'Soundclash' Host Diplo Is A Meme Machine

Ahmir “QuestLove” Thompson knows that when you mix up a bunch of seemingly unrelated musical styles, great things can happen. So, for Soundclash , a show he's executive producing for VH1 and Palladia, that's exactly what he's going to do. The first episode, which airs Wednesday, brings rock band Fall Out Boy, rapper T.I., and trip-hop group London Grammar all to the same stage. They'll play their songs, each other's songs, some covers, and generally mix it up. The second episode is no less diverse, with Ed Sheeran, Sia, and Grouplove all on the lineup. But, with so much going on week to week, the show needs to have some consistency. Enter SoundClash host Diplo, who, as a DJ, mixtape-maker, remixer, and record producer, is no stranger to mashing up different styles of music.

Diplo has a ton of musical accomplishments under his belt, from co-founding the popular Hollertronix club nights in Philadelphia to forming his label Mad Decent Records, but his biggest breakthrough is probably co-writing and co-producing M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes." At least that got him some awards attention: The song was nominated for Record of the Year at the 2009 Grammy Awards. (He was also up for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical in 2013.)

But besides all of his musical accomplishments, Diplo is kind of a meme machine. Here, some of the few to his credit.

He Discovered the Harlem Shake

Ah yes, the song that launched a thousand YouTube videos, which then launched 50 million people watching those YouTube videos. And none of it would have been possible without Diplo. According to Billboard, Diplo heard the song on SoundCloud, acquired it for his label, then released it as a free download. He probably didn't know that every fraternity, sports team, and bored office would dance to it on the Internet.

He Gets People to Twerk Upside-Down in Weird Places

Does the world really need this? Nah, probably not — but what's the harm? If you ever wanted to see people twerking upside-down in unusual locations, head straight to Diplo's Twitter feed. How did he entice people to engage in such out-of-the-box twerking? He threw down a gauntlet. He started the #ExpressYourself contest, in honor of his Express Yourself EP, with a pretty sizable prize: The winners got free Diplo/Major Lazer tickets for life. ( Buzzfeed collected some of the best entries, if upside-down twerking is your thing.) The contest ended back in 2012, but people are still sending him their twerking photos.

But Can He Make Meggings Happen?

Yup, that's meggings, as in men's leggings. New York magazine's blog The Cut first spotted the trend, posting the above Instagram photo and noting that, "For starters, the fashionable DJ Diplo already braved the look." No word on whether he'll be sporting meggings on SoundClash, but we're not betting on it.

Images: Frank Micelotta/PictureGroup; jillionairesucks/Instagram