In case you were living under a rock this past week, you’d know that Winter Music Conference/Miami Music Week/Ultra Music Festival just wrapped up, transforming Miami into the Mecca for EDM fans the world over. Mostly young raver kids though with no sense of real nostalgia, only false nostalgia. Silver lining, though, is that a ton of our favorite people in the whole world were there DJing, playing, and partying it up the whole week, so we asked some of them to come up with their Top 5 Highlights.

First up, Jillionaire, who talks about cabs, eats, Skream, Frenchies, and more:

(Skream, photo by Jillionaire)

HELLO UNIVERSE!

So I’m lying in a ditch in Miramar trying to recover from this weekend’s madness. We had loads of fun, saw old friends, made new ones, stay up way too late (even too early in some cases), and listened to loads of music. Here are my Top 5 Miami Music Week Highlights, in no particular order:

1. Yardbird - this is easily my new favorite restaurant in Miami, and it’s definitely a ‘must do’ on South Beach. The restaurant itself has a great feel to it, the lemonade is bottomless, and the fried chicken is emotional (ya feel me). Special shout to Shake Shack on Lincoln Road as well, a strong go-to when Yardbird is turning over from their
lunch-to-dinner menus.

2. Miami cab drivers - Armenians run the cab game in Los Angeles and South Asians in NYC, but the Haitians have that Miami situation on lock. Loud, obnoxious and confrontational, they’ll yell at you to let you know you don’t know where you’re going, refuse to turn on the A/C when it’s boiling hot in the car, and turn up their talk radio if you try to make a phone call. And all that’s only gonna happen IF they decide to pick you up.

3. The Standard Spa, Miami - This is not a plug! But the go-to party hotel keeps getting better. Whether DJ, management, music lover, or unsuspecting businessman, the Standard has become the place to not only meet and greet, but bond over a few cocktails in the lounge, relax in the spa, or dance away the evenings on the mud deck. Where else would you find Skrillex chilling out with Zedd’s Dead in the swings, Diplo having breakfast with Mr Oizo, or A-Trak providing tunes poolside? The service remains impeccable, and the food is divine (you might want to go easy on those mojitos, each of them is probably gonna cost you as much as tomorrow morning’s brunch up the street).

4. The French - the French invasion continues to grow every year in Miami. Spear-headed by Busy P and his gang, then followed by the more left field Teki Latex and his label partner Orgasmic (and their rowdy band of young talent including Surkin, French Fries and Manare), the French Connection was lead this year by Brodinski and his Bromancers. A riveting performance by Justice at this year’s Ultra Music Festival and a rousing poolside tribute to a fallen brother round out the assault. We love you and miss you forever Mehdi.

5. Skream - those of you that were at last year’s mansion party would remember a standout disco set from the dubstep pioneer. After raging hard all weekend and delivering the goods at Ultra, he quickly burned a few CDs and hypnotized the crowd at the Do Over with a headlining set of feel good techno, keeping the thick crowd at Blackbird Ordinary jumping and clapping for well over an hour. UK counterparts Jackmaster, Katy B and Annie Mac tagged along to celebrate their own very successful appearances at Ultra and a number of other satellite shows, closing out yet another memorable MMW weekend.