This past summer I went to Mad Decent Block Party in Philadelphia. Mad Decent is a record label based in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, founded in 2005 by Thomas Wesley Pentz, better known by his stage name, Diplo. Mad Decent Block Party is a traveling concert that plays in major cities every summer and features some of the biggest names in electronic dance music.

The “Block Party”, held at the Festival Pier at Penns Landing in Philadelphia, took place on August sixth and seventh. I went on August sixth and lineup was as follows: Flosstradamus, ILoveMakonnen, Jauz, Porter Robinson, and Jack Ü. Flosstradamus is the stage name of two DJs—J2K and Autobot. Together they make trap music, a subgenre of electronic dance music. Trap music is characterized by aggressive sound and lyrics, with heavy bass and many different sounds playing at the same time. Flosstradamus has a very urban and underground stage presence, making for an exciting and unique experience.

Makonnen Sheran, better known as ILoveMakonnen, is an American hip-hop recording artist. He is most commonly known for his hit track “Tuesday” featuring Drake. He quickly rose to fame when Miley Cyrus shared his album on Instagram to her millions of followers. His rap performance was a nice change from the electronic music and got the crowd energized.

Porter Robinson is an American, self-taught DJ and producer from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Robinson achieved international stardom by the age of just 18 and continues to grow popularity. He was ranked number 7 in the Billboard under 21 list and number 5 in DJ Times’ 2013 ranking for America’s Best DJ. Robinson tours internationally and headlines at the world’s biggest electronic dance festivals including Ultra, Electric Daisy Carnival, Electric Zoo, and Tomorrowland. Porter’s music is hard to describe–it has a unique sound of its own, adding an electronic element to indie dance music. The lights and visuals that play alongside his music are a spectacle in themselves. They are captivating and add another element to his already unique music. His performance was definitely one of my favorites of the night.

Jack Ü is a DJ duo consisting of Diplo and Skrillex. Diplo, founder of Mad Decent, and Skrillex, founder of OWSLA, joined forces in 2013. The duo made their debut performance at the Mad Decent Block Party in San Diego in 2013. They released their debut album named “Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack Ü” in 2015. The album contains the hit songs “Take U There” and “Where Are U Now”. The album falls under the trap and dance music genre. Their performance at Mad Decent Block Party was by far my favorite performance of the night, if not my favorite performance ever. They brought so much energy and enthusiasm to the crowd and it was a performance I will never get.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_Robinson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ü https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILoveMakonnen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flosstradamus