Major Lazer is an American electronic dance music and DJ trio,[1] which includes record producer Diplo, and DJs Walshy Fire and Ape Drums.

[2] Their music spans numerous genres, mixing reggae with dancehall, ReggaeEDM, reggaeton, soca,[3] house and moombahton.

[11] Vocalists such as Santigold, Vybz Kartel, Ward 21, Busy Signal, Nina Sky, Amanda Blank, Mr. Vegas, Turbulence, Mapei, T.O.K, Prince Zimboo, Leftside, and M.I.A.,[12] with others contributing guest vocals to the album, as well as additional production from Afrojack, Nebat Drums and Crookers.

[16] Music videos for the songs "Pon de Floor", "Keep It Going Louder", and "Bubble Butt" were directed by Eric Wareheim.

[19] It used the instrumental tracks from the self-titled debut album and "brazenly mashes them up with beats and rhymes that are almost wholly up-to-the-minute hip, encompassing rap, R&B, dancehall, and dubstep".

[21][22] Major Lazer's live shows previously included hype man Skerrit Bwoy,[23] although he left the group in 2012 to pursue religion.

[27][28] In September 2012, Major Lazer announced that its upcoming album, Free the Universe, would be released on March 12, 2013, on Mad Decent.

[30] The album's title track features producers Major Lazer and Jamaican reggae artist Busy Signal, and was released as a promotional single in August 2012 reaching no.

[36] The first single, "Lean On", was a collaboration with French producer DJ Snake and featured vocals from Danish recording artist MØ.

[citation needed] The second single from the album, titled "Powerful", featured English singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding and Jamaican singer Tarrus Riley.

[citation needed] In an interview with inthemix on May 22, 2015, Walshy Fire announced that Major Lazer's fourth studio album would be titled Music Is the Weapon and that it would be released late 2015 or early 2016.

It featured remixes of selected tracks from their third studio album, including "Lean On", "Powerful", "Be Together", "Night Riders", and "Roll the Bass".

[45] On July 22, 2016, a new track titled "Cold Water", featuring vocals from MØ and Justin Bieber, was released by Major Lazer.

[46] On September 30, 2016, "Believer", a collaboration with Dutch production duo Showtek, was released as the second single from Major Lazer's upcoming fourth album.

The song is a collaboration with Bad Royale 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.

The song features Canadian musician PartyNextDoor and rapper Nicki Minaj, serving as a follow-up to the tropical, laid-back sound of "Cold Water".

[citation needed] On May 10, 2019, Major Lazer released the song "Can't Take It from Me", featuring Skip Marley, as the new lead single for their fourth studio album.

[52] In June 2019, Jillionaire left the group to focus on solo projects, and was replaced by American DJ and record producer Ape Drums.