That's Decent

Madman Diplo moves into a mausoleum and starts a charity.

by A.D. Amorosi

SMASH A PIGGY BANK: Diplo's new nonprofit Heaps Decent aims to bring attention and equipment to music-making kids in less fortunate areas of the world. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Keeping up with Wes Pentz is a full-time job.

The ghettotech producer/DJ known as Diplo, as usual, is keeping himself busy with projects musical (a dancehall album with DJ Switch, production of Philadelphian Santi White's debut as Santogold) and cinematic (a baile funk documentary he's directing, Favela on Blast).

But within the last year, Diplo also founded his own label, Mad Decent, and a charitable endeavor, Heaps Decent, which aims to bring attention and technology to music-making kids in less fortunate areas. He even bought a home base for all of the above, a former mausoleum/headstone factory on North 12th Street, the old Finney & Son building.

"With Mad Decent I'm the old guy," says the 29-year-old DJ on the phone from Denver where he's on tour with the French electro duo Justice, spinning records for 17-year-old stage-diving dance-punks.

"I still a DJ, but I'm busier developing what we do musically." For that reason, Mad Decent's iTunes-only Hollertronix 8 features West Philly's DJ Sega rather than himself or legendary Hollertronix partner Low Budget. "Sega's developing his own scene in Philly," says Diplo. "By doing Hollertronix it furthers him. He's a protégé not so much of me but of the label, the style."

The next generation is on Diplo's mind these days, and he's making plans for his legacy. Not just because he's created a children-centric charity to "give back" to the cultures he's borrowed from famously — Brazil, Jamaica, Africa. Rather, after creating the mash-up sound of the cultural lodger, Diplo's working with newer, younger spinners and producers to further his brand.

According to Diplo, the children are the future. "Techno mixes with Lil Jon samples and Brazilian kids screaming over rock guitar is where kids are now."

That's where his Heaps Decent charity comes in — one that got its start with Diplo aiding students at a Maningrida, Australia, juvenile detention center to produce a tune called "Smash a Kangaroo." Throughout his travels, he's run across poor kids who wanted to make music but hadn't the means. Heaps Decent hooks the kids up with equipment and aid from some interesting pros.

"So far we've got Apple, Serato, Red Bull to sponsor this stuff," says Diplo. "Kids get the benefit since they can do something cool and not some lame-o inner-city-schools-program music."

HALF OFF DEPOT

Why live life at full price?

Though M.I.A. and Spank Rock have done as-yet-unreleased tracks for Brazilian and African markets, Diplo needs to turn Heaps Decent into a nonprofit by U.S. standards before charity can begin at home. "If there's a lawyer out there who wants to help, direct them to our Web site and MySpace," says Diplo.

Back at home, there's the space that Diplo bought seven months ago. Three pals run its day-to-day operations with "one of the local drug dealers doing intern work," Diplo laughs. Mad Decent's office and studio on North 12th is an ex-headstone/mausoleum factory. The old stone building still has the Finney & Son script — "Established 1850" — engraved atop its windows. From the outside, only a small sign and one sticker reading "Mad Decent" indicate otherwise. The warehouse, once filled with ornate 19th-century touches had fallen into disrepair before Diplo turned it into an amber-lit space with a studio, fish tanks, a tiny kitchen, and a bed for office and recording needs. Its wide main floor is big enough to throw the occasional dance party.

"The place was disgusting at first — all falling down with rats in the toilets," says Diplo. "It creeped me out — especially this one time when I was drunk. I wanted to see the attic so we had to crawl through this hole in the bathroom with just cell phone lights to guide us. But we found a bunch of old diaries and headstone engravings, so it was cool."

Now that he's finally bought a property, after living in this city since 2000 — he'd mostly lived in the South before that — does Diplo consider Philly home?

"When I left my parents, I decided this is where I'd go. Since I never really found a way to leave I guess that's where I'm at," he laughs. "I got nowhere else to go."

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)