Diamanté Anthony Blackmon (born January 3, 1991),known professionally as Gordo (stylized in all caps) and formerly known as Carnage (or DJ Carnage), is an American record producer. He first gained recognition for his DJ mixes and live performances at music festivals such as Tomorrowland and Ultra Music Festival. He then began producing EDM singles in 2012 under the moniker Carnage, and signed with Ultra Records to release his 2014 single “Bricks” (with Migos), which was followed by “Incredible” (with Borgore), and “Toca” (with Timmy Trumpet and KSHMR) both in the following year.
His debut studio album, Papi Gordo (2015) peaked atop the Dance/Electronic Albums chart and narrowly entered the Billboard 200. Its preceding single, “I Like Tuh” (with ILoveMakonnen) received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His second album, Battered Bruised & Bloody (2018) further delved into hip hop and was critically panned. He occasionally performed as a recording artist; however, he has since retired from doing so, along with the Carnage stage name in favor of Gordo in 2022, after which he began working solely in production for other artists.
Thanks to Gordo and Reinier Zonneveld, an old demo became an international hit.
The story of this song is incredible, because the skeleton of “Loco Loco” had been circulating for a long time, but in an unfinished form and, more importantly, without a clear authorship. On Soundcloud, a platform beloved by producers, there are countless remixes of “Loco Loco” that reference a song without a specific identity. But what happens when various DJs play that demo at their festivals in front of thousands of people? It’s experimented with, gets under the skin, and becomes a hit beyond today’s standards. It won the hearts of audiences by taking a more traditional route, although the videos posted on TikTok, featuring countless people enthusiastically dancing to the song, did the rest.
The truth is that that vocal line was from an old recording made by Zonneveld, sent to Gordo without mentioning its author. On February 13th, after months of previews and demos in numerous DJ sets, the final version was released. The mix is explosive because it’s a song clearly designed for the place where it became famous: large outdoor festivals. The lyrics also speak to this: they describe the transgression of everyday life and the desire to feel good while figuratively aspiring to madness.
