Major Lazer continues their highly anticipated new chapter with the release of their new mixtape, ‘GYALGEBRA’, out now from Mad Decent. This self contained body of work marks the group’s first in five years and officially debuts the crew’s first ever in house vocalist, America Foster, who they are proudly calling their “First Lady.” America Foster features on five tracks, including the lead single “BRUK DOWN” alongside Parris Goebel and SadBoi and the fantastic nineties dancehall inspired solo showcase “Peppa Pot.” The project was recorded largely in Jamaica at Diplo’s new studio sanctuary, Pompey, representing a vibrant return to the outsider dancehall energy and unpredictable genre mash ups of the group’s upstart early days, when anthems like “Pon De Floor” and “Watch Out For This (Bumaye)” literally ran the world.
Across its nine tracks, ‘GYALGEBRA’ brilliantly lays the blueprint for a new era of Major Lazer, one in which the group centers America’s considerable vocal talents while remaining as collaborative, musically unpredictable, and stylistically ravenous as ever. Guest features on the mixtape include Dominican iconoclast Tokischa, elusive Miami icon DJ Chipman, New Zealand born artist Parris Goebel, and Jamaican dancehall stalwart Busy Signal. A pair of stars from Trinidad & Tobago, soca legend Bunji Garlin and zess queen Lady Lava, round out the vocal features, while Amsterdam based DJ/producer Kybba contributes production on the Busy Signal led shatta dancehall single “GANGSTA.” Genres like dancehall, drill, shatta, zess, dembow, soca, and funk carioca are all rolled up into the powerful ‘GYALGEBRA’ sound, and tracks like “Jump & Twist” and “Peppa Pot” draw inspiration from iconic artists like Red Rat and classic Miami jook anthems.
America Foster is a British Jamaican artist, content creator, comedian, and all around entertainer who connected with Diplo in 2024 while working as a security guard in London. Blown away by her talent, he invited her to his studio in Jamaica to record what would become “BRUK DOWN” last October, and he enlisted her as a full fledged Major Lazer member earlier this year. Having only freestyled as a party trick previously, America has honed her skills in the studio with Diplo and the Lazer crew to define a new era for the iconic music juggernaut, quickly impressing fans through electrifying freestyles on Capital XTRA and Apple Music Radio. The mixtape’s title, ‘GYALGEBRA’, perfectly references the addition of America as the group’s first woman member and a new force amplifying the group’s powers exponentially.
Track Listing:
- GYALGEBRA (Mixtape)
- BRUK DOWN (feat. Parris Goebel & SadBoi)
- Peppa Pot
- GANGSTA (feat. Busy Signal)
- Jump & Twist (feat. DJ Chipman)
- Pendulum