Give yourself ten years of failing with a smile on your face. If, after ten years, you still have the passion, you're heading to success!
The energy Major Lazer presents on stage is guided by sound system sessions of years ago.
We're doing unusual records that sound big, have a pop feel, and we're getting better at it.
Notting Hill is a very different carnival from anywhere else. This is an international city, so it represents everybody. You walk around every corner here, you'll hear something new. It's awesome.
We had no clue that Cuba was not Marco Rubio. You get there, and everyone is Afro Cuban. And you start to realize, 'Where are the blonde, blue-eyed Cubans? Oh, they're all in Miami.'
Wherever technology's going, we're cool with it. We're definitely promoters of kids trying out new stuff.
The sound system influence is undeniable in hip-hop, in jungle, drum and bass, now EDM.
There is not one country in this planet where Major Lazer doesn't want to perform.
I'm from Miami, and Diplo is from Fort Lauderdale. We grew up with a lot of Cuban and Haitian friends.
I want to say almost 100% Cubans who get mad at you are Cubans who live in Miami. And they all live comfortably in Miami. They can all go online and tell you what happened to your grandfather. In Cuba, it's a totally different thing. They can't wait for you to come. They're energized. They love your music. They want to see something new.
Dancing doesn't have a language.
That's what I considered Cuba to be... the most loving place I've ever been in my life. And the fact that there's no crime. You walk in the street at any time, and you feel like nothing is going to happen.
Dancehall culture in Europe is very close to Jamaica. Europe and Japan have a very close link to Jamaican dancehall culture, where it's all about sound-systems and horns and girls dancing all crazy - that happens a lot in those places.
Junior Blender is a hardcore dancehall head. He's in Supersonic, which is one of the top soundclash sound-systems in Europe.
Here's the key to Jamaica, the secret to Jamaican dancehall parties, no matter where you are in the world. If you do not see Japanese people, you're at the wrong party. They source authenticity like no other culture I've ever seen.
We like to be the people who go - can go out into the world and say we're the people seeking places that need bridges built and need the kind of energy that we bring, and then actively doing the show. We will pay for it ourselves. We just want to bring the kind of enjoyment that we know we can bring.
If there's anything that would unite the world, it would be music.
I have a saying: I try to make the world smaller by making the party bigger.
Nowadays, people have an open mind vis-a-vis new artists like Meghan Trainor, Nico & Vinz, Hozier - there are hits coming out of everywhere.
We won't be in any reggae publications or websites.
