Mad Decent - Diplo - Check It

One of the most influential DJ's in Hip Hop in the 21st Century, Philadelphia's Diplo has a worldwide following. He began making mixtapes composed of indie rock/hip-hop/funk/(genres I can't even label). The first time I saw him live, he was opening for RJD2 in DC in 2004, mixing Lil Jon over Weezer.

Now, he collaborates and mixes the music of musicians from all over the world. Whether its club music in Baltimore, Favela Hip-Hop in Brazil, Cumbia in South America, or Reggae in the Caribbean, Diplo makes dope music and gives exposure to all types of genres worldwide.

Diplo started a label, Mad Decent, that has some great artists - especially Bondo Do Role from Brazil.

They also put out podcasts on Mad Decent Radio -- over 50 of them so far. #39 South Rakkas crew is a good hip hop/reggae mix to start with. There are track listings for all of the podcasts are on the website.

On top of that, Diplo has a charity endeavor in Australia where he teaches disadvantaged youth about music production and sells the MP3's on ITunes to fund the project - Heaps Decent.

Oh, and Diplo is married to M.I.A. So yeah, hes the man.