Major Lazer! That’s a name which has taken the music industry by storm in 2015. Quality music infused with Reggae influences is the specialty of the artist group. Breaking records one by one, their hit single “Lean On” off the latest album “Peace Is the Mission” is quite not done doing the damage yet. 2016 brings new endeavors of Major Lazer and Major sound. So let’s take a trip to Lazer-land!
Originally started in 2008 as a Digital Reggae/Dancehall project by Thomas Wesley Pentz, better known as his stage name, Diplo and producer David James Andrew Taylor better known as his stage name Switch, Major Lazer is conceptualized on a fictional character who is a renegade Jamaican commando with a laser gun embedded as the right hand who is allegedly a Zombie War veteran and vampire-fighting C.I.A. operative. Diplo is a producer and DJ, who has been a renowned name for his solo productions as well as his side projects Jack U and Major Lazer, also runs his own record label, Mad Decent. Diplo and Switch got acquainted by working with M.I.A., a well-known British rapper, record producer and songwriter and hence, born the massive electronic dance music project as we know it is today.
Recorded at Jamaica’s well known Tuff Gong studios (established by the Reggae legend, Bob Marley), Major Lazer released their debut album, “Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do” in June of 2009 as a collaboration between Downtown Records and Diplo’s label, Mad Decent. The first single “Hold The Line” unveiled the Major Lazer figure for the first time to the world in the animated video. The album featured noted dancehall stars like Vybz Kartel, Busy Signal, Mr. Vegas, and Turbulence, as well as Santigold, Nina Sky, and rapper Amanda Blank. Tracks like ‘Zumbi’, “Keep It Goin’ Louder”, “Pon de Floor” and more took the album to the 7th position on US Top Electronic Albums. Soon the album got Major Lazer in the lime light. Coachella, Pitchfork and Outside Lands Festival are a few of the major events that Major Lazer played at in 2009, while the trio also delivered an Essential Mix on the reputed BBC Radio1!
After the album, Major Lazer followed up with Lazerproof, a collaborative mixtape in May of 2010 with the English electropop duo La Roux, which was given away as a free download. In June 2010, the duo launched Lazers Never Die EP, consisting of two new songs and three remixes by Thom Yorke, K.L.A.M. and Buraka Som Sistema. In other achievements, Switch was one of the producers behind Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls)“, which sampled “Pon de Floor” and Major Lazer were also featured in the track, “Look at Where We Are“, from the extended version of Hot Chip‘s album “In Our Heads“, released in June 2011.
In late 2011, Switch left Major Lazer due to “creative differences” as stated by Diplo. Soon the DJ/Producer duo of Jillionaire and Walshy Fire joined the collaborative effort and this is how we know Major Lazer of today. Also, the Mad Decent artist Boaz van de Beatz has worked on most of the Major Lazer productions and is considered a member of the project. Major Lazer dropped the “Original Don” EP in November 2011 consisting of the single “Original Don” and remixes from Crookers, The Partysquad and Punish Smash Em.
In 2012, Major Lazer started working with Snoop Dogg on his new reggae project and unveiled his alter ego, Snoop Lion with the single “La La La”. Major Lazer has also been active in producing as they partly produced UK singer Rita Ora‘s debut album, Ora. In the same year, Major Lazer worked with No Doubt for their sixth studio album, Push and Shove. The album’s title track features Major Lazer and Jamaican reggae artist Busy Signal as producers and was released as a promotional single in August 2012. Also Major Lazer announced the release date for the sophomore album, Free the Universe in 2013 followed by the world tour throughout the spring.
Free the Universe dropped on April 16, 2013 and featured the producers like GTA, Flux Pavillion, Laidback Luke, Valentino Khan and contribution from the likes of Wyclef Jean, Bruno Mars, Vybz Kartel, and Shaggy. While the viral track “Watch Out for This (Bumaye)” set the dancefloors on fire, the tracks like “Jah No Partial”, “Mashup the Dance” and “Bubble Butt” showed the different tastes of Major Lazer’s sound. The album peaked at on the best dance albums charts at great spots in multiple countries and added one more gem to the Major Lazer showcase.
After the success of their sophomore album, Major Lazer signed with an indie label, Secretly Canadian and unveiled the Apocalypse Soon EP in February 2014. The EP featured some of the most renowned artists like Sean Paul and Pharrell Williams in addition to Machel Montano, RDX, Moska and Mr. Fox. The tracks from the EP charted in the multiple countries while the EP itself charted in France and New Zealand.
In June 2015, Major Lazer released their third album, Peace is the Mission. The first single off the album “Lean On” in collaboration with DJ Snake and MØ is no surprise even, to any person who does not follow Major Lazer or dance music in general. Peace is the Mission featured the collaborations with the artists like Ellie Goulding, Ariana Grande, Tarrus Riley, Travi$ Scott, 2 Chainz,Pusha T and Mad Cobra. Tracks like ‘Powerful’, “Too Original” and “Roll The Bass” did great damage on the dancefloors all over the world. The album charted at peak positions in numerous countries. Peace is the Mission Extended followed in November and contained five new tracks with MOTi, Ty Dolla $ign, Wikid, Kali Uchis and more. It was also supported by an animated series that aired on the FXX cable television network. Major Lazer had over 27 Million Shazams in 2015, making Diplo along with his another collaboration Jack Ü, the most Shazam’d artist in 2015.
Till the end of 2015, this has been one hell of a journey for Major Lazer, full of achievements surpassed by next one. 2016 brings new stories as Diplo brings Mad Decent Block Party to India along with Major Lazer in association with Sunburn and Oji. Also, the new album Music is the Weapon is scheduled for a release this summer. Major Lazer don’t have any plans of slowing down on their way towards solidifying their space in the fans’ hearts. Always ready to blast and give best times, be it on the headphones or in an arena, here we give you, Major Lazer as our Artist of the Month for February 2016!
You can buy your tickets for Mad Decent Block Party here.