Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), better known by his stage name Diplo, is an American DJ, record producer, rapper and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, and along with producer and DJ Skrillex, part of the electronic duo Jack U. He founded and manages record company Mad Decent, as well as co-founding the non-profit organization Heads Decent. Among other jobs, he has worked as a school teacher in Philadelphia.

Main article; M.I.A.  After hearing one of his songs in 2004, M.I.A. approached Diplo when he was DJing one night at the Fabric Club in London. Coincidentally, Diplo was playing her songs "Galang" and "Fire Fire" as she entered the club, which he got from a worker at i-D magazine. Diplo added, "She came through and she wanted to meet me 'cause she'd heard my single and the funk mix from one of her A&Rs and she just thought I was right up her alley. Besides me being a white dude from Florida and her being a Sri Lankan girl in England, everything else was the same: [We were both] film graduates, [listened to] all the same music when we were kids, were going in the same direction right now in music, it was amazing... I always wanted to make a beat with her, but all my beats were really shitty at the time." The two eventually collaborated on a mixtape, Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1., where Arular track acapellas were mashed with other artists' songs and was mentioned as 'Albums of the Year' from the New York Times and Pitchfork Media. The two continued to work together after the release. He was the tour DJ on her 2005 Arular Tour.  Diplo continued to work with M.I.A. and, through her, met London DJ Switch. Together, they created the Grammy-nominated track "Paper Planes", peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2015, during an interview with Rolling Stone, M.I.A said that Diplo resented her rise to fame in 2005, that he tried to hold her back, and fought with her about becoming successful.

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did they ever go on tour?