Biography

Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978) is an American DJ, music producer and songwriter from Tupelo, Mississippi.  After spending most of his childhood years in his father’s bait shop with aspirations of becoming a paleontologist, he took on the stage name Diplo (his favorite dinosaur being a Diplosaurus).  He eventually began to pursue an education in film studies at the University of Central Florida in 1997 where he was exposed to the underground dance genre of Miami bass.  The combination of this genre and the home-grown rap of Mississippi ultimately shaped his production style that had never been heard before, causing Will Ashton, founder of the independent hip-hop label Big Dada Records, to sign Diplo upon relocating to Philadelphia.  Diplo finished up his undergraduate degree at Temple University in 2003.

The following year, Big Dada released Diplo’s solo debut album entitled Florida.  The album focused on a more down tempo style of genre focusing on melody and instruments, as opposed to his usual mash-up of vocals and beats.  The 2004 album was recently reissued and available for purchase via BitTorrent.  That same year, Diplo was approached by the British-Sri Lankan rapper, singer and producer M.I.A.  The two later went on to collaborate on a mixtape entitled Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1.  Shortly after the release, Diplo toured as a DJ on M.I.A.’s Arular Tour in 2005.  In continuing to work with M.I.A, Diplo was introduced to London DJ Switch, who assisted him in producing M.I.A’s hit single “Paper Planes,” which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard US Hot 100 list. 

His introduction to DJ Switch led Diplo to creating his first full-length collaborative record with Switch under the Alias Major Lazer, the two setting off to Jamaica to record their first studio album Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do, which incorporated electronic/hip-hop beats with Jamaica’s dancehall scene.  This record was followed up by many other projects, including their second studio album Free The Universe, released in February of 2013.

Diplo rose from being an unknown, underground DJ in Philly to taking off as a producer and eventually, starting his own label Mad Decent Records and collaborative project known as Jack Ü with renowned dub-step DJ Skrillex.  The duo recently released their debut album including featured tracks with 2 Chainz and Justin Bieber.  Diplo has also been credited with chart-topping EP’s such as 2012's Express Yourself as well as his most recent solo album Random White Dude Be Everywhere, released last year.  He was nominated for Non-Classical Producer of the Year at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, has a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 1 / 1Xtra entitled “Diplo & Friends” and holds a residency at Vegas’ number 1 EDM Nightclub XS Las Vegas on Monday nights, branding the residency as “Mad Decent Mondays” as a way to showcase the artists on the label.

Although Diplo and may not excel in digital sales, he is targeted at a younger demographic, whose primary consumption comes from illicit downloads and streams, as he has over 161,214,292 views on Soundcloud and his most recent single with Major Lazer, “Leon On,” has already seen 36,189,369 YouTube plays just two weeks after its release.  The Major Lazer trio recently announced their plans to release their third studio album Peace is the Mission on June 1st, which will feature top acts l such as Ariana Grande and Ellie Goulding.