Major Lazer Releases “GANGSTA” Remix
Fresh from dropping “GANGSTA” featuring Busy Signal and Kybba last month, Major Lazer return today with a fresh batch of “GANGSTA” remixes headlined by the official Major Lazer debut of the group’s newest member, America Foster.
Foster, a British-Jamaican artist and content creator, began performing with the group this summer, joining Diplo, Ape Drums, and Walshy Fire in the latest iteration of the iconic, multi-platinum and diamond-charting music juggernaut. While in the U.K. for performances around August’s Notting Hill Carnival, Major Lazer stopped into radio station Capital XTRA’s London studio for Foster’s first interview with the group, during which she delivered an impromptu freestyle alongside Busy Signal that quickly went viral after it was posted on social media.
Inspired by the overwhelmingly positive reaction, Foster went into the studio and cut a freestyle over the “GANGSTA” instrumental, one of five remixes which appear on Major Lazer’s “Gangsta” remix pack, out today via Mad Decent. The pack also includes a French-language version featuring Martinique-born, France-based shatta dancehall star Maureen, and club-oriented remixes from UK-based DJ/producer Bontan and DJ Fade x Jason Julian.
“GANGSTA,” the first Major Lazer single of 2025, reunites the group with dancehall icon Busy Signal, who previously featured on their salsa-infused 2013 classic “Watch Out For This (Bumaye).” The track also sees the group team up with Kybba, the Italy-raised, Amsterdam-based DJ/producer behind record label, video channel and events brand Basshall Movement, on a banger flavored by the sounds of the French Caribbean’s shatta dancehall movement. “Gangsta” is a classic Major Lazer big-room banger, fusing dancehall and future-leaning dance sounds with Busy Signal’s quick-witted badman lyrics.
While they gear up for an upcoming project, the group has been on the road, rolling out new music in unconventional ways—like premiering tracks on Kai Cenat’s Mafiathon 3 stream, hosting a 12-hour livestream in Las Vegas where they unveiled a series of new shows, opening up their studio sessions to give fans a BTS look at the creative process, and even doing a pop-up in a London tunnel for a live performance of “GANGSTA” with Busy Signal.
America Foster made her live debut with Major Lazer during four raucous sets at Paris’s Fete De La Musique in June, and revealed the news of her joining the group in an Instagram post after Major Lazer’s headlining set at Austria’s Electric Love Festival in July.
America Foster is a British-Jamaican artist, content creator, and all-around performer whose distinctive style, humor, bold personality, authentic voice and creative versatility caught the attention of Diplo, Walshy Fire, and Ape Drums, leading to a collaboration in Jamaica that evolved into a formal place in the group. Raised between cultures and continents, she has built a loyal online following through sharp-witted freestyles, sketches, and genre-fluid music. With a perspective shaped by both outsider humor and deep-rooted cultural fluency, the charismatic Foster brings fresh energy to Major Lazer’s global sound.
“Coming back out now with America and Busy Signal feels like starting a new chapter while revisiting an old one,” Diplo said of “GANGSTA.” “Busy Signal was a big part of our journey with Major Lazer, blessing us with his incredible vocals on ‘Bumaye,’ a massive single that helped define what Major Lazer was going to be. Now, more than a decade later, we’re starting another journey with America joining the group. It’s amazing how much she complements the dynamic we’ve already established with Walshy and Ape Drums. We’re excited for fans to finally see what we did in America now that she’s finally on a Major Lazer track! More big things to come!”
Formed by Diplo and U.K. producer Switch after a trip to Jamaica to produce tracks for M.I.A., Major Lazer debuted in 2009 with the genre-bending, dancehall-punk concept album Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do. Following the departure of Switch in 2011, the group returned with 2013’s Free the Universe, and the addition of DJ/MC/producers Walshy Fire and Jillionaire. Ape Drums joined the group in 2019, replacing Jillionaire, with that lineup remaining intact until this summer’s addition of America Foster.