Major Lazer

Major Lazer was formed as a duo: Diplo and Switch, two producers who had already worked together on projects for M.I.A. and Santigold. To record their first album, they traveled to Jamaica, to the Tuff Gong studios, and created something that blends electronic music with the pulse of dancehall. That debut, Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do, was released in June 2009 with the labels Downtown Records and Mad Decent, and the vocals feature names like Vybz Kartel, Busy Signal, Mr. Vegas, Santigold and Nina Sky, among others. In the production, they also involved Afrojack and the Italian duo Crookers.The first single was Hold the Line, with a video by Ferry Gouw that received a nomination at the MTV Video Music Awards in the category Video Revelation.

The following singles, Pon de Floor and Keep It Going Louder, were directed by Eric Wareheim. In May 2, 2010, they released the mixtape Lazerproof together with La Roux, where R&B from Drake, dubstep from Rusko, drum & bass from Skream, and dancehall from Gyptian coexist. That same July, they released the EP Lazers Never Die, with collaborations from M.I.A. and Buraka Som Sistema, plus a remix by Thom Yorke.Switch left in late 2011 due to artistic differences. Before leaving, he used the sample of Pon de Floor to produce Run the World (Girls) by Beyoncé.