current rap and pop favorites. As the coolest DJ on the block, Diplo was smart to start doing remixes for the variety of artists his audience was listening to.
An unlikely pairing at first glance, Diplo’s remix of the Black Lips’ “Veni Vidi Vici” remains one of his best remixes to date. The success of the collaboration lies in their mutual commitment to fun—The Black Lips with their languid, muddy guitar riffs and sing-along vocals, and Diplo’s sparse dancehall percussion underpinned by thick bass lines. Like any great remix, Diplo left the best elements of The Black Lips original while lacing it with enough dance-floor acumen to get original fans and club goers moving in unison.
18. Kelly Rowland f/ Lil Wayne “Motivation (Diplo Remix)” (2011)
Album: N/A
Label: N/A
Producer: Diplo
As Diplo’s profile has reached pop heights, his high-profile remixes have too. Often flipping Top 40 radio hits into something meant for the dancefloor, Diplo has found success in tapping sounds like Baltimore club, electro house and dubstep to bring a familiar star to the underground, translating pop to hipsters who don’t necessarily want to hit downtown Manhattan clubs to get their Top 40 fix.
On Diplo’s remix of Kelly Rowland’s sensuous “Motivation,” he turned the already epic original into something extra bassy, with equal parts dub and dubstep at core of the remix’s heft. Another key move in the remix’s structure is Diplo’s foregrounding of Lil Wayne’s verse, bringing the rapper’s delectable croon to the part of the track most likely to capture people’s attention. The final product is something that feels perfect for an early nightclub mix, or just driving around the city with your girl.
17. Das Racist “You Can Sell Anything” (2010)
Album: Sit Down, Man
Label: МИШКА, Greedhead, Mad Decent
Producer: Diplo
After the success of Das Racist’s Shut Up, Dude mixtape in 2010, the hip-hop duo re-claimed so-called conscious rap with a refreshingly funny take on what 21st century rap could sound like. As graduates of Wesleyan University, Heems, Kool A.D. and hype man Dapwell bring their liberal arts degrees in cultural studies and identity politics to an audience of overeducated hipsters and rap nerds—riffing on the topics of class, race and sexuality with a potent mixture of irony, insight and comedy. For the group’s second mixtape, Sit Down, Man, released in association with Brooklyn streetwear brand Mishka and Diplo’s Mad Decent imprint, Das Racist showcased a collection of top producers like Boi-1-da, El-P and Diplo himself. On their Diplo collaboration “You Can Sell Anything,” a carefree whistle saunters along as a boom-bap beat underscores the American capitalist ethos.
16. Shakira f/ Calle 13 “Gordita” (2010)
Album: Sale el Sol
Label: Epic, Sony Music Latin
Producers: Shakira, Calle 13, John Hill, Diplo
Diplo’s career is defined in large part by his showcasing of regional club music from different parts of the world. Whether it’s been his time spent on Rio De Janeiro’s baile funk scene, where he helped launch the careers of artists like Bonde Do Role, or his signing of Mexico City’s Toy Selectah to Mad Decent, Latin American music culture has played a significant role in growing Diplo’s sound palette. So it came as no surprise that Latin American record executives mediated a collaboration with pop sensation Shakira.
Taking the Colombian-born singer back to her roots, Diplo rode the “nu-cumbia,” or “digital cumbia” wave, a recent re-interpretation of the Colombian folk genre cumbia, for Shakira’s “Gordita.” Notable for its sultry shuffle of a rhythm, the new era of digital cumbia infuses hip-hop, dancehall and indie rock to create a new life for cumbia as a genre with pop potential. With mournful horns and surf rock guitar overlaying a lush bed of synths and shakers, legendary Puerto Rican hip-hop group Calle 13 features on this ode to thick girls, creating a deliciously ominous track that perfectly showcases Shakira’s vocal and emotional range.
15. Lil Wayne “Two Shots” (2011)
Album: Tha Carter IV Deluxe Edition
Label: Young Money, Cash Money, Universal Republic
Producer: Diplo, DJA
For his ninth studio album, Tha Carter IV, Lil Wayne faced the challenge of following up the 2008’s massively successful Tha Carter III, which will likely stand as one of his best albums of all time. On the IV’s first single, “6 Foot 7 Foot” it seemed that Wayne had the hit record that could carry the album much like “A Milli” did last time around. Other stand-out cuts included “She Will,” and “Blunt Blowin” as well as Diplo and DJA’s work on “Two Shots.” Bubbling and popping above thick, molasses basslines, the track’s gravity-defying synth work provides a perfectly woozy backdrop for a track about Wayne possibly doing it better if he weren’t on “two shots of whatever.” The result is a song that provides perfect balance to Wayne’s syrupy free association—the bassline patient and grounded by his confidence, and the synths made otherworldly by his rhymes.
14. Sia “Clap Your Hands (Diplo Remix)” (2010)
Album: N/A
Label: N/A
Producer: Diplo
Australian singer Sia Furler has participated in a wide range of musical projects, from the chilled, ambient downtempo of Zero 7 to her own pop collaborations with artists like Christina Aguilera and big room house producer David Guetta. With her fifth studio album We Are Born, Sia cranked up the energy and tempo of her previous work for a more dance-centric record. On her second single, “Clap Your Hands” Sia reached her largest audience ever, turning out a disco-infused piece of pop rock that saw her flexing her dynamic range to great effect. Taking the song’s club-ready sounds to the next level, Diplo laid big, swelling bass pulses underneath and gliding trap music snares on top before going straight to Ibiza with subdued rave synths. The remix is truly in the spirit of the original, translating its carefree pop attitude into something DJs could reference, capitalizing on the success of the original while giving it new life in clubs around the world.
13. Azealia Banks “Fuck Up the Fun” (2012)
Album: N/A
Label: N/A
Producers: Diplo, DJ Master-D
The price of Diplo’s far reaching cultural influences has been a healthy dose of criticism from many who find his genre-hopping to be exploitive—Diplo reaps fame and money from production credits that owe a considerable debt to the originators of regional styles and movements. Among the more recent criticism, Diplo’s work on Harlem rapper Azealia Banks’ “Fuck Up the Fun” sparked claims that the beat was nearly identical to “Mad Drumz” by Dutch house producer MasterD, a popular producer in The Netherlands’ “bubbling” house scene. Originally posted on Diplo’s Soundcloud as “produced by Diplo,” the Diplo camp quickly followed up with those concerned, saying the track was in fact a collaboration with MasterD.
Like many of Diplo’s collaborative productions, Diplo discovered the uniqueness of the bubbling sound, reached out to a prominent producer in that scene, and flipped the beat for a rising pop artist. That formula has no doubt been a tremendous success for Diplo, but it remains to be seen how much limelight stays on the producers he taps. Still there’s no denying Diplo’s taste. The intensity of MasterD’s drums is fully matched by Azealia’s lyrically complex, double-time raps. Banks is one of the most talented, fun and promising rappers today, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else dominating MasterD and Diplo’s collaboration with more verve or excitement. If Diplo’s role as producer on “Fuck Up the Fun” is better described as one of savvy negotiation, aren’t we just happy to get a banging track, and bomb-ass verses from two indisputable talents?
12. Robyn “Dancehall Queen” (2010)
Album: Body Talk Pt. 1
Label: Konichiwa
Producer: Diplo, Klas Ahlund
Like so many in Sweden, Robyn is one of those artists who does pop better than some of pop’s biggest stars. She writes fun, catchy hooks and has a style all her own, but while Robyn may never reach Gaga heights of stardom, she’ll continue to have a dynamic, endearing career that may last even longer. Robyn’s Body Talk was one of 2010’s most exciting releases, with a diverse set of club music sounds, and an emotional range that went from highly personal ballads to straight dance floor wreckers—often all in one song. Despite being overshadowed by Body Talk Volume 1’s triumphant first single “Dancing On My Own,” Diplo’s work on “Dancehall Queen” is an obvious runner-up.
Bouncing along to a cool roots reggae beat and an occasionally gritty dubstep wobble, Robyn makes being a dancehall queen sound oh so easy. Few pop artists could hang with the tropical air of this beat (Rihanna notwithstanding), yet Robyn captures all the sass and tenderness, balancing the sweetness of Marley with the bad gyal steez of Riri. Diplo’s at his best when working with diverse sounds and versatile artists, making he and Robyn match made in heaven.
11. Maluca “El Tigeraso” (2009)
Album: N/A
Label: Mad Decent
Producer: Diplo
Since the success of M.I.A., a new space has been carved for versatile female singers and rappers outside mainstream club music. Next to Philadelphia’s Santigold, there hasn’t been a worthier contender than Bronx-born Maluca Mala. Influenced by the sounds of merengue, bachata and hip-hop, Maluca is a commanding presence as a pop personality—infusing hip-hop’s swagger with high-energy dance music and an unforgettable live performance. On her first single, “El Tigeraso,” Diplo made good on Maluca’s self-described “speed merengue” sound with a neck-breaking kick drum and contorted horns that scream “hands up,” and “get on the floor.”
10. Bonde Do Role “Solta O Frango” (2004)
Album: With Lasers
Label: Domino Records
Producer: Diplo
Diplo’s now constant touring (about 300 DJ sets a year) rarely affords him much time in any one place, but before his meteoric rise to success, Diplo found himself returning to places like Jamaica and Rio De Janeiro where personal and musical relationships were developing. Though Diplo continues to visit to Jamaica on a regular basis, Diplo’s relationship to Rio and the sounds of baile funk will forever be a major touchstone and building block of his sound, as well as his continued role as mediator and agent to less visible producers and sounds.
Of the artists Diplo worked with in Rio, baile funk trio Bonde Do Role is the group he spent the most time collaborating with. In fact, some of Diplo’s first national tours in 2006 featured the group as headliners, Diplo opening with his video and music mash-ups, and Bonde following with their tireless stage energy and rapid-fire vocal delivery. Releasing their debut album With Lasers, Diplo executive produced and collaborated on many of the album’s tracks. The easy stand out “Solta O Frango,” is pure fun and electro pop wildness. The track has been licensed to all manner of entertainment media—video games, movies, TV shows—and marks another Diplo production that wins with baile funk’s raucous rhythms and simple, infectious melodies.
9. Diplo “Sarah” (2004)
Album: Florida
Label: Big Dada
Producer: Diplo
As Diplo’s fanbase has skyrocketed, fewer and fewer will know his origins. They probably have the Piracy Funds Terrorism mixtape, and maybe an early Hollertronix tape, but how many people actually have Diplo’s only entirely self-produced, full-length album Florida? A clear departure from anything Diplo has done recently, Florida reveals a darker, more personal side of Diplo. What’s also clearly underlying much of the record is Diplo’s deep admiration for DJ Shadow, who made a name for himself through his experimental sampling techniques.
The reference doesn’t any more prominent than on the track “Sarah,” which puts a series of longing, bluesy horns, guitar licks, and piano riffs over bruised and battered kicks, crashes and snares. Born in Mississippi to a family that moved constantly, Diplo made “Sarah” sound like a southern swamp of regional blues, jazz, and hip-hop—first loves picked up through an uprooted childhood, and scattered in the name of girl. It’s the tip of the Diplo iceberg, and one that portends a 2012 fast life spent in Southeastern Asian hotels, Vegas strip clubs and Kingston studios.
8. Santogold “Unstoppable” (2008)
Album: Santogold
Label: Downtown Records
Producers: Diplo, Disco D, Freq Nasty, John Hill, Jonnie “Most” Davis, Santi White, Switch, Chuck Treece, Steel Pulse
Philadelphia-born Santigold (formerly Santogold) is someone who, despite coming up around Diplo’s Mad Decent parties and friends, took a hop skip and jump to Atlantic’s Downtown Records with her debut album Santogold. That said, before the release Santi linked with Diplo for a promotional mixtape titled Top Ranking: A Diplo Dub, and while it sounded distinctly different from his work on M.I.A.’s Piracy Funds Terrorism, the success of the M.I.A. mixtape set the precedent. Featuring remixes of songs from her album, Diplo paired many of the tracks with samples that reflected her influences—The Clash’s “The Guns of Brixton,” Gorilla Zoe’s “Hood Nigga,” and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Of the many mash-ups and refixes on the mixtape, a notable highlight is Diplo’s pairing of his own production for Santi’s “Unstoppable” with Benga & Coki’s dubstep classic “Night.” The intersection is a glorious one, pointing to the success of Diplo’s original production as a varied piece of gritty dub referencing pop that stays unforgiving and dark while still providing a perfect sing-a-long. Diplo’s at his best when doing big, bombastic club tracks, or burying his many influences into something oblique and tension-filled—this track is a great example of the latter mode.
7. Kano “Reload It” (2005)
Album: Home Sweet Home
Label: 679 Productions
Producer: Diplo
Around 2003–2004, artists like Dizzee Rascal and Wiley helped push the sounds of UK grime to chart-topping success the world around. Born out of the styles of UK garage, dancehall and hip-hop, grime established that the UK could re-interpret hip-hop with its own region-specific influences. Of the MCs who began to define the sound, Jamaican immigrant Kano joined Rascal and Wiley as one of grime’s most promising artists.
One of Diplo’s earliest productions, his beat for Kano’s “Reload It”—from album Home Sweet Home—is a strong testament to Diplo’s close watch of bubbling music scenes, and most of all his uncanny networking chops to be the only American producer on a very London-centric record. Beginning with a slow, three-chord organ sample, the track starts off like much ’90s New York rap might, but then sparks into a fiery break-beat a la jungle and drum & bass. Kano provides antagonizing verses about played out DJs and producers before guest MC D Double E comes in and spits a tireless verse that does the beat’s energy due justice.
6. M.I.A. “Bucky Done Gun” (2005)
Album: Arular
Label: XL
Producer: Diplo, A. Brucker, Wizard, P. Byrne
Marking his transition from tireless club and mixtape DJ to international super producer, there isn’t a more pivotal move in Diplo’s career than his work with M.I.A. Drawn to his genre-defying DJ sets, M.I.A. approached Diplo after a set of his at London’s famed Fabric club, connecting quickly over a shared desire to explore new sonic territory in pop music. With a few tracks already recorded for M.I.A.’s debut album Arular, the two collaborated on the rest of the album, drawing in particular on Diplo’s interest in the sounds of Rio de Janeiro’s baile funk scene. Before the release of Arular, Diplo and M.I.A. released a promotional mixtape titled Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1, featuring a collection of forthcoming tracks from Arular mixed in Diplo’s signature mash-up style.
The mixtape is one of Diplo’s finest pieces of work to date, weaving M.I.A through a mix of classics from Missy Elliot, dead prez, Cutty Ranks and Salt-N-Pepa. Of the tracks that M.I.A. debuted in the mix, there is no clearer stand-out than the baile funk–sampling, air-horn heaviness of “Bucky Done Gun.” Warning the world of her musical debut, M.I.A. shouts “London quiet down I need to make a sound/New York quiet down I need to make a sound.” The track went on to be one of the album’s biggest singles, flagging M.I.A. as a star in the making, and Diplo as one of the world’s taste-making DJs.
5. Beyoncé “End of Time” (2012)
Album: 4
Label: Columbia
Producers: Beyonce Knowles, Diplo, Switch, The-Dream
So many pop productions are the collaborative work of many—songwriters, producers, and arrangers—that it’s hard to parse out who’s responsible for what. On Beyoncé’s aptly titled fourth studio album 4, she worked with a familiar cast of songwriters, most notably Terius “The-Dream” Nash and Christopher “Tricky” Stewart. The Dream’s work alongside Beyoncé, Diplo and Switch for “End of Time” is everything one could hope for from each of these unique talents.
Unlike Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls),” which leans on a heavy sample of Major Lazer’s “Pon De Floor,” “End of Time” features more subtle electronic music elements, yet with all the percussive energy of Diplo and Switch’s best work. As Beyoncé has stated in interviews, the track was inspired by Fela Kuti, and in particular the Broadway musical Fela! that was being staged around the time of 4’s recording. Driven almost purely by drums, the force of Beyoncé’s lyrics of love and dedication are complemented by festive horns that sustain the singer’s enormous range and give full credence to one of the best artists of all time.
4. Major Lazer f/ Vybz Kartel “Pon De Floor” (2009)
Album: Guns Don’t Kill People...Lazers Do
Label: Mad Decent, Downtown Records, V2 Records
Producers: Major Lazer, Afrojack
A Jamaican commando who lost his right arm in the zombie wars of 1984, Major Lazer wields a high-powered gun prosthesis, travelling by hoverboard killing monsters and partying hard. Inspired by this imaginary Jamaican super hero, Diplo and (former) co-producer Switch’s Major Lazer project took the duo’s love of Jamaican dancehall and reggae and infused those sounds with their respective experiences in pop, electro, and house music. Made instantly recognizable by the track’s marching band-style drum roll and deliriously fun, otherworldly vocal drop, “Pon De Floor” stands as a defining track in 21st century crossover dance music.
Coming in for the intermittent voicing is dancehall world boss Vybz Kartel, providing his signature lady-loving croons, and solidifying “Pon De Floor” as a dance floor heater that wrecks clubs around the world to this day. Most of all, Diplo’s Major Lazer project is pure fun, and with “Pon De Floor,” Diplo and Switch proved that they could pair dancehall artists and of-the-moment club music to pop success, positioning them as some of the most versatile producers in the game.
3. Chris Brown f/ Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes “Look At Me Now” (2011)
Album: F.A.M.E.
Label: Jive
Producers: Diplo, Afrojack, Free School
Around the time Chris Brown was embroiled in controversy over his physical abuse of former girlfriend Rihanna, it felt like total Riri betrayal to pay attention to his music. But on his big club-wrecking single “Look At Me Now,” Breezy is the worst part of the song—easily dominated by Lil Wayne and Busta’s verses. The success of “Look At Me Now” is due in large part to Diplo’s decision to collaborate with Dutch house producer Afrojack, whose work has helped the genre—characterized by epic, high-pitched synth drops and polyrhythmic percussion similar to the sounds of reggaeton or tribal house—break into the mainstream.
Featuring synths both woozy and epic, the production allows Wayne the space to be playful with his verses, and the largesse for Busta to go breathless in double-time with his. Ever opportunistic, Diplo called on his familiarity with Dutch house and the relationships he’d made as a globetrotting DJ at a time when it mattered most. Most of all, he delivered a track that dominated clubs and pop charts around the world with a collection of sounds that had, not too long ago, been entirely regional—solidifying both Diplo and Afrojack as club music super producers, and no doubt landing Afrojack a date with now-girlfriend Paris Hilton.
2. Usher “Climax” (2012)
Album: Looking 4 Myself
Label: RCA
Producer: Diplo
After the chart success of Chris Brown’s “Look At Me Now” and Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls),” Diplo began building with an increasing amount of pop power players. Riding on the sounds of Dutch house for “Look At Me Now” and a heavy sample of Major Lazer’s “Pon De Floor” for “Run the World,” many of Diplo’s productions for major-label artists have centered on samples whose reputation preceded them.
Diplo’s work on Usher’s “Climax” is a particularly arresting, even surprising change in his production aesthetic. Significantly more subtle than anything Diplo had done up until this point, the success of “Climax” lies in Diplo’s brilliant use of the atmospheric tension common before a big drop in electro-house, without ever offering the satisfaction of the sonic climax. By forgoing dance music’s 4/4 beat for the percussive space of hip-hop, Diplo fills that space with just the right amount of rising and falling synths, providing a perfect backdrop for Usher to manifest the strain of an anticlimactic relationship.
1. M.I.A. “Paper Planes” (2008)
Album: Kala
Label: XL, Interscope
Producers: Diplo, Switch
On M.I.A.’s second LP Kala, she proved that not only could she be a critical darling, but she could bring the sounds of dancehall, baile funk, and even Southeast Asian styles to commercial heights. Aside from standout singles like “Boyz” and “Jimmy,” the song that catapulted M.I.A. to the next level is undoubtedly her Clash-sampling, gun-cocking “Paper Planes.”
Co-produced by Diplo and frequent collaborator Switch, “Paper Planes” did as much for Diplo’s career as it did for M.I.A.’s, garnering him a Grammy nod when the song was nominated for Record of the Year in 2008. But beyond the track’s triple-platinum success and movie licensing deals, it’s also triumphant for its overtly political, anti-immigration law subject matter.
In an interlude toward the end of the track she states, “M.I.A.—Third world democracy, yeah I’ve got more records than the KGB.” Riding the unforgettable chords of Joe Strummer and The Clash’s “Straight to Hell,” while bouncing to Diplo and Switch’s snap beat and cash-register dings, M.I.A. turns political and economic agit-prop into pop success.