In the beginning⊠Under the guise of a Trinidadian dancehall club owner, a Jamaican hero commando who lost an arm in the Zombie Wars, suddenly re-emerged with a lazer gun in the place of his missing limb. This man was, in fact, Major Lazer. In 2009, on a mission to set the world free from the malicious forces threatening the peace, Major Lazer released Guns Donât Kill People, Lazers Do, a collection of futuristic dancehall bangers that would protect the world from the spreading malevolence.
The Major Lazer squadron evolved over time to meet the wave after wave of evils, and continued to carry out their mission with Free The Universe in 2013 â instilling world peace,
and ultimately defeating their adversaries. By 2015, destructive forces rose again, and Major Lazer was once more called on to meet the challenge. The world needed him, and return he did, with Peace Is The Mission. Enlisting friends across the globe in an effort to proclaim the message of unity, and to help bring people together with music and dance, Major Lazer embarked on a world tour that reached billions of souls. The people he touched were overjoyed, and the planet was at peace once more.
Having achieved his goal, Major Lazer felt his earthly work was done; and he disappeared from mortal view. And yet the peace was not to last as meanwhile, the world yet again became restless without him. Negative energy seethed throughout existence, and the people began to long for transcendence from it. Feeling the global need for togetherness, Diplo and Walshy took it upon themselves to go in search of their ascended friend, and attempted to summon him back to the material plane.
Hearing their invocations, Major Lazer finally revealed himself from the beyond. Diplo and Walshy were struck by the power of his message â he was giving them the secret to lasting peace and joy for humanity. Major Lazer bestowed it upon them in the form of music; and his teachings took the form of songs. Diplo and Walshy fervently put these down on record for the good of humankind. Major Lazer had charged them with the task of bringing the world back to a place of wonder and oneness with their upcoming fourth album, and to remind everyone that we are able to be at blissful peace when we recognise and harness the light in each other.
And so Diplo and Walshy anointed the Lazer Gyals as the high priestesses of dance, to help them spread the enlightenment of Lazerism throughout the planet. After all, 2019 marks a decade since Guns Donât Kill People⊠Lazers Do first dropped and Major Lazer started their endless world tour in their continuous quest to help the people of this planet. And itâs been ten years of back to back breakthroughs, revelations, hits, holy fire, innovations, record-breakers and ecstatic mic drops.
Major Lazer has climbed the heights of the charts to become an icon that has reshaped the sound of music as we know it; with names like Bruno Mars, Pharrell Williams, Vybz Kartel, Ellie Goulding, 2 Chainz and Pusha T just a random sampling of the bold faced saints and prophets that Major Lazer has collaborated with. Major Lazer are also a headline favourite on the international festival circuit, holding services from Coachella and Glastonbury, to Ultra Music, to Bonnaroo and everything in between â not to mention the sideshows, the guerilla appearances, the dance parties, the animated series, the music videos, the countless plays on Youtube, the Instagram content, and the endless, endless streams that they use to keep spreading their message of peace, love and togetherness.
The group has always evolved and mutated to find new forms and ways of expression, with the red thread of Diplo being a constant in Major Lazerâs permeation of pop music culture. Now a Grammy award winner, Diploâs ability to criss cross genre and geography has made him a constant influence on heavyweights and rising stars alike. After first igniting fire with the masses in 2007 through M.I.A.âs âPaper Planesâ, Diplo has found himself making hits for some of the biggest stars across musical genres â it is his trademark to not only capture the zeitgeist, but to shape it. Diploâs skills knows no boundaries and he has armed some of the worldâs biggest and brightest stars with beats and hits (from Beyonce to Nicki Minaj, from Usher to Justin Bieber, No Doubt to Ariana Grande, Britney Spears to Anitta, from J Balvin to Madonna, his collaborators also include but are not limited to Travis Scott, Sean Paul and Mr Eazi). Diplo is also responsible for record breaking streams and slow burn curve ball number ones alike, under his own moniker and others. His label Mad Decent has spawned its own roster of cutting edge dance music acts, all while he continues to be one of the worldâs most highly sought after DJs; gracing the covers of music, fashion and culture magazines as he does it, whilst his Instagram following grows with every shirtless video he posts.
Major Lazerâs global smash hit âLean Onâ with DJ Snake and MĂ is one of the most successful songs of all time, âCold Waterâ with Justin Bieber and MĂ became the second track to cross one billion streams while âLight it Upâ continues to be a mainstay on dance floors across the world. 2019âs âQue Calorâ featuring J Balvin and El Alfa, which was performed by Balvin at the 2020 Super Bowl alongside Jennifer Lopez, is still climbing charts worldwide with more than 149 million streams to date. This latest reappearance of the Major Lazer from the beyond (designed by Ferry Gouw) sees a yet further enlightened Lazer returning to spread the message of Lazerism with the help of Diplo, Walshy Fire and the Lazer Gyals.
Meanwhile, Diplo continues to find himself exercising his collaborative spirit with the psychedelic supergroup LSD alongside Sia and Labrinth, streamed more than one billion times to date, with his other adventure being the Grammy winning house project called Silk City, with Mark Ronson. On top of that, Major Lazer keeps touring the world over, making the world smaller by making the party bigger and teaching, preaching and reaching the masses through the Lazerism path of enlightenment.
Only time will tell what will be next for Diplo and Major Lazer â but for now, we call upon you to heed the message and join the movement of Lazerism… And to remember: weâre stronger together!
