When I walk in to Diplo’s green room, he’s bent over a piece of printer paper, writing a rider on it with a silver Sharpie. Skerrit Bwoy leans in and tells him to add two bottles of Hennessey and a bottle of champagne. Diplo agrees, and tells him that this will be their “get shit done rider.” Then, I turn my recorder on, and, before he bangs out the best live show at Storke Plaza (or anywhere on campus) that I’ve seen in my four years here, this is what happens:

Nexus: So, how was it collaborating with Eric Wareheim?
Diplo: Let’s see, um…
I know DJ Michael Jackson — Skerrit Bwoy — over here was in the video.
Diplo: He was, he was. They already had a DJ, DJ Dog Pound. But Michael Jackson was… you know him and Eric are good friends… I showed Eric Skerrit Bwoy’s whole scene and I was like, yo, we gotta do something with this madness and that kind of helped develop the whole crew we have and he’s a friend of mine that I’ve known through some people in Philly and I didn’t even realize how big of a deal he was.
Yeah he’s…
Diplo: His fan base and the culture around him and his show, but he’s a big guy and he’s a visionary and without him propelling the weirdness of the whole project we wouldn’t be as weird as we would like to be. We’re trying to get a little weirder every day, so…
That’s good.
SB: Our “Pon De Floor” video was actually going real good until, like, someone broke out a bottle of Hennessey and then it just went completely… what you saw [laughs]. I’m not taking responsibility for the Hennessey either. Someone else.
Are we not saying who?
Diplo: That’s the thing that Major Lazer can’t… that’s the one weakness he has, you know?
Hennessey?
Diplo: Like, everything runs fine until he has some Hennessey, and then it starts to get weird.
So Hennessey is Major Lazer’s kryptonite?
Diplo: It is.
SB: I don’t think it’s the kryptonite. I think it’s… something different.
It’s like his spinach, if he was Popeye.
Diplo: Exactly. He just gets out of control, that’s all.

To listen to the complete interview podcast, head to http://www.dailynexus.com/2010-09-30/daily-nexus-newscast-interview-major-lazer/.