“The reason the whole album was delayed was that we came out with Get Free, and our label dropped us because they wanted EDM,” says Thomas Wesley Pentz, better known as Diplo and the creative force behind Major Lazer. “But it all worked out for the best – the album came out later and we could make it a little stronger.”
“[Interscope] wanted to invest all their stuff in EDM, and I was like, ‘That stuff comes and goes.’ And it actually has no fans, in reality. The music’s great, but there’s no artistry to it, there’s no connection with fans. And Major Lazer is bigger than that. But they didn’t understand that. So fuck them. They’re corny anyway.”
It seems strange for one of the best DJs in the world to be so disparaging of a new sub-genre that has brought electronic music back to the centre of pop. He actually goes so far as to say that EDM has been great for Major Lazer because it’s so limited. “[EDM] is why so many people like Major Lazer,” says Wentz. “They get in to dance music, then they find us and we’re dance music plus more. We give them dance music, but we also give them real records. So we’re lucky that it kinda happened.”
It shouldn’t be so surprising that Wentz doesn’t see himself as part of the ‘big dumb fun’ crowd. He is something of a poster-boy for good-times – check out all the girls ‘expressing themselves’ to Wentz via his Twitter – but there’s a much deeper, iconoclastic, break-down-the-walls attitude to much of the work he does. He’s worked with M.I.A. and Santigold – both noted appropriators of various styles – and just in the past year has produced the “Radiohead quiet storm” of Usher’s Climax, the best song on Justin Bieber’s last album (seriously – it’s called Thought of You – go listen right now), as well as tracks for Korean rappers GD & Top. And he’s produced the entirety of Snoop Lion’s punchline of a reggae album – including the current single, Ashtrays and Heartbreaks, featuring Miley Cyrus.
“What’s really cool about the Korean stuff is that there’s no sense of authenticity, which everyone seems to care about so much,” says Wentz. “But they don’t care – they just like the way things sound, and they do it. There’s no reason, or history, or culture for it, and that’s the future for me, y’know? Where you don’t have this argument about where you’re from, or what you do, or who you represent, or what genre you are, or who your audience is. That doesn’t matter. All that matters is that the music is exciting.
“And Snoop is such a great artist. I feel like nobody could even make pop and reggae like he could. He’s Snoop, like a brand, and if he wants to do reggae then we’re going to help him do it.
“And I think he can take it to other people … He’s a 40 year-old man who still has so much swagger that people love to hear him do stuff still. But he’s an older guy who doesn’t want to talk about the same dumb shit – he doesn’t deal with gangs and violence anymore, he deals with his children, and life, and being married.
“And this is a record you make when you do that. It’s about life. Not everybody has to be a gang-banger, and it was a great fantasy for a lot of kids growing up – I love Doggystyle, and I loved the idea of being a gangster.
“And Miley Cyrus is helping us reach a bigger audience, which is something we wanted to do with this record. A lot of people second-guess it because of what it is. And there’s such a feeling of [the importance of] authenticity with fans, but for me, I’m a white guy from Florida, and I’ve been doing reggae music for five years now, and even breaking some reggae in Jamaica.
“So Jamaica doesn’t care about that. People in Jamaica don’t give a fuck about me being white, or not being a reggae guy. They love UB40 down there. They love Celine Dion – she’s one of the biggest artists. All they care about is the music, and when it comes to authenticity it doesn’t matter to anyone. The music matters y’know?
“And I think Snoop really doesn’t give a shit. He smokes weed, and he’s like, ‘Yo, I’m me. I’m cooler than anybody. I’m Snoop Dogg.’ And I think that confidence goes a long way, because there’s a lot of energy and negativity against his music, which is crazy to me. But I’m so proud of the music, and all that matters is that the music is great.”
BY HUGH ROBERTSON
