Diplo has high-fived so many people that a small wound is developing at the base of his right palm.
The DJ and Grammy-winning producer comes out first at the starting line of the Philadelphia stop for the Altra-backed Diplo’s Run Club — the part race, part fun run he launched two years ago. The concept is interactive and engaging: The artist joins participants for a 5K and then plays a set afterward.
On this warm Saturday morning, humidity makes the air feel thick and wildfire smoke blows in from Minnesota and Canada. Nevertheless, nearly 8,000 runners show up. During the last mile, those who happen to run past Diplo, as the course loops back on itself toward Lincoln Financial Field, see his hand outstretched and on offer.
And the ones quick enough to meet his pace, which today comes out to 8:04 per mile for a 25:02 finish, are more than welcome to pull alongside him and chat.
One fan takes the opportunity to ask for his thoughts on Memphis hip-hop — underrated in its influence, Diplo says — while another shrewdly hands over a stretchy cord bracelet with a flash drive loaded with music for submission. The most animated interaction comes when a woman calls attention to her homemade T-shirt printed with Diplo’s recent Men’s Health cover, which elicits a playfully heated repetition of “f–k you” because he finds the photo unflattering.
“No one has their phones out while they’re running — that’s the best thing about it. They’re all here, locked in with me, so I’m gonna give them all some love and shout them out,” Diplo says weeks later in New York, while taking a car back to his hotel from his FN cover shoot. “It’s not like they’re buying tickets to a party that they want to get seen at.”
Called Wes outside of the public eye and Thomas Wesley Pentz Jr. by the government, Diplo would be considered an avid runner by just about everyone but himself. He typically runs 3 miles, three to four times a week, often going up to 10 miles if he’s “somewhere beautiful.” Still, he has the audacity to say he feels like a “fake runner” on account of “only” running three marathons (one of them famously under the influence of LSD).
Diplo’s Run Club started in 2024 with two races in San Francisco and Seattle. The number jumped up to eight for the second season, with Altra coming on as a sponsor. Nine stops are on the docket for the 2026/27 season, with Mexico City added as the first city outside the U.S.
For Altra, Diplo’s obsession with fitness — and his efforts to fit in workouts while balancing his professional life — are the perfect embodiment of the company’s “Stay Out There” ethos, according to Rachel Winkel, the brand’s global marketing director. “We both have this shared identity of unconventional ways of doing things,” Winkel told FN. “That’s why the partnership started and why I think we’re going to be a good fit moving forward, too.”
In turn, Diplo sees kinship in the fact that Altra wants to make more inroads into road running — after establishing itself in trail — while he himself is still relatively new to the sport. “They’re not an established company trying to leech off me,” he said. “They’re like, ‘How do we grow together?’ and I love that. Everything we’re doing together is easy. The shoes are great.”
At 47, Diplo is nearly 30 years into a career that’s seen him produce music for a diverse range of superstar artists, including Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Drake, Madonna, Bad Bunny, Usher and Snoop Dogg. He’s released six albums as Diplo, Thomas Wesley (his country moniker) or D00mscrvll (his newest alias, for phonk). There have been five more as part of the group Major Lazer, and one more collaborative album each with Skrillex as Jack Ü, and Labrinth and Sia as LSD.
All that material has given Diplo plenty to work with as he continues to maintain an active presence on the road, playing nightclubs, festivals and other venues.
“A lot of the touring I do is diplomatic,” Diplo said. “Every show is strategic, even if it’s just for my mind. I work hard because you’re only in your prime for a little while. I’m on borrowed time. I’ve been DJing forever, but it gets better.”
What he’s called one of the most important sets of his life came this year. It wasn’t at UNVRS or Burning Man but rather in the yard outside of the Philadelphia-area school attended by his youngest son, Pace. That day was Pace’s kindergarten graduation, and Diplo brought his equipment and a pair of stand-up speakers, to give his son, his classmates and the other parents a day they wouldn’t forget.
Based across the country in Malibu, Calif., when he isn’t playing shows around the world, Diplo readily admits he isn’t there for his son as much as he should be. He hopes, however, that Pace and his other children — Lockett, 15; Lazer, 11, and an unnamed daughter who turned 1 in August — believe that their father shows up for the big moments.
Lockett and Lazer have both run at Diplo’s Run Club — the former four times, in fact. Pace was there in Philadelphia and declined to run but may have caught the bug weeks later in Malibu. For three years in a row, Diplo has hosted his kids, their friends and other children in his life for a weeklong surf camp featuring lessons and other activities. This year, he put a 3K run on the docket and was shocked to learn some of the kids, as old as 16, had never gone for a run like that before.
“Running was awesome because [Pace] was excited,” Diplo recalled. “He was like, ‘I want to be in the fast group now.’ But watching him onstage with me was even better. I didn’t even realize until some of the parents were like: ‘My kids would never do that with me. They’re so shy. It’s crazy the confidence your son has.’ And maybe that’s actually the best thing I’ve done for him.”
For Diplo, helping his children embrace a healthy lifestyle is essential. The issue is personal after his sister, Amy, passed away three years ago, at the age of 48, for reasons related to obesity and diabetes. He speaks candidly about his regrets for not doing more to help improve her condition.
“I always tried to get her a chef, and I was never critical of her because she was a really sensitive person,” Diplo said. “I just wish I had spent more time giving her [encouragement]. Like how I tell my kids, ‘I don’t [care] if you’re tired. We’re going on a hike. I’m your dad, and I’m here for one day.'”
Her son, Diplo’s nephew Seth, has taken up running (often with him) and eating better on the way to losing 90 pounds. The pride his uncle has in him is palpable as he recounts the journey, even as it’s followed by a quip drawing a relationship with growing up in Florida, as Diplo did himself, to eating Chick-Fil-A and drinking Big Gulps.
Biting lines such as these come frequently from Diplo, who has little in the way of a filter and a coarse sense of humor, especially on social media. Some of the largest blowback came in 2014, when he tweeted, “Someone should make a kickstarter to get Taylor Swift a booty.” Minor feuds have also gone down with David Guetta, Sean Paul and Flo Rida, the former two later going on to work with him.
Another pile-on came in April with pushback to his comments on artificial intelligence in music on the podcast “Behind the Wall.” Among the quotes that circulated widely (with criticism) was his assertion that he doesn’t need human vocalists because he can get “the best voice from AI” and, “If you are a creative, you need to adapt or just give up and become an Uber driver until everyone has a Waymo.”
Looking back, Diplo stands by what he said but doesn’t think the comments are indicative of the full scope of his views. His perspective is that technology is never inherently good or bad — although he does think AI is “a complete tragedy to the Earth” in terms of its environmental effect.
The point should be what the technology can offer to someone broke and aspirational without the same access as big artists. “You take shortcuts to make it in the beginning,” Diplo said. “The one bad part is that young people aren’t going to have the life experiences to make great music and feel something, but hopefully we’ll have a blend of technology and the stories. If you have taste, that’s what matters. Use it if you have to, but be creative, be weird.”
Diplo is well aware of the reputation he’s garnered from being outspoken, but thinks the biggest misconception is that he’s an “asshole” and believes the impression wouldn’t last upon meeting him.
“I can talk anybody into liking me,” Diplo said. “If you’re true to what you believe in, that’s what really matters. A lot of people are smoke and mirrors, a brand or whatever. You meet them, and it’s a nightmare. The only thing that matters is that my kids, their moms and my dad are proud of me. Everything else, who cares? The internet is just a random vacuum of information. I’m just lucky to be part of the conversation.”
Spending time with him on two occasions validates Diplo’s assertion. It’s hard not to be charmed by him as he speaks frankly, throws out one-liners and jumps from topic to topic — as much as he does from person to person in a group. Jokes are also made at his own expense, as he calls himself lame for changing into a pair of Nocta x Nike x Chrome Hearts sweatpants after FN’s cover shoot in New York.
During the shoot, Diplo yucks it up with not only the crew but also strangers on the street. Drawing his particular interest is an elderly man hawking crochet flower pots to tourists. In between the short windows in which he can pose on the sidewalk, Diplo keeps returning to the man to ask about his 360 degree selfie rig that’s out of order and where he sources his product. After much hemming and hawing, Diplo selects an orange flower to purchase and posts a video to his Instagram stories in which the man holds up his shopping bag printed with a website for his wares.
Back in Philadelphia, Diplo’s 5K time and a golf cart at the finish line allow him to get into the stadium before most other attendees. He surveys the floor around the stage with food and beverage stands, product showcases from Altra and Kane and a recovery station with compression tools and a cold plunge.
Before stepping into the inflatable pool, which will rock later with waves generated by the thumping base of Diplo’s set, he jokes he’s getting in before everyone pees in it. His best line of the day comes later in the green room, where a TV plays Philadelphia Eagles highlights on a loop.
“This is like China, where they only play videos of the government,” Diplo says.
Don’t take this as a knock at the Eagles, however. Diplo has been a massive fan since he spent his early adult years in Philadelphia, graduating from Temple University with a degree in anthropology and starting his career by throwing underground parties.
In both years that the Eagles won the Super Bowl (2017 and 2024), Diplo played official after parties for the team. Today, he proves his chops by ending his set with a sequence mixing the theme song from “Rocky” into the two unofficial anthems of the championship runs, Meek Mill’s “Dreams and Nightmares” and Lil Uzi Vert’s “Just Wanna Rock.”
In addition to being customized with Diplo’s Run Club branding, the black T-shirt and grayscale camo shorts by Legends he runs in feature the Eagles’ logo. Come showtime, he’s changed into a yellow long-sleeve T-shirt with the same marks added and a pair of denim painters pants covered in Western graphics from One of These Days.
Looking out into the crowd, the audience’s appearance inspires two revelations. The first is that this city really does ride hard for the Eagles, as there are more jerseys than you’d expect to see at a concert or a race. The other is that electronic shows and races have much more in common than you’d expect, as braids, glitter and short, formfitting clothes are equally prevalent in both settings.
Diplo’s idea to combine a race and concert came from the two consecutive years in which he ran the Miami Half Marathon. He completed the race in 2022 without any training, and it finished near two prime nightlife destinations: E11even and Club Space. Both were still open in the morning, but because he was in his running clothes and E11even is more high-end, he chose to go to Space.
The TikTok he posted from inside the club went viral, and when Diplo came back into town a year later with the same plan, he found 40 fellow racers who’d followed his lead. Seeing the appetite for a moment that combined running and dancing, the idea for his unique run club was born.
Jordyn Kline has volunteered as a pacer in Philadelphia for both years Diplo’s Run Club has come into town, and one thing she appreciates most about the event is how little her services have been utilized.
“I was [leading] the 8-minute-mile group, but no one was with me,” Kline said. “If you’re trying to [get a personal record], good for you, but this isn’t the type of race where you’re going out to PR. This is the race where you’re going for vibes, and I think we need more of that. We need more unserious races. Just have fun, that’s the point of running.”
Plans are already in motion to make Diplo’s Run Club even bigger in 2027, including further international expansion. He hopes to add South America, Europe and Australia. And even though Diplo said he’s enjoying these engagements more than his usual concerts, the long-term goal is to eventually make Diplo’s Run Club bigger than him, with other DJs taking his place.
“I want this to be the thing that people go to,” Diplo said. “They don’t go to nightclubs and get drunk every night. They wake up, they run, they see their kids afterward or bring their kids. I think my legacy should be this. It’s something I should apply more energy to because it’s better for the Earth, it’s better for people, it’s better for my time.”