Although I do like your music, Diplo, I gotta say, you seriously have a Brazilian fetish that has gone way past any level of decency. It was great when you started incorporating Baile Funk into your Miami drum/bass/electronic beats. But now you’ve gone one step further and created a persona, Major Laser, which has not just appropriated the beats of the favelas, but the violence and sexualization that is part of genre. Baile Funk, which has some pretty nasty beats with lyrics about sex and violence to match, is a tricky thing to produce, especially for a White DJ like yourself, Diplo. And I’ve been able to accept your MIA beats cause its was candy coated. But when you start producing music videos like this (NOT SAFE FOR WORK):
I think you’ve gone too far in appropriating Baile Funk. Why? Cause you are a White American from Florida, and not an impoverished Brazilian living in the City of God. When will it be ok for you to produce and market this music as your own and not have it be a stain on your conscience? Maybe start off by reading Mike Davis’ Planet of Slums to get educated on the future impacts of informal housing and the rapid population rate of impoverished third world countries and then donate part of the proceeds from your albums to local music producers in Rio that you’re stealing from. Or travel back in time and have your mom and pops air drop you into the hills of Rio. Then we’ll talk. Regardless, I’m saving you from getting your ass beat down like this Brazilian reporter who was tortured and murdered in 2002 while doing an expose on Baile Funk…
