See the full 35-photo Hard Miami Moombahton Massive at Grand Central slideshow.
Hard Miami and Mad Decent's Moombahton Massive
With Diplo, Dillon Francis, Nadastrom, and others
Grand Central, Miami
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Better Than: Seven hours of reggaeton and sirens.
Back in the fall of 2010, Dave Nada played some slowed-down Dutch house at his little cousin's party. A couple years later, the sound that pumped out of those fateful speakers is one of the hottest flavors on the EDM scene.
Yeah, we're talking Moombahton. And it's been adopted by some of the biggest names in the game, becoming so popular with bass crowds that Hard Miami and Mad Decent dedicated an entire night of insanity -- Moombahton Massive -- to its lazy rhythms, with one of the illest lineups to grace the Winter Music Conference and Miami Music Week schedule.
Our ears are still ringing, bro, but it was worth it.
When we got there, we
found New York's Codes getting down and dirty, matched with Atlanta's moombah
man Bro Safari and Miami's own up-and-coming superstar JWLS. It may have been
Massive ground zero, with four hours of big-name moombahton sets to come. But
already the place was going off hard.
Inside, Grand Central
had been decorated to look like a damn Mexican birthday party with colorful
streamers and animal piñatas hanging above everyone's heads. Members of the
crowd beat at the papier mache donkeys with whatever they had until they came
tumbling down, becoming makeshifts souvenirs.
Tittsworth and Mike B hit the decks for
the next epic pairing. Of course, putting DJs on shared sets was the only way
to fit so many headliners into one night, and it's always cool to see
talented people work off one another.
Dave Nada entered the
building and got the star treatment as Tittsworth grabbed the mic and made sure
everyone hailed the king. Nada basked in the adoration with his hands up,
like some kind of disco Jesus greeting his flock.
Portugal's Buraka Som
Sistema tore up the stage next, hyping the crowd with loads of hip-hop-infused
moombah remixes like "Ass," and "6 Foot 7 foot." Of course, they dropped their
hit "Hangover" and had the place in a jungle-beat frenzy before handing them
over to the capable hands of "the world's crunkest DJ," AKA Diplo.
The Mad Decent head
honcho had the craziest set by far, kicking things off with a little bit of
House of Pain's "Jump Around" before going into his newest single "Express
Yourself." Just like in the song's new music video, Diplo had girls jump up
onto the stage to show off their best booty clappin' skills. But he got more
than he bargained for and had to stop the track before it even finished.
"You gotta clear the
stage. It might collapse," he said. "There are too many guys and too many girls
not dancing good enough."
His set went all over
the place, as Diplo tends to do, dropping everything from hip-hop remixes of
songs like "Stupid Ho" and "Pass The Dutch" to big originals and collabs like "Slight
Work" and "Amplifier." He even went hard in the paint, taking his shirt off and
swinging it around his head.
For his big finale,
though, he just dropped "Pon De Floor" and sent the whole place into a
jumping, daggering fever. Then it was straight into a moombah remix of The Police's
classic "Roxanne." But he played "Express Yourself" one more time before
leaving, jumping up on top of the decks and demanding to be joined by girls who
could "actually dance this time."
Mr. Dillon "Don't Give a Fuck
or Shit" Francis introduced himself to the house and he jumped straight into a
brand-new song about music being dead. The best thing about Francis is his
penchant for getting totally weird -- plus his gnarly take on the moombah sound.
He mixed that fresh-from-the-studio track into his recent remix of Clockwork's "Hulk" before stopping the music and grabbing the mic.
"I don't give a fuck or
shit about anything," he said, then started bringing in the teasing first notes
of his huge jam "I.D.G.A.F.O.S." When the melody came in, the crowd went
bonkers. A kid in the front was waving his homemade I.D.G.A.F.O.S. t-shirt like a mad
man.
Besides his signature banger, Dillon played all sorts of
weird, fun tracks like "Big Bad Wolf," "Did It On Em," "L'amour" and a slick
remix of 1997's "Your Woman."
With an hour left to go
by 4 a.m., the crowd was winding down. But that just left more room for the
real freaks to get their groove on. And of course, there were people who just
had to see the man Dave Nada get up and do his thing, paired with moombah giant
SABO and Miami's local hero DJ Craze.
The three worked their
way through a dark and heavy set, with Nada MCing from time to time to keep
people hyped. They brightened things up with the upbeat track "Schlachthofbronx"
and got messy with a scorching rework of, once again, "Jump Around."
But all good times must
come to an end. And all rage kids must get some sort of sleep to make it
through the rest of the week.
So, off to home and bed time did we go. But
seriously, our ears are still ringing.
Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: Having father of the genre Dave Nada play a closing
set to a dwindling audience seemed a bit unfair.
The Crowd: Hundreds of moombah freaks doing their best to make booties clap and dutties wine.
Diplo's Setlist Highlights:
-"Jump Around"
-"Express Yourself"
-"Stupid Ho"
-"Amplifier"
-"Intergalactic Planetary"
-"Que Que"
-"Galang"
-"Slight Work"
-"Rack City"
-"Pass the Dutch"
-"Fix Up, Look Sharp"
-"Hold Yuh"
-"Original Don" (Flosstradamus Remix)
-"Niggas in Paris"
-"9 Piece"
-"Pon De Floor"
-"Roxanne"
-"Express Yourself" (Reprise)
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