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This is Diplo.
I’m from Florida.
I was raised between Florida, did a lot of time in Philadelphia
and I just started making music traveling a lot.
Grew up in the south and then I’m out in L.A. now.
It might sound cheesy now to people
to discuss how my D.J. nights were unique back in 2003
but we were just influential in our little scene like the way we mixed records,
the way our parties were carried,
and how we mixed the different audiences
and music together. Now, it’s almost like second-nature.
It took a lot of determination to kinda feel like
I needed to do something different, plus
I was so bad at every job I had, I got fired from every job.
I got lucky with the city there, the audience
and the people around that helped me around in Philadelphia.
And, I just started doing something unique.
I think that’s what helped me set me aside from other DJs,
other musicians. That’s how I built a career out of that.
I think yesterday in Wolfville (Nova Scotia),
I think when we were getting poutine, one kid
who was in front of us in line he was like screaming,
‘am I the only person who sees this? This is Diplo in here!’ (laughs)
No one knew I was there in town like I was DJing in Wolfville
but I came to Halifax that was kind of awkward.
That’s when you know you made it
when you sign autographs at Smoke’s Poutine.
You really want to make music?
At one point, you need to just commit to that 100%.
I think I did that when I was about 23 years old.
When I was younger there was no DJ world.
You cannot – there was no way you could think,
‘I can become a DJ and that’s my job’.
There was like two DJs in Philadelphia that
made a job out of it. It was like Jazzy Jeff and Catch Money.
It was just not something that you did.
At the end, you really have to set yourself apart
from other people.
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