This Is The New Project That’s Inspiring Diplo’s Creative Flow

Photo Credit: Brian Bowen Smith

WITH A NEW JAMAICAN SANCTUARY, HIS 5K RUN CLUB, AND A CAREER IN COUNTRY MUSIC UNDER HIS BELT, DIPLO, ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL DJS, IS ENTERING AN EXCITING NEW ERA.

BY LAURA SCHREFFLER

PHOTOGRAPHY BRIAN BOWEN SMITH

STYLING JASON REMBERT

GROOMING MELANIE HUGHES-WEAVER

SHOT ON LOCATION IN AGOURA HILLS, CALIF.

In life, it’s pretty common for parents to name children after themselves. Horses, well, not so much. But that’s Diplo for you: this world-famous DJ and producer has always gone against the grain, and it’s usually worked out in his favor.

When I incredulously repeat, “You called your horse Wes?” like a stuck record — ‘Wes’ being how Diplo, né Thomas Wesley Pentz, refers to himself — the man in question offers up a delighted grin. “Well, he has blonde hair, and he’s weird looking, so it made sense to call him Lil’ Wes,” he explains, adding, “I also have a stallion, and we named him Megan. I don’t know if Megan Thee Stallion is aware, but that’s his name.”

Both Wes and Megan — the four-legged, hoofed versions, that is — as well as a polo-trained equine named Zebra and mare Rockabye (who apparently has “that bitch attitude”) — reside in Jamaica, at Pompey, or what Wes (the two-legged human, whose great energy, coupled with an off-the-cuff way of speaking, puts me at ease immediately) refers to as “a creative oasis of nature, architecture, design, and art” that he spent the last decade transforming into his own personal oasis (an oasis of which he now plans on sharing with more than Wes, Megan, and his collection of goats, exotic birds, bees, and a donkey).

That Pompey exists in the first place is a surprise, but then, this is a man who lives to reinvent the wheel. In recent years, Diplo has transformed himself from the king of EDM — producing hits for the likes of Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, and Madonna — to a country music crossover artist who runs 5Ks, and wears 10-gallons around his current hometown of Malibu (where, trust me, the residents would definitely take notice). That he’s now trying his hand at architecture shouldn’t be so shocking (especially when you factor in that Wes the horse exists).

And Pompey is a dime. It’s the place Diplo will be hanging out at when he isn’t touring, a place where he can slow down, relax, and smell the orchids, ferns, bromeliads, and palms that bloom there. [Smelling the proverbial roses really aren’t an option as they aren’t native to Jamaica, but Diplo worked around that by erecting a temporary nursery on site to propagate native flora.]

The idea of slowing down and taking time to enjoy his life is something he has been thinking about a lot over the past few years, and it isn’t terribly hard to see why: Diplo has been going full throttle for the past 20 years, since first launching the legendary Philadelphia nightclub Hollertronix in 2003. Between then and now, he’s collaborated with the biggest names in the business, artists like Shakira, Robyn, Kid Cudi, Bruno Mars, No Doubt, Usher, Britney Spears, and Snoop Dogg; produced four studio albums and six compilations; and formed four musical groups — the electronic outfit Major Lazer with DJs Walshy Fire and Ape Drums, LSD with Labrinth and Sia, Jack Ü with Skrillex, and Silk City with Mark Ronson. Yet, despite his success, he woefully admits that, at nearly 46, he still has the life of a twenty-something, flitting from club to club and city to city on the regular —but that’s getting old in his mid-forties. Now, he’s ready for a change — and he’s confident that Pompey will provide just that.

He explains, “I decided to invest in Pompey about nine years ago. At the time, it was just a farm and some hillsides. And very slowly, it came together with the help of my architects, contractors, good friends, and artists. It was one of the biggest projects I’d ever been part of, and one of the coolest things I’d put together as an artist…. because it is a big piece of art. I wanted a place where I’d have a center to create and a place to vacation, to get away from it all. And I found a connection with this place.”

When it comes to Jamaica, he’s always had that connection. His first brush with the Caribbean country came while working on a cruise ship in his twenties; while taking a break from the boat for a week to explore Kingston and Ocho Rios, he fell in love with its laid-back vibe and burgeoning music scene. In fact, Jamaica was the genesis for Major Lazer, whose music mixes reggae, dancehall, reggaeton, soca, house, and moombahton, and over the course of the past 17 years, he’s not only introduced, but popularized, that hybrid dancehall sound to the world.

Diplo fell hard for the country: its art scene, the beauty of locales like the Blue Lagoon, San San Beach, the mist-veiled Blue Mountains, and its people. It felt like home, and because he had spent so very much time there, especially in the past few years — sometimes visiting three or four times annually — he decided to purchase a piece of land to call his own.

This he found in Portland, a safe and stunning enclave tucked away on the northeast coast, just outside of Jamaica’s third-largest city, Port Antonio, which is known for its jungles, secluded lagoons, cascading waterfalls, hidden caves,

tiny rum bars, and coffee so famous that Japan even named a holiday in its honor (Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Day). He was familiar with both the town itself as well as Port Antonio, a quintessential mid-century destination where Golden Era Hollywood stars like Katharine Hepburn would go to get away from it all.

“I found an ad for the land and asked a real estate agent to drive me through it. This woman — I think her name was Jackie — was wearing heels. And I remember, she actually climbed a hill with me in the middle of the jungle wearing those heels to see if there was a view of the ocean. And there was. We had to go swashbuckling through the jungle to see it, but [I was sold],” he recalls. “It took me a while to really survey the property, as there were 50 acres, but I found an access point to build a house and a studio and started the process.”

It would take many years for the property to be built, due to the scope of the project and the materials used: Diplo favored a brutalist design with natural, raw materials, vastly different from traditional Jamaican architecture, which utilizes natural wood. He enlisted the help of Freecell Architecture and Gia Wolff for the bones of the home, while his longtime creative director, Sara Nataf, worked with Katelyn Hinden on the interiors, which are highlighted by a clash of primitive furniture and luxurious textiles. The artistic direction was all Diplo though, and all a labor of love. “I wasn’t lining up the nail and hammering it in, but I was down there like, let’s rearrange this side and, let’s figure out how to do this. I’ve always loved architecture, and how you can make something harmonic with futuristic concepts. Jamaica has never had that kind of style, and being able to do that here was really special.”

He had a hand in absolutely everything, thinking about not only what he would want from a stay in paradise, but what others might like as well. He put in the brunt of the work during the pandemic, when he could give the property his full focus. His time and attention truly paid off, because at Pompey, every desire is met. There’s a music studio building, dotted with mango trees and clusters of bamboo; a yoga pagoda; a horse stable; multiple organic farms that produce bananas guava, coconut, avocado, jackfruit, pineapple, and breadfruit (which he eventually plans on learning to grow himself; multilevel landscape areas with insane coastal views; and other amenities, like a 24-hour concierge, security services, an in-house chef that sources ingredients grown on-property for meals, wellness and spa amenities, drivers, private guided excursions, and more.

Photo Credit: Brian Bowen Smith

A five-room, six-bedroom, four-bathroom guest house (whose master includes a private deck, balcony, sauna, cold plunge, and hot tub) is liberally dotted with pieces from global artists like Sofía Londoño, Pedro Reyes, Lucas Muñoz Muñoz, Asafo Flag, Garnett Puett, Veronica Ryan, and Vince Kelly, each and every piece carefully selected by the man himself. Common spaces are designed to stave off boredom: there’s a piano, TV, library, bar, chess table, vinyl collection, BBQ, and grill.

Because Diplo is so into health and wellness, Pompey’s gym is also pretty ace. There’s everything an athlete could possibly want —including a treadmill, bike, water rower, Pilates reformer, weights, punching and speed bags, and a climbing wall, as well as a cold plunge and sauna for recovery; a portable volleyball court, snorkel gear, paddleboards, kayaks, e-bikes, hydrofoils, and ATVs are also available.

Needless to stay, Diplo spent the most time and attention on an industry-standard recording studio, a 2,000 square-foot jungle sound paradise consisting of a live room and a control room. The equipment is top of the line — PMC MBD-XBD-A Mains, a SSL XL-Desk 24 Channel In-Line console, and vintage keyboards, as well as aYamaha upright piano, and Fender and Martin guitars, among other tools of the trade. 

“For me, I’d love to see different musicians come here, because Jamaica is such an inspirational place. The cultural currency is so strong; its music has been so influential for the last 50 years. When people go there to record, it’s different than just going to West Hollywood, Nashville, or Miami: it’s a place where you can really camp out and create. At Pompey, I’ve had people just come there and do it all. Some will be in awe of the view and want to drive down to the beach. There’s an awesome library where you can smoke cigars

and listen to records. Others will want to use the pool; some will want to use the studio. There’s an awesome library where you can smoke cigars and listen to records, too. When I have an artist stay, they get the best of both worlds. They bring their friends, their producers, and their team, and they stay at the house. They take the ATVs down to the studio and they work all day long, but they have dinner together as a family and maybe have a little party. So, for me, that’s what it could and should be. The goal is to get some awesome people there to create,” he reveals.

Apparently, there are some creators already living nearby. Keith Richards is his neighbor, and Grace Jones has a place about an hour away. Currently, there’s even an unnamed rapper renting out Pompey at this moment, hopefully making beautiful music. And why shouldn’t he be doing so, especially when its owner can’t (at this exact moment); after an aggressive week bopping across America from the East Coast to the West, he’ll head off in mere days to play a plethora of gigs in Europe. But it’s nice to know that Pompey, where a slower pace of life is possible (despite minute annoyances like goats running around eating his bananas, which is, in fact, a problem), is right there, waiting for him to return.

Diplo would have been proud at whatever the outcome might have been due to the sheer amount of effort he put into the property, but in his heart of hearts, he knows it’s a success. “We did such a good job that everything is kind of blending together; we finally found that harmony between the land and the buildings. That was my dream, and it’s finally coming together. I’m so happy with the end result.”

Now that he’s done one, Diplo is confident that this isn’t a one and done situation. “I would love to do more projects like this,” he admits. “I do like the idea of developing something similar in different locations, from the ground up. It took a long time, and I did everything myself — including the investing and financing parts. It would be great to be in charge, but not have to put my money into it, not have to be the one who’s hammering nails into wood. I don’t want to be a project manager. What I do want is to come up with concepts, see them through, promote them, and market them, because that’s something I’m really great at. But the actual bones, that’s the hard work. Getting out there and putting your hands in the dirt is the stuff that I did once, and I know there’s better people to do it than me.”

As it happens, he already owns another small piece of property in his native Florida — a 40-acre piece of farmland located just outside of Orlando, rife with cows and alligators (which he refers to as his “homies”) — that’s just screaming for the Diplo special upgrade. But time will tell when that will actually happen — because he’s definitely not ready to become the next Chip Gaines. And I think we can all agree that it’s a good thing he feels that way, too, because no one wants Diplo to quit his day job. 

Still, of everything he’s accomplished in his lifetime, Diplo feels like Pompey might just be his greatest achievement yet. “I’ve worked on a lot of albums, a lot of events, some movies, and some other shit I can’t even remember. But I really think the greatest project I’ve been able to make happen was this creative space in Jamaica. Building a home, a studio, a refuge, took so many years and so much time and patience — if it wasn’t for my team, this would still be a brutalist jungle dream of mine. I originally thought it would be a good place to ride out the apocalypse and learn to farm, but it turns out this place is going to become a home, a studio, a creative refuge for many artists. It feels like I dropped a masterpiece of an album, and I hope it gets used to make a lot of legendary music, because that is what this island does… [And personally], I just want to make songs there. That’s what I built it for; it’s for me to be inspired.”

Photo Credit: Brian Bowen Smith

“I’ve been so busy the last four nights that I’ve gotten no sleep,” Diplo tells me from his Malibu home on a late September afternoon while running his hand haphazardly through his short, blonde hair. “I slept for three hours on the plane, but it left me so zonked out. I was in a hurry and needed caffeine — I needed to wake up.”
He has literally just landed from the East Coast, managing to squeeze in a quick shower, but there hasn’t been time for feeding. As such, he’s currently chugging a protein shake — the follow-up meal to an appetize of C4 for energy — as our chat continues. After we speak, he’s heading out to Agoura Hills for our shoot, and tomorrow, he’ll be back on a plane again, this time to Milan. So goes the life of an international, three-time Grammy-winning DJ, I suppose.

He’s currently lamenting his decision to choose something synthetic over the natural high of running, because he feels a little tweaky (yet not on the level of, say, running the L.A. Marathon on LSD, like he did last year). “That pre-workout drink made me crazy! Right now I’m thinking, damn, I should have gone for a run instead.”

Running specifically, and health in general, has been a big thing in his life as of late. He proves this point by reflecting on yesterday’s less-than-stellar gym session with his Silk City collaborator Mark Ronson.

“I don’t really lift weights. I’m old. I’m 45, about to be 46. I think I’m more likely to injure myself with weights. I went to do weightlifting yesterday with [Mark], who’s a friend of mine. He was lifting weights — he’s getting really buff — and I was thinking, I’m strong, but I couldn’t even lift half the weights he is, this is so crazy. But [then], I don’t lift weights anymore; I think there are better activities for your body than just lifting weights as you get older. I got injured too much doing things like CrossFit when I was younger, so now I do yoga three times a week. That, coupled with running, helps to open my hips up — and that’s what I want to concentrate on as I get older, so that I can be really mobile and be able to move quickly and not injure myself. [Even so] my motto is to sweat and be active for one hour a day by running or doing yoga, because then, you can pretty much get away with anything.”

Photo Credit: Brian Bowen Smith

The yoga part in particular he has well covered. Diplo hits up random classes in whatever city he happens to be in — the type of yoga doesn’t matter, just as long as its fits into his hectic schedule. But he also knows that he needs stamina for those endless, late-night gigs, and because he’s crafty, he found a way to get his exercise and have fun with it, too (a way of having his cake and eating it too, I suppose, minus the cake). And so, he created Diplo’s Run Club, a reimagined 5K series with what he refers to as “the ultimate after-party” and of which has the tagline: “We run hard with our friends and party even harder after.” The club kicked off in San Francisco and Seattle earlier in September, with dates in American cities like Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, London, Miami, Philadelphia, and New York to come; he also has international dates planned in Sydney, Toronto, and Paris, among others. Basically, it’s a way of merging his two lifestyles — and it seems to be working out in his favor.

“Now that I have proof that the concept of Run Club works and know that it can be successful, I really want to expand that. Next year, maybe we’ll do a 1K the day before the 5K for kids [in order] to make the crowds even bigger, make it safer, and expand to different markets. It’s really such a beautiful thing to focus on, because everybody is getting healthier. There’s a community involved. If you look at the crowd, there are 14-year-olds that are running next to 60-year-olds; there’s a group of women, of moms, from San Diego who came out to run together. There were seven people from Seattle who came as Shrek,

all dressed in green body paint with Shrek ears, and they crushed it. [Sidebar: apparently, according to Diplo, Shrek is having “a resurgence.”] The Run Club culture is so fun right now, so I want to maximize it — we’re probably going to do 10 cities next year. And that’s a real goal.”

And here’s another: “Instead of doing 200 shows a year, I would like to do 10 Run Clubs and 10 country festivals, and just concentrate on making them as epic as possible, instead of just running around club to club, which is what I’ve been doing this year.” He pauses, and jokes (I think), “If I didn’t have to tour all the time, I would just be one of those buff influencer guys who lives in Nevada and doesn’t do real work. That’s a better lifestyle.”

In all seriousness though (and as appealing as that lifestyle sounds), Diplo — an alias of which is short for “diplodocus,” derived from his childhood fascination with dinosaurs — is a born creator, and as much as a vacation might be nice, it wouldn’t be him in the long run. Staying still, staying stagnant, wouldn’t keep him happy. He is someone who’s at his best when he’s moving, exploring, learning — and has been that way since the onset of his now 20-plus year career. Diplo, who was born in Tupelo, Mississippi and raised in Florida, continues to champion genres and artists from around the world through his labels Mad Decent and Higher Ground; a publishing company; and various book, film, and television projects. His recent releases include a string of successful Higher Ground singles, 2023’s Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley: Chapter 2 – Swamp Savant, his second album as country persona Thomas Wesley, and 2022’s Diplo, his first full-length electronic music album in 18 years.

Thomas Wesley the man intrigues me in that his emergence signifies a major change for Diplo the artist. It’s almost as if he’s going back to basics, stripped down and personal, fully ready to showcase something new while still staying true to himself. But what inspired this change, I wonder?

Photo Credit: Brian Bowen Smith

“I started making country music about five years ago, just collaborating with different artists, and I found that it was a lot less pressure than running around chasing rappers and pop stars and touring all the time at raves. I found that I was just into it. Growing up, I was a big country fan just by virtue of living in Florida. You had dancehall, hip hop, country; it was all the same. And when electronic-country became a thing a few years ago, I had already been making country records. I had a record with Morgan Wallen [2020’s “Heartless”], and he became the biggest pop star in America. When I met him, he was just a guy with a mullet writing songs in Nashville. So, I’ve been doing that on the side while still doing dance music, but this year, I’m going to find a way to slow it down. I’m going to concentrate on some country ideas, on Run Clubs, and just on doing more.”

First and foremost, the more includes spending time with his sons, Lockett, 14, Lazer, who turns 10 in November, and Pace, 4,which isn’t the easiest thing to do when your job takes you around the globe on a regular basis. “Spending time with my kids and doing nothing is among my favorite things to do,” he admits. “I’m always like, let’s go out and do this activity; let’s go snowboarding, let’s do this, let’s do that. But just sitting with them, hanging out, and watching them play music or something else, that’s my dream afternoon.” [Especially now, he says, that Lockett has started high school — he finally finds his father to be “cool,” and he, for one, is taking full advantage of it.]

Then, there will be more personal travel. Diplo recalls a recent trip to Singapore, where he was playing a private party, and the pure joy he felt spending eight hours all by himself, wandering around the city on his own. He was in his element. “I like being alone,” he confides. “I like seeing a city by myself and learning about it, being there and not being recognized, just enjoying the location. That kind of travel still inspires me, which is crazy, because here I’m talking about taking more time off the road. But I still like going somewhere by myself and being a little Anthony Bourdain in my mind, you know?” He’s close, methinks, though I must wonder if Bourdain ever did shots of tequila and durian fruit together as Diplo did (which he refers to as “a little ratchet”).

But I digress. Back to more, which also includes making music, of course. “I did a single with Miguel called Don’t Forget My Love in 2022 and I got nominated for a Grammy for it [for Best Dance/Electronic Recording]. I lost everything to Beyoncé that year because she had a really big dance record, but I was happy just to be recognized for it. So, in keeping with that vibe of music, I have a bunch of house and club and dance music I made the last year that have been released mostly in the clubs, which I think I’m going to reissue with a couple of new records in November. And then, I’m always putting out weird stuff, like what I’m working on with LSD. Then, with Major Lazer, we’re reissuing our first album, Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do; this is its 15^th anniversary. We’re putting some extra songs on it, and that should be cool.”

Which brings us back to Pompey, given that this very album —and this very trio, as it were — was born there. “It’s cool to come full circle with this property I built and to be able to celebrate the culture and the music of Jamaica, which is where I fully intend to live —when the place isn’t being rented, that is — so that I can take advantage of that awesome location.”

And on that high note, he says, in closing, “Next year, that’s my focus. I want to really spend my time doing the things that matter the most.” He smiles. “I also have big plans to take some naps, too.”

Luckily, he knows a guy who has a place where that can happen. 

Photo Credit: Brian Bowen Smith