Diplo
Thomas Wesley Pentz, known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is a co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer; a member of the supergroup LSD, with Labrinth and Sia; a member of electronic duo Jack Ü, with producer and DJ Skrillex; and a member of Silk City, with Mark Ronson. He founded the record company Mad Decent in 2006 and the nonprofit organization Heaps Decent in 2007. His 2013 extended play Revolution debuted at number 68 on the US Billboard 200. Its title track was later featured in a Hyundai commercial and appears on the WWE 2K16 soundtrack.
Diplo worked with and dated British musician M.I.A., producing her 2008 breakout single "Paper Planes", which gave him initial mainstream exposure. In 2011, he and fellow producer Switch formed the electronic musical group Major Lazer and its namesake cartoon series for FXX, which ran for one season. The group released five studio albums that explored EDM and dancehall music, pioneering a new musical genre, ReggaeEDM. Since then, Diplo has produced for and collaborated with many mainstream musical acts, including Blackpink, Lil Peep, Gwen Stefani, Die Antwoord, Britney Spears, Madonna, Shakira, Beyoncé, Ellie Goulding, the Weeknd, No Doubt, Justin Bieber, Usher, Anitta, Snoop Dogg, Trippie Redd, Chris Brown, CL, G-Dragon, Bad Bunny, Kali Uchis, Joji, Morgan Wallen, Bailey Zimmerman, MØ, and Poppy. His alias, short for Diplodocus, derives from his childhood fascination with dinosaurs.
Early life and career
Early life
Thomas Wesley Pentz was born on November 10, 1978, in Tupelo, Mississippi, the son of Barbara Jean and Thomas Pentz. He is of German and English descent.Home-grown rap shaped Diplo's production style. Though born in Mississippi, he spent most of his youth in Miami, where he got a taste for the characteristic Miami bass. He began attending the University of Central Florida in 1997. During his time at UCF, he became a DJ at local radio station WPRK, at Rollins College. He moved to Philadelphia to continue his studies at Temple University, where he first drew attention as a DJ. At age 20, Diplo moved to India, with a small bag and barely any money. He purchased a used Enfield Motorcycle and traveled in Ladakh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, and Gujarat. While in India he collected records, and visited rundown establishments to listen to people playing the sitar and tabla.
After returning to the U.S. he became acquainted with fellow DJ Low Budget. The two began throwing parties under the "Hooked on Hollertronix" moniker in 2003 as a way to maintain control of what they could play during DJ gigs in Philadelphia. The success of these parties allowed the two to release mixtapes, both separately and together, gathering acclaim nationwide. One of these, Never Scared, was named one of The New York Times top ten albums of 2003, and the Hollertronix name became synonymous with parties featuring guests like Maluca Mala, Bun B, Spank Rock, and M.I.A. Hollertronix's sound has been described as "disparate genres to be smashed together for maximum attention-grabbing impact", an aesthetic inspired by the "organic, cohesive, whole" aesthetic of acts such as Bun B, Lil Jon, Drama, M.I.A., Björk, and Busta Rhymes.
Diplo eschewed the club aesthetic of his Hollertronix music for a more reflective sound on his solo debut, Florida, which was released on the Ninja Tune imprint Big Dada Records. Florida was pressed twice, first as a CD and then as a CD/DVD Set. The DVD was put together by artist and filmmaker System D-128, who has also collaborated with Diplo on audio and film projects. Before Florida's DVD accompaniment, another DVD, Diplo: "Banned in Libya", was released by Money Studies, the first label to release a solo project by Diplo under his original DJ name, Diplodocus. It was a 45 rpm record called "Thingamajawn" for which there is also a video System D-128 directed. Like the Florida DVD, "Banned in Libya" is an experimental audio and video mix of Diplo's original music blended with a number of other unidentified sources. His affinity for the genre of baile funk, or favela funk, spawned a series of mixtapes, which brought the Brazilian dance music of the ghettos to the United States.
It was not long before his Hooked on Hollertronix parties gave him the success necessary to build a studio where music became his full-time focus. With this goal in mind, Diplo built "The Mausoleum", a video studio, recording studio, record label office, gallery, and event space in Philadelphia. Artists such as Christina Aguilera, Shakira, M.I.A., Santigold, Spank Rock, Plastic Little, Blaqstarr, and Paper Route Gangstaz have recorded at The Mausoleum. It has also hosted concerts by Glass Candy, Skream, Boys Noize, and Nicos Gun.
M.I.A.
After hearing one of his songs in 2004, M.I.A. approached Diplo when he was DJing one night at the Fabric Club in London. Coincidentally, Diplo was playing her songs "Galang" and "Fire Fire" as she entered the club, which he got from a worker at i-D magazine. Diplo added, "She came through and she wanted to meet me 'cause she'd heard my single and the funk mix from one of her A&Rs and she just thought I was right up her alley. Besides me being a white dude from Florida and her being a Sri Lankan girl in England, everything else was the same: film graduates, all the same music when we were kids, we're going in the same direction right now in music, it was amazing.... I always wanted to make a beat with her, but all my beats were really shitty at the time."The two eventually collaborated on a mixtape, Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1, where Arular track acapellas were mashed with other artists' songs. It was listed among 'Albums of the Year' by The New York Times and Pitchfork Media. The two continued to work together after the release. He was the tour DJ on her 2005 Arular Tour.
Diplo continued to work with M.I.A. and, through her, met London DJ Switch. Together, they created the Grammy-nominated track "Paper Planes", peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2015, during an interview with Rolling Stone, M.I.A said that Diplo resented her rise to fame in 2005, that he tried to hold her back, and fought with her about becoming successful.
Mad Decent
From this, Diplo went from being an unknown DJ to taking off as a producer, landing him collaborations with artists like Shakira, Robyn, Kid Cudi, Bruno Mars, No Doubt and Snoop Dogg, as well as work with Maluca, Kid Sister, Die Antwoord, Alex Clare, Rolo Tomassi, Amanda Blank and Dark Meat. After taking a trip to Brazil to investigate the favela music scene, and fascinated with the energy the scene had to offer, Diplo decided to import a dance-funk group Bonde do Rolê from Brazil for release on his Mad Decent record label, also housed within 'The Mausoleum'. This group would serve to define funk carioca in the United States, spawning a host of others to join the movement. Diplo also spent some time documenting the music, and the favelas of Brazil.Although favela funk remained an interest, his Mad Decent imprint would serve as a blank palette for Diplo to showcase the myriad different sounds he had come across while touring around the world. September 2009 even saw Diplo travel to China to play with Steve Aoki at a show organized by promoters Split Works. Diplo quickly developed a reputation for his extensive touring. In the April 2010 issue of Rolling Stone, Diplo was touted as one of '40 Reasons to be Excited About Music'. This kind of jet setting pushed his label far beyond the favela funk genre with which it initially began. Since its foundation in 2005 Diplo's Mad Decent label has released music by Santigold, Baauer, Lil' Jon, Gucci Mane, Peter Bjorn and John, Rusko, Bosco Delrey, Buraka Som Sistema, Savage Skulls, Dana Sibuea, Oliver Twizt, Jamie Fanatic, Douster, Boy 8-Bit, and Popo.
As Mad Decent continues to grow and release tracks by big-name artists, Diplo's solo career continues to grow as well. He has produced for artists such as Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Lil Wayne, Britney Spears, Wale, Chris Brown, Ariana Grande, 2 Chainz, Travis Porter, Usher, Azealia Banks, Iggy Azalea, and AlunaGeorge. On October 16, 2015, Diplo released "Be Right There" along with fellow producer Sleepy Tom. The single charted in multiple countries and has over 100 million streams on Spotify.
On April 23, 2016, Beyoncé released her critically acclaimed album, Lemonade. Diplo produced two tracks on the album, "All Night", and one of the three singles, "Hold Up". The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 and was certified platinum on June 8, 2016. Along with producing tracks on Beyoncé's Lemonade, Diplo collaborated with Canadian DJ duo Zeds Dead on the release "Blame", which featured Swedish singer Elliphant. The track was officially released on July 14, 2016, via Zeds Dead's SoundCloud.
Major Lazer
Diplo's first collaborative full-length record was with Switch, this time under the guise of Major Lazer. Diplo incorporates such disparate influences as Miami Bass and Baile Funk into the high-tech eclecticism of his productions.After landing a deal with Downtown Records before even recording a note of music, Diplo and Switch set out for Jamaica to record a project that, like most of Diplo's projects before it, would highlight the little-known subgenres, this time of Jamaica's dancehall scene.
The two received support by many already established Jamaican artists such as Vybz Kartel, Elephant Man and Ms. Thing, and the resulting record Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do also featured vocals from Santigold, Amanda Blank, Nina Sky, Ricky Blaze and more. When discussing the Major Lazer project, Diplo described the dancehall sound as being "
the end of the world, all the little influences—house, soca, oldies, R&B, jazz—it all ends up in Jamaica." The track "Pon De Floor" from Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do was sampled for Beyoncé's single "Run the World ".
Major Lazer's first album was followed up with an EP, Lazers Never Die, which was released in 2010. Switch left Major Lazer in 2011, and was replaced by DJs Jillionaire and Walshy Fire. A second album, Free the Universe, was scheduled to be released in November 2012 but was delayed to February 2013, and then to April 15. It features artists such as Ezra Koenig, Bruno Mars, Ward 21, Wyclef, The Partysquad, Shaggy, Tyga, Flux Pavilion and Wynter Gordon.
File:Diplo and Walshy Fire of Major Lazer @ Flow 2015.jpg|thumb|left|Diplo and Walshy Fire of Major Lazer performing at Flow Festival in Helsinki, August 2015
On February 8, 2015, during the Grammy Award ceremony, Diplo revealed details of the third Major Lazer album. He confirmed that the album would incorporate artists such as Ariana Grande, Ellie Goulding and Pusha T. It is called Peace Is the Mission. The first single, "Lean On", is a collaboration with French producer DJ Snake and features vocals from Danish recording artist MØ. The second single, "Powerful", featuring Ellie Goulding and Tarrus Riley, was released simultaneously with the album on June 1, 2015.
On November 11, 2015, "Lean On" became Spotify's Most Streamed Song of All Time with over 800 million streams to date. Along with the streaming title, the official video for "Lean On" became one of the most viewed videos on YouTube., it has more than 3.6 billion views. Along with the streaming and viewing milestones, "Lean On" would also go on to achieve double platinum status.
On July 22, 2016, the group released the single "Cold Water", a collaboration with Canadian artist Justin Bieber and Danish singer MØ. The track has already reached over 200 million streams on Spotify, and achieved international commercial success, reaching number one in multiple countries. On November 29, 2016, Major Lazer and Bad Royale released "My Number", a track that samples "54-46 That's My Number" which Pitchfork describes as, "a genre-defining classic from legendary ska/reggae group Toots and the Maytals." This release contained newly recorded vocals from frontman Toots Hibbert specifically designed for Major Lazer, which changed the original lyrics to incorporate the group into the song while keeping the original melody. Their fifth studio album, Music Is the Weapon, features collaborations with Alessia Cara, French Montana, Anitta, Khalid, Skip Marley, Marcus Mumford, J Balvin, El Alfa, Mr Eazi and Nicki Minaj.