Image Credit: Kyle Seago
Mad Decent Block Party is a unique entity – A tasteful concoction of music festival, fun and the ultimate hangout. Moreover, MDBP lights up when you take the idea of music, fans and a fun atmosphere and carry out a crazy experiment to consequently end up with a block that resembles something like a dance party, full of a crazy fun loving audience. What Diplo’s “sober” yet monstrous creation has done is to open a whole new dimension for the 21st century dance music fans, more like something “turning down for”.
Mad Decent’s landmark showcase was originally a one-off thrown way back in 2008 by Diplo in his hometown of Philadelphia. The eccentric concept took place at an eerie place, an open space outside a building aka a mausoleum which was owned by Pentz and used as Mad Decent’s headquarters. The concept grew out of their willingness to give back to the kids of the city during summer. An open air and free of cost event, the whole city was invited and saw an initial footfall of around 500-1000 people. The one day affair included performances by DJA, Dirty South Joe, Nadastrom, Flosstradamus, Octamis Prime & King Drew, Tim Dolla, Tameil, Mike V, DJ Sega, Rye Rye, Mz Streamz and DJ Blaqstarr.
MDBP 2008 Recap
2009 was the second step to his present success and saw his people of Philly come together again for a day of pure FUN and good music. Between the sounds of insane electro, club ready music, pumping dancehall and even rock n roll, there existed just about something for every participant. More like a Diplo And Friends showcase, the one day extravaganza featured Sammy Slice, Dirty South Joe, Nadastrom, DJ Tameil, Tim Dolla, Mike V, Yahmean, DJ Sega, Paul Devro, POPO, Bosco Delrey, Maluca, Toadally Krossed Out, Skerrit Bwoy and of course, Major Lazer.
MDBP 2009 Recap
2010 was the year when he realized how big they had become which enabled him to make the move to expand their presence to multiple cities, dropping in to New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Accompanied by his loyal squad, Diplo helped bring out performances by party staples like Nadastorm, Maluca, Blaqstarr, Bosco Delrey, Brendan Bringem, Brick Bandits, Dirty South Joe, DJA, DJ Rashad, DJ Sega, Flufftronix, Freddie Gibbs, Gaslamp Killer and many more. A massive success indeed across all cities, people went mad in between some crazy performances. Nonetheless, they stayed decent. (Pun intended)
Going by the iconic persona’s words about his beloved concept −
“There’s nothing more pure than the neighborhood getting together and feeling something. It’s started in Philly with just $10 dollars and my home speakers turned outside. Then it grew to 1,000 kids, then 4,000, then 8,000 then more cities. And yes, it feels like it still belongs to the neighborhood.”
(The Huffington Post)
DJ Mehdi
Blowing up the roof even further, the 4th and 5th editions of the annual party tour was raking up the confidence of more audience and featured some big names on their bill. With Claude VonStroke, Munchi, Dillon Francis, Zeds Dead, Lunice, Flosstradamus, The Hood Internet and many more taking over, these parties were bound to get crazy and surely lived upto its name. Moreover, 2011 was special and heart breaking at the same time, when French hip-hop and house music pioneer DJ Mehdi came out to perform at the show before he passed away later that year.
MDBP 2011 LA Recap
MDBP 2012 NY Recap
By now, MDBP had created its own form of self-expression becoming a melting pot of mainstream electronic and hip-hop music, incorporating influences from the past and present styles of electro, moombahton, dancehall, dubstep, trap, etc.
It’s 2013. MDBP has completed a landmark 6 years since their humble beginnings and Diplo had his eyes set on going global after what a simple neighborhood party had evolved into a FOMO-worthy event around the world. Moreover the event’s incredible free of cost policy went to the sheds before the dawn of the upcoming edition. Considering the tipping point his franchise had reached, it was time to bring out reforms to fit in larger crowds and to afford bigger and better productions and book top notch talents. Logical indeed, a proper ticketing system came into place and managed to pull off even bigger crowds. Covering a record 13 cities, the lineup was graced by industry’s hardest hitters including the then latest viral hitmaker, Bauuer who was tearing up charts with his “Harlem Shake”, and also marked the debut of super group Jack Ü.
MDBP 2013 Recap
Ask Mad Decent boss about his current thoughts on the musical circus, and he still likes to address to it as a party on the streets. But wait, Diplo was just getting warmed up. After touring the American continent extensively with his circus, he knew it was time to touch down in a different continent altogether as he headed to South Africa for the first international Mad Decent Block Party in February 2014. With Major Lazer, Dillon Francis and Flosstradamus headlining the two city tour, the Philly originated concept was finally going global.
MDBP SA Recap 2014
Going back to their home turf, Diplo broke his previous record as he set sights to tear up multiple cities in the US by hosting 22 MDBP shows. The neighborhood festivities had now become a worldwide rage and was selling out tickets in a crazy manner. The lineup for this edition was stacked as ever with legendary hip-hop duo Outkast making an appearance alongside Flume, What So Not, Jack U, RL Grime and many more. The whole shebang in 2014 was concluded by Diplo’s inaugural Mad Decent Boat Party, which was basically MDBP touching down into the ocean. The Miami cruise spanning 5 days was a giant success owing to the intimate interaction between spirited fans and zealous artists from the scene.
Image Credit: IAMTHEPHOTO
Image Credit: iWally
2015 shaped up to be a landmark year as the camaraderie with the Mad Decent crew was stronger than ever before and with fresh Major Lazer and Jack Ü albums in the pipeline, the crowd was rolling. With larger than ever event production and artist lineups, the massive label tour had become the epitome of a premier one day festival.
8 years since their humble beginnings, Mad Decent Block Party had now certainly crafted a space for themselves in the sprawling festival scene which has been mauled by main stage ready music baked by even bigger production sizes. The basis of comparison may fail to justify Diplo’s creation, but there’s a certain vibe which makes his block parties feel like a family affair and moreover that, in today’s age of 808 blasts and hyped up crowds, MDBP has become a live music experience like no other and championed the confidence of people around the world to become a global phenomenon.
So, as Mad Decent Block Party makes its way to India for a 3 city tour, don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to experience something like never before! You can grab your tickets here.
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