Diplo the stones are coming later. We beat both of them. Charlie you kicked it off. You are the opening act for the president. You said this is the most important show youve ever done. Diplo i think the pressure is on us to do something. This is kind of an amazing opportunity. Right now, ive done so many concerts. We have fans to the world. This is a show we are doing free for the people. We were invited. Very diplomatic opportunity, i feel like. Especially right now when relations between cuba and america is so unique for the first time in 50 years. That we can come into something cultural as a bridge. People think its about politics, but its a lot deeper. You muslim young people today. Met some young people today. Where was that curiosity . Diplo today, we spent an hour doing a press conference with young these issues. I was amazing about how specific their questions were about distribution, sound cloud, record labels, mastering. About the sound they use. They are trying to do this for a living. I feel like whats amazing is having this access to me is like having this access to the internet that they dont have very easily. Having me there giving simple answers is huge for them. Charlie you are a way for them to find out how music works. Diplo i was surprised at how much they knew. How culturally aware they were. There is such a blockade of coulter reaching here. These kids are finding ways to charlie how much recognition is there . Diplo not much. Kids today that are into electronic music are aware of who i was. Through usb keys and packages but they dont know who we are. Just the sound. Tomorrow, they will see our whole show and see the whole show and get the full experience. Charlie is that what makes music so global and universal . That there is the sound. That it is not a song. It is a sound. It is not vocal. Diplo electronic music can be made by anybody. You dont need a huge team to build you up and build your album. Electronic music can be made on a home computer in one hour and you can upload it to the internet. It goes to the world instantly. That is what is beautiful about electronic music. It is the sound. Charlie how good a musician do you have to be . Diplo im a pretty bad musician. I think that speaks volumes. I can play a key, i can play an instrument simply, and i can find chords. I am by no means an aficionado or a great musician. I think i just find ideas first. Definitely just coming up with concepts and ideas. I can make music. Im just not a great player. Theyre so some great guitar players, keyboard players im just a person that can take those sounds and build something out of it. Its a whole other level to the music. Charlie how do you define electronic dance music for people watching this conversation that dont really know . Diplo the three words are pretty simple. Electronically, you use a computer. You dont have to always dance to the music. Theres that. It is created very simply. All you need to do is have one sound. You can user iphone to record the voices and import that. Create a whole spectrum of sound. You can make it archaic, you can make a whole symphony. Some of the great guys that did music in france, they built entire symphonies out of keyboards. Symphonics of electronics. Charlie symphonics of electronics. Diplo you heard it in the 80s. It has just kind of always pushed forward. It is kind of snowballed and people take it and create more. Charlie do you think because technology is moving forward that electronic dance music will move forward . Diplo i think it will constantly move forward because the people making it are really young. They are the ones that will take chances quicker than anybody else. An older man it is very hard to steer a big ship. A smaller one you can paddle quickly. It will make them very excited and they are very literate. Charlie it is extraordinary. Think about lean on. Spotify said it was the most diplo the most streamed song ever. Of all time. That particular song speaks volumes. Its very worldwide. Even in america, we are not a huge act by any means. In turkey, china, india, that song hit people. Jamaica, trinidad, mexico, brazil. It was a huge hit. It incorporates everything from reggae music to pop music. The singer is danish. The song is a little bit of everything. I think it speaks to the world. It has a caribbean influence at the same time. That influence and that rhythm translates to the rest of the world. Its able to go everywhere like that. Charlie beyond that, the people that are downloading on spotify there is a sense that you are playing to huge crowds. Diplo we have played festivals for 200,000 people in germany, belgium. Arenas it is crazy how big the fan base is. We have done shows for that many people in germany or holland. Charlie more popular outside of the United States . Diplo 100 . Europe is the biggest market for our music. Im not sure why that is. Even with our labels we start in , europe. Lean on was platinum for five countries before it hit the top 40 in america. America hasnt had an american artist on the billboard 100 for five months or something. Its been adele, rihanna, drake, people from canada and europe. America has kind of have a developed in terms of pop music. Charlie why do you think that is . Diplo i think it hasnt he to i think it has something to do with the worldwide aspect of music now. We used to be the ambassadors for popular culture. Now i think it is coming back. The world has had a piece of it and they are creating something more extraordinary. We digesting that now as americans. Charlie you recorded with Justin Bieber. Diplo i did. A great kid. Hes scored i think they scored three number one records in america. Charlie when you were here, did you work with cuban musicians . Diplo yesterday was the first time i met someone that was a friend of mine. They had to leave cuba to develop their sound and they have come back here because of the opportunities to be back in cuba. These guys are really special. Their story is really amazing. I would love to introduce you to them later on. Charlie that would be great. Your schedule is amazing. You leave here on monday at 5 00. Diplo 5 00 a. M. We head back to america. We play las vegas on tuesday. We have the south american tour on friday. Before i came here, it would probably be the strangest routing ever. Islamabad, to l. A. , to havana. I dont know if anyone has ever done that. We did a show there last charlie pakistan. Saturday. How would you tell someone the difference between good electronic music and great . Diplo its hard. Everybody has their own opinion. Music affects you. Great music, i think time will tell when it lasts. A lot of times, electronic music people might kind of not give it , a fair chance. Because some people dont understand what goes into electronic music. Some people think its just a bunch of button pressing. Charlie some people say it wont last. Diplo its been going on since the first synthesizers, the first electronic synthesizers. All the way to donna summers, creating disco music and soul music with synthesizers. Its been here for a longtime. Its already had six or seven lives. Charlie and for you, what do you hope to do with this . Diplo i feel like we are in havana, we came from islamic islamabad. We had big giant festivals. I think its important to play places like this where the music is brandnew. These other guys that are going to change it. The kids in havana, the kids in pakistan. The kids that will take it to a new level. I hope to be an ambassador for them. Charlie and there is a sense that somehow this is an important time for these young cubans. For them to feel connected to the world. Diplo the first time they are getting connected. Earlier in the interview, they would talk about the Rolling Stones coming. There have been a few artists that are sort of nostalgic. What is cool is that tomorrow, we are at the top of our game. It doesnt happen a lot of times. Connected artists coming for nostalgic reasons. I think its important for us to be bridging that gap. The music we are making right now is happening in cuba. Cuba can make the music as well. Its spontaneous and happening right now. Charlie when you come, what is involved . Who is coming with you . Diplo i come with a complex group of people coming. My manager, putting it together. The cuban government i work with some of the ambassadors here. It is pretty complex. I appreciate the huge team that makes it happen. Those guys worked tirelessly. Charlie who will be on stage with you . Diplo we have three of us on stage performing the music. And the production, the lights, the videos. Charlie what they say about electronic dance music is that they love that the concerts can go on for hours. There are no physical limitations. Diplo there is also no set list. You can kind of do whatever you want. Charlie is there a playlist or is it spontaneous . Diplo it depends. When we have lighting cues, we sometimes have to keep it formatted. But a lot of times, we just go off on a tangent. Wants crowd once this, i will go that way. Thats the whole job of the dj. Charlie to feel where the crowd is. And is it different when you go from country to country . Diplo 100 . I played songs i never play elsewhere. Some sounds charlie do you have to know their music . Diplo i do research all the time. Today, i will be getting a lot of records and trying to edit are set list and going through samples. It gets a little bit of surprises, you know. Charlie the thing about cuba is they really celebrate artists here. There artists are put up on pedestals. Diplo they do. I think the culture in general, cuba is a place where education is free. Health care is free. A lot of cuba is for the greater good of the cuban people. A lot of emphasis on the individual as well and creativity. I visited one of the most important film schools in the world. People traveling to go to film school here in cuba. I think culture is taken very seriously. The actual stream of information that comes here is so unique. Things areird what given to people and taken away. There are still creators everywhere. Charlie is this a long way from Daytona Beach . Diplo we have such a cuban influence in florida and everywhere. Food in florida feels more cuban than the food in cuba. But i never thought i would be back. I never thought i would be here with you. Charlie i did not know i would be here with you either. When you called and said, im going to cuba, i thought, thats great. But you are the last person i thought would call me. Diplo its strange. Even in islamabad, i had to go through the embassy there. Its one of the most important outlets for media. Its the second most popular Facebook Page in all of pakistan. Their job is to market america. That is what embassies do. They have a media center that helps market the perception of what americans do and the american relations. I can go share my experience and bring music to kids. I think thats the most important thing we can do in america is to bridge the cultural gap. And there is a lot of capital and what were doing is creative people. Its important that obama is coming. Thats huge. The first time in 70 years. And its also important for People Like Us to come and share our music as far as the kids they are the ones that will change the relationship. Charlie do you have political conversations . Diplo i dont understand a lot. I am curious. Understanding how kids have the opportunity to make music. What is their job . How do you choose to be a ballerina, athlete, or dr. . Aboute what do they know the rest of the world . Diplo they are aware. They get information from the internet. Cubans are resilient. They will find ways to access instagram and facebook. Im surprised at how much they are aware and i think it will change a lot. When information starts to come, you cant stop that flow. Charlie you had a certain countercultural light. You know people from all cultures. Diplo i think growing up in florida. Daytona is one area i grew up in. Thats when i got interested in reggae, dance hall, jamaican music, wall street fire some of the guys we walked with. We had similar interests. As music changed and music became more of a global culture, we had the opportunity to make music like what we think of it. It became possible. 15 years ago, the genres were very distinct. You had to make a certain kind of music. These kids play metallica on the radio. They are doing metal, a lecture on a electronic, caribbean music. Everyone has an amazing opportunity to make fusion. Charlie how did you make the transition from local dj to global superstar . Diplo thats a good question. Im still trying to figure that out. Charlie you were in philadelphia as a dj playing a lot of events. Diplo i was a really lucky guy to be in a certain time. When i was doing music, i was selling mix tapes handtohand. I used to make a living doing that. Charlie you made the tapes. Diplo i made them and would go to record shops. One in new york just closed down. I sold them 100 cds at a time and i would make 600. It would cost me . 45 each. It was my living for three years. I could sell cds out of my car. On the internet, this guy is selling them on his own and we should try to invest with him. People invested in what i did and i started creating it. Its almost like working in business. Charlie what was the breakthrough . Diplo i think it was mia. It kind of exploded. Me and her made a mix tape. She was able to make albums. People gave her money to make records and thats all you want. Charlie arent you in a place where people really want to collaborate with you . This is a collaborative game. Diplo im the performer, but a lot of times, im behind the scenes. Like with someone like Justin Bieber or chris brown i like both and im glad i can do both. Im still Getting Better as a producer. Im still learning everyday. As a dj, i can go places like havana. It was just i have this excess of music. I was making a lot of music. I made music for a lot of different people but i was starting to go a certain direction and nobody was getting what i was making. Maybe lets try this. I said, lets do our own project. Charlie you do have a certain reputation as a bad boy. Diplo thats funny to hear you say that. I think, for me, when it comes to media, for a while, any publicity is good public city. Just making noise. And i have grown up a lot over the last couple years. I started to let the music speak as much as i can. Diplo at some point, those kinds of controversy can fuel you. And the battle with taylor swift . Diplo that was indirect. I thought i would never meet her. Since then, i have become a friend. Charlie you might one day collaborate with taylor swift . Diplo i see her a lot. Its funny that i have seen her around and we talk sometimes. Four years ago, i never would have expected to meet her. Charlie are you in a place were you can measure this . One grammy. You are accepted by all aspects of the music fraternity. You walk among them and know part of what it means to be a musician. Diplo i just dont take that too seriously. Im only here to make music. If i dabble in the pop world, maybe i can get something out of it. That im just here to make music. Charlie and what has the same done to you . Diplo for me . Charlie to you. Diplo you have to make sure that you separate your personal life from the one people perceive. That there is one hand in reality and one hand in that world. Charlie and how much of you is a very shrewd businessman . Diplo luckily, my managers are the ones that say no to anything. I will say yes to work. I would probably be happier staying in las vegas or doing the festival circuit. I think its important. Ive done those shows. Its important to create something new. Thats why i started this new music. I started renting old vfw halls, rented kegs and played music. No one else was helping us. Thoseimportant to keep parties happening. That is what we are doing in havana. Charlie and being the master of your own destiny. Diplo and making the new generation so that kids can do it. Giving them the right tools, the music will be awesome in five or 10 more years. I have a record label, too. When vjing slows down, i would love to help other artists. Help other artists make more music. Charlie you have a production company. Diplo we do a touring company, and we incubate new artists. Charlie where do you see yourself five years from now . You and the music scene . Diplo still making music. Im 37. I will be 42. Charlie is there a point where you think you will ever not be in touch with where the music is. Diplo the reason i do it is because im still excited and still inspired. If you are a writer, a writer is never they get better every year. Producers should, too. But it is a chaotic situation. Music keeps getting crazier and crazier. Can you imagine . Can you imagine the Rolling Stones would expect for hardcore punk to happen . Im sure that at some point, they have found their gravity and kept it there. Im trying to go as far as i can. Charlie can you imagine if you ick toconversation with mm , imagine that he would be playing to sellout crowds in cuba . Diplo it would have to be free. Charlie sellout crowds when you are 70. Diplo hes a special person. That era those records are , copyright. They are bigger than life. I aspire to have one record like that. One record like the Rolling Stones song, which they were one of the first groups internationally. Dice, beasts of burden there are so many great records. I think there is something important about the band dynamic that kept growing. That is what is important about collaboration. One person cant just do it. Bowie is a good example. He had like 10 careers. They always change. I think bowie created what we have in them modern society as far as marketing yourself and creating yourself. Charlie what is your brand . Diplo i dont know. I need your help to figure that out. Im still working on it. Im not as much of a performer at someone like bowie or mick jagger. In trying to create new ideas. Blaze the trail for new sound. Charlie it is interesting. When i tell people im coming to cuba to see you, nobody said whos diplo. Nobody. I may know all the people that know you. Diplo thats surprising. Charlie they said, wow. Diplo these kids today, im wondering why they know me and how they know me. Im blessed that im able to reach these people. Even on my own and through the music independently. It is a blessing. It is a blessing every day to do what we do as crate of people and make a living out of it. 100 . Charlie i cant wait to do what im going to do this day. Diplo i was so battered every other job. Im lucky im good at making music. Charlie do you know what it is you are good at making music . Diplo i dont know. Im just advocating the culture. Helping them move. Im just able to push it different ways and influence things. Its a huge undertaking to create that project thats a big step. Give people behind you. You had to coerce a lot of people, even in music. Great people to help you do it. Charlie what is the documentary youre making . Diplo right now were still developing this idea in cuba. Youre going to speak with the director later. Were trying to capture a moment in time right before cuba is combg to make a huge change. Were seeing the way these kids are interacting and getting music now. Its a special time. I think once the information starts to flow here and the music starts to happen its going to be super, super crazy. Were going to capture a time right now where this is changing for them. Charlie you know whats interesting, too, my impression is that people at the top of music, beyonce, say, theyre at the top because theyve been open to new ideas. Diplo yeah. Charlie in part. Diplo a good example. The modern version of that. Charlie and, and then looking for new ideas and the reason theyre where they are is because they accepted new ideas. Diplo yes. Charlie people like that are reaching out to you saying diplo it is a special time right now. On the radio, for instance, you have to have a revolutionary sound to kind of get peoples attention. Weve heard everything already. Two, three, four five times. Pop music is a lot different than it was five or 10 years ago. You have to have something electric. You know . Not just the song writing but the way it sounds, the way its presented. The way youre mixing things up. People are excited and very aware. People are culturally aware. Theyve heard a lot of music. The fans are out there and ready for something brand new. Theyre ready for something chaotic and exciting. These artists reaching out, new producers like me, reaching out to us because were giving them something new, something exciting. Charlie how many people in electronic music are at the level you are . Is it five of you . Diplo i mean, d. J. Probably, yeah. Five to 10 dejays doing really cool, cuttingedge stuff and able to make a living. Guys like Calvin Harris, great song writers. Charlie Calvin Harris makes more than beyonce does a year. Diplo yeah. Crazy. Small overhead when youre just a dejay. Beyonce has an army. I forget what its called. Charlie the bee hifes. You have to pay all those people. Diplo you do. You know . You know, theres not a lot of overhead being a dejay. If you can do it, you should invest that money into other opportunities like creating a live show or investing in music or doing shows like here or i think thats important to keep pushing that brand. Charlie cuba is one part of it, do you think today is a moment for you . Do you think in a sense you are in place, and cuba is a reflection of it, where you have to, youre at maximum impact and you need to make sure that im throwing everything i have into it . Diplo yes. Charlie so that i can use that power to change, influence, shape, get better . Diplo i think were writing a new language right now and coming to cuba, were going to figure out what we do thats great. Were going to try and learn new things. The next guys that come, there are going to be new dejays after us. Hopefully one step, the next guys can do it bigger and do a better job and hopefully were also learning, too. Everything we do is a learning curve. I want to make great shows, concerts, songs. Were here because our songs have reached the people here in cuba, which is what im the most excited about that weve actually gotten our music in cuba. People became fans. Thats awesome. Thats one of the most Amazing Things we could ask for. Charlie whats on your wish list . Diplo to go take a vacation. After this maybe. Charlie yeah. But, i mean, you want to take electronic dance music to the far corners of the world . Diplo i think thats whats exciting about it when i first started, you know . Get back to those roots where were starting new scenes. I want to do more music. We want to do another album. Weve started our fourth album. Weve opened up sort of a language and style around the world and i want to keep pushing those ideas forward. Im so happy. Charlie the resurgence of jazz charlie the resurgence of jazz music is being embraced by millennials and purists alike. The New York Times writes with his popular political uncat gorizeable jazz the young saxaphonist has become something the genre rarely produces anymore, a celebrity. The epic is wild liam bishes, 172minute debut album met with rave reviews from both main stream audiences and the jazz establishment. Here he is with the next step playing ray run in our studio. Charlie im pleased to have Kamasi Washington at this table for the first time. Welcome. Good to have you playing in the studio. Even more impressive. Kamasi thank you. Charlie you said some interesting things. You said jazz is like a telescope and a lot of other music is like a microscope. Kamasi yeah. What i meant is that jazz has a very wide expanse of possibilities and sometimes you can kind of get lost in that. One thing i learned from playing the music was the importance of some of the subtleties that are more like a microscopic view of something. When i took that kind of approach and applied it to the wide expanse of jazz it kind of really opened me up and opened my possibilities. Theyve really become endless. Charlie your dad introduced you to the saxaphone . Kamasi yeah. Music in general. He started me playing music when i was 3 years old. Its been my whole life. Charlie was he a musician . Kamasi yes. Saxaphonist. Charlie how that is to have your father there . Kamasi its beautiful. I grew up always wondering and used to always wish other people could hear him, you know, not just him but him and his friends and that whole sound of l. A. That was coming up, was around when i was coming up. Charlie you say the beauty of music is in the search. Kamasi yeah. Absolutely. Music is never ending. You know, its basically, you know, when youre trying to create music youre trying to kind of recreate yourself in that when you create music you kind of look at yourself and you end up advancing yourself in a way. Charlie you have described writing a song as going into a dark room to look for an unexpected treasure. Kamasi yeah. Because music, people dont realize as a musician we take the credit. It comes from somewhere else. And so what charlie where does it come from . Kamasi i dont know where it comes from but i know its almost like there are melodies and sounds and there are ideas that are floating around as a musician when i go to write music i have to get myself in a certain head space and it is like being in a dark room that youre very familiar with the more you try to write music and you start to learn where certain gems are but youre always looking for that gem youve never found before. So its like youre searching around. Oh, ive been here before. Ive never been over here. Wow. What is this thing . Then it comes to you and you take this little thing and you turn it into something that you can share with other people. Charlie where was jazz in the music market place today . Kamasi well, i think jazz has been trapped in a poor image. I think that its been trapped in this image of something that is an historic relic or something that is made for to serve a purpose, some other purpose other than to just enjoy. I think its music thats the reverse. Its such an expressive music and when you hear jazz, you really hear a commune of people who are expressing themselves together. And i think that freedom, once you get into it, thats why you rarely find someone saying oh, i used to be into jazz but not anymore. Its like once you get it, it stays with you. Charlie modern jazz is right here in new york. Kamasi oh, yeah. New york has been the mecca of jazz since charlie in the 1940s. Kamasi yeah. But theres always been music from other places that fed new york. New york is like the place where everyone kind of comes and brings the music from their region and brings it to new york and lets, you know, the rest of the world hear it. But its always been, you know, you had the crusaders coming from texas. You had the sound from new orleans. You had cool jazz in l. A. You had, you know, there was so many things happening from so many different places. But new york is the place where we all kind of commune and show what we do. Charlie how close are you to Kendrick Lamar . Kamasi i met kendrick recently. I had known kendricks music for a very long time from a very close friend, terrence martin, who had been working with kendrick. He introduced me to his music in 2008. And he told me back then that kendrick was going to be the John Coltrain of hip hop. Charlie amazing. Kamasi yeah. Because kendrick is such a pure artist. Thats what they have him in connection John Coltrains music is so pure, so untainted with the world. Its like really from a different place. Kendrick is, too. He does stuff like go on tv and play the song and only play it that one time. You know, hes a real, true artist. Charlie he was magnificent at the grammys. Kamasi unbelievable. One of the most amazing performances ive ever seen. Charlie you call kendricks album this generations thriller. It was a big album. Kamasi yeah. It was a big album and a changing album. I think that, you know, the idea of the ultimate performer was what Michael Jackson kind of brings to music. I think what kendrick is doing, hes bringing the hes bringing, like, the expression of experience to music again. Music had become Michael Jacksons influence had taken it to the place where it was so much about entertainment. And thats beautiful. I love being entertained. But what kendrick is doing is he is bringing the entertainment along with a message, and thats kind of hes taking it to another level. Charlie the interesting thing about your band is youve known most of them since you were very, very young. Kamasi yeah. The first person i met in my band was ronald bruener. I was 3 years old and he came to my third birthday party. Back then i was a drummer. I got a drum set for my third birthday party. We had a big drum battle that supposedly, i dont know who won. Charlie you grew up in englewood. Kamasi i grew up in south l. A. I moved to englewood when i was about 8 years old. I always lived in South Central los angeles. Charlie was it that time you were sort of surrounded by the gang culture in inglewood as we think about in compton . Kamasi there was definitely a gang culture, gangs, drugs, there was a lot of things. There was also a lot of culture. The cultural life as far as jazz, poetry, if you didnt fall into that pressure of the negative, there was this light at the end of the tunnel that you could go toward. Charlie you named your band the next step. Kamasi yeah. Charlie why did you do that . Kamasi well, as a musician its a gift and a curse to kind of be talented because what happens is when youre young you get plucked away and you get pulled and my friends and i grew up in high school really dreaming to do what were doing now which is playing each others music. But right out of high school, you know, we were all pretty talented and a lot of the stars in music at that time, people like smooth, shakakahn charlie out of all of them who influenced you . Kamasi they all influenced me different ways. You know, i learned Different Things at different times from different people. Charlie yeah. Kamasi it was kind of like it was very it seemed very destined in a way. Charlie this is the epic new album. Kamasi yeah. Charlie hour long is it . Kamasi its 172 minutes. [laughter] charlie almost three hours. Kamasi yeah, yeah. It was an adventure. And all the guys im playing with, they recorded albums as well. We spent a whole lonth just recording on each other. Charlie volume one is the plan. Volume two is the glorious tale. Volume three is an historic repetition. Kamasi yeah. Those are all different time periods of my life. The plan represents a time period right out of high school for me when i was i thought i was going to come out of high school and be a jazz musician and just Start Playing jazz clubs and tours in jazz but thats not what happened. I ended up going on the road with snoop and thats where the glorious tale comes in. And that, you know, life doesnt always go the way you want it but if you look at it from a right perspective it is what you may have needed. You know . And then the repetition is not kind of falling into the traps they may have fallen in when they were my age. Charlie you say the band is the triple trio. Kamasi yeah. Because it is two rhythm sections and a horn section basically. Charlie its great as i said to have you here and see the band and to hear from you and take a look at this album. Kamasi thank you. Charlie thank you for joining us. See you next time. Mark you are watching bloomberg west. Lets begin with a check of your first word news. President obama since the United States and cuba are at the precipice of what he calls an historic opportunity. He made his comments on a joint press conference and have an with cuban president raul castro. The relationship between our governments will not be transformed overnight. We continue, as president castro indicated, to have some very serious differences, including on democracy and human rights. Mark president castro said recent u. S. Moves to ease restrictions are positive, but insufficient. Belgian police say