Damn that's dirtay...

Diplo, Favela on Blast: Partial Clip

By now, Diplo and/or Hollertronix have gotten their props from pretty much every major online music outlet out there. As a result, I'll spare you from the little that I know about them, only because there is plenty of information about them in circulation. So I'm going to stick to the most relevant information I could find.

The story here has to do with baile funk, a style of music that has, according to genre promoter and expert DJ Marlboro, existed in some form for about 20 years, developing directly out of Miami bass. Andy Cumming writes, "In the middle of the eighties, Miami Bass appeared in Florida, it's imagery of beaches, sunshine and big-bootied black women combined with the strong Latin American presence in Miami may go a long way to explaining it's immediate popularity in Rio."

The music feels about as raw as anything out there. Even if you have absolutely no idea what they're saying, something about it feels dirty, which is what I think makes it so appealing. With the growing popularity of reggaetone, it seems we're on the cusp of a new movement in grungy dance music. The crude production and cruder vocals in combination with recognizable beats make it instantly danceable.

What's Diplo's role in all of this? According to turntablelab, "Diplo has been all over the place lately, and one of his most recent trips was an assignment to cover the emerfing Baile Funk scene in Brazil... This is a 35-minute mix of the stuff Diplo was able to dig up down there, with a little extra flavor thrown on top."

This is a short clip from Favela on Blast. You can pick up the whole mix from turntablelab for 10 bones. I highly recommend it, at least for an education.