Diplo Opens Up About His Interest In Amapiano. Thomas Wesley Pentz also known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD with Sia and Labrinth, a member of electronic duo Jack Ü with producer and DJ Skrillex, and a member of Silk City with Mark Ronson.
“South Africa is the craziest environment culturally, socially, politically for music that is happening right now,” Diplo says on the phone from Malibu over the sound of peacocks squawking in his yard. “South Africa is a pretty big country, land wise, but it’s not that many people compared to other African nations. But the diversity is so crazy that it’s got to be the only answer for why the music is so wild.”
“It doesn’t really lean on influences from other parts of Africa,” he continues. “It’s so different and so insular, so that’s probably why it grows in such a weird way. I love the musical journey that’s happened there through the last 20 to 30 years.”
“Major League is so in tune with the [Amapiano] scene; they’re about whatever happened last weekend,” Diplo says. “That’s so South African, to be too up to date, when my job as a producer was to make this project about the world. How do we really translate a lot of these records to everybody, not about just impressing the South African Amapiano heads? Let’s try and make them happy, but also try and make something that’s easy for everybody [to] learn about Amapiano music.”
