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Diplo

American DJ and record producer (born 1978)

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 23, 2026
Entity authorityQ533781
Source-derived summary

Thomas Wesley "Wes" Pentz Jr. (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and record producer. He gained recognition in 2008 with his single "Blow Your Head". He is a co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer; a member of the supergroup LSD, with Labrinth and Sia; a member of electronic duo Jack Ü, with producer and DJ Skrillex; and a member of Silk City, with Mark Ronson. He founded the record company Mad Decent in 2006 and the nonprofit organization Heaps Decent in 2007. His 2013 extended play (EP) Revolution debuted at number 68 on the US Billboard 200. Its title track was later featured in a Hyundai commercial and appears on the WWE 2K16 soundtrack.

Diplo worked with and dated British musician M.I.A., producing her 2008 breakout single "Paper Planes". In 2011, he and fellow producer Switch formed the electronic musical group Major Lazer and its namesake cartoon series for FXX, which ran for one season. The group released five studio albums that explored EDM and dancehall music.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Diplo” is american DJ and record producer (born 1978). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Diplo, American and producer, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1978, 2008, 2006, 2007—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1978-11-10. For this dossier, Diplo, American and producer is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american DJ and record producer (born 1978)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q533781. VIAF identifies the subject as 171136721. The Library of Congress control number is no2008116520. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1978, 2008, 2006 and 2007.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Diplo”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Diplo primary sources, Diplo archive and Diplo research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Diplo”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Diplo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.