
Major Lazer + M.I.A. Reunite To Ask “Where’s The Daddy?”
Major Lazer has shared “Where’s The Daddy?” featuring M.I.A., one of several previously unreleased tracks set to appear on Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do (15th Anniversary Edition), an expanded reissue of the group’s seminal 2009 debut album coming Nov. 15 on Mad Decent. Pre-save the album HERE.
An unexpected new video, also out today (Watch HERE), reunites Major Lazer founders Diplo and Switch with M.I.A. for the first time in over ten years, bringing the circa-2009 track into the present with a playful Cybertruck joyride through Malibu. The “Where’s The Daddy?” video, directed by Renèe George, also marks Switch’s first official appearance with Major Lazer since formally departing the group in 2011.
Diplo and Switch have been essential contributors to M.I.A.’s sound—as both individual producers and frequent collaborators—since the start of her career, with the pair uniting to produce her signature single, 2007’s “Paper Planes.” Diplo and Switch also credit M.I.A. for helping to birth Major Lazer, as the project grew out of a surplus of beats the producers concocted for her in the late 2000s.
“M.I.A. was always the catalyst for our side project…we made too many beats for her,” Diplo explains. “We decided to go record them in Jamaica because the artists were extremely talented, the productions at the time were cutting edge, and it was cheap. We made this Major Lazer album down there…and started a little movement that ended up having a few billion streams. It’s cool to put out ‘Where’s The Daddy?’ now because M.I.A. was the third daddy of Major Lazer.”
“Where’s The Daddy?” revives the rhythm track from Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do interlude “Baby,” with biting lyrics about parenthood, deadbeat dads and the patriarchy from M.I.A. set against the arresting sound of a baby crying through autotune.
“This year, 15 years later, we found a locked safe of all the hard drives from that period,” Switch says. “I’d lost the keys long ago, but a 12” drill bit took care of that. It was like opening a musical treasure trove. There’s a LOT of unreleased gems we found in there—‘Where’s The Daddy’? being one, well chuffed.”
“Where’s The Daddy?” is the second track from the Major Lazer vaults unearthed for Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do (15th Anniversary Edition), following “Nobody Move” with dancehall icon Vybz Kartel, released last month alongside an animated video directed by Major Lazer visual mastermind Ferry Gouw (Watch HERE). The digital-only expanded editionalso includes the re-release of “Zumbie” with Andy Milonakis and the instrumental “Pon de Streets,” as well as newly reimagined cover art from Gouw. It has been remastered by Switch in Dolby Atmos spatial audio for Apple Music.
Additionally, the original version of the album—minus the four bonus tracks—will be repressed on vinyl for the first time in fifteen years to celebrate the anniversary. Pre-order the 2xLP vinyl reissue—which is also out Nov. 15 —HERE.
Originally released in June of 2009, Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do was a point of artistic convergence for Major Lazer co-founders Diplo and Switch, who had spent the previous decade establishing themselves at the cutting edge of sonic experimentation. The duo maximized their global reach when they joined forces, blending effervescent dancehall, dubwise reggae, and bass-heavy electronic beats, anticipating the coming rise of EDM while championing Jamaican artists like Vybz Kartel, T.O.K and Mr. Vegas, alongside indie royalty Santigold and New York dance-pop duo Nina Sky, to create a cohesive and vibrant musical world. This bold experimentation not only set the stage for Major Lazer’s continued global success, but also changed the overall trajectory of popular music by expanding the possibilities of the medium itself.
“If you have a vision, you gotta go with it and that’s what we did with this first album,” Diplo says, looking back on the project.
On a sonic level, the then-duo of Diplo and British producer Switch were among the first to bring dance and pop sounds from the Caribbean into the American mainstream and combine them in surprising and seamless ways with other global influences. Visually, the album’s iconic album art by Ferry Gouw, depicting the group’s one-armed Jamaican commando avatar; the delightfully zonked-out “Pon De Floor” and “Keep It Going Louder” videos directed by Eric Wareheim (of Tim & Eric fame); and a jaw-dropping live show rounded out the colorful Major Lazer universe. On the whole, Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do signaled a major overhaul of how pop music could look, feel and sound.
Major Lazer has gone through many evolutions since boldly emerging in 2009. Initially a studio-oriented project, the outfit developed into a live juggernaut with the addition of New York-based dancehall MC Skerrit Bwoy, blowing minds on tour and at festivals across the U.S. and Europe. Following Switch and Skerrit Bwoy’s departure in 2011, the duo were replaced by Jillionaire and Walshy Fire, transforming Major Lazer into the festival-headlining, world-touring, global-pop kings behind hits like the Diamond-certified “Lean On”—one of the most streamed songs of all time—and “Light It Up.” Major Lazer reached its current lineup of Diplo, Walshy Fire and Ape Drums in 2019, issuing Piano Republik, a collaborative album with South African amapiano stalwarts Major League Djz, in 2023. In 2014, the artistic universe created by Gouw—a mash-up of ’80s era Saturday morning cartoons and the outlandish pulp illustrations of Jamaican album art designer Wilfred Limonious—was expanded into an animated Major Lazer TV series on the FXX network.
Through it all, Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do has remained a singular achievement: A perfect bridge between eras, sounds, and cultures, possessing an undeniable sense of style and cool while expanding the possibilities for what mainstream pop music could be.