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Diplo on his historic concert in Cuba, new documentary "Give Me Future"

Diplo: "Give Me Future"
Diplo on Cuba and new documentary "Give Me Future" 04:59

World-renowned DJ Wesley Pentz – better known as Diplo – has been called one of the most in-demand producers in music. The Grammy winner's songs have racked up more than a billion streams on Spotify and his energetic performances make him one of the highest paid DJs, according to Forbes.

Major Lazer, founded by Diplo, became the first American group to play in Cuba in more than five decades last year. 

A new documentary called "Give Me Future" shows their historic performance and sheds light on the unique way their music spread on the island, whose internet connectivity is notoriously unreliable.

"We weren't sure if anybody in Cuba had heard of us, had heard our music. We had no idea how in touch they were with music in different ways. So we were just anticipating something small, something cool, and once the day started rolling on and people started walking up," he told "CBS This Morning."  

In all, about 450,000 people turned out for the concert. The DJ said from the get-go he didn't want the film to be about the band, he wanted it to be about Cuba. What they ended up with was the story of a DIY system of music sharing.

"The film ended up being about a USB key. It's called the 'paquete,' and what it is it's like an analog internet. What happens is people trade music and they trade information through the island through one USB key up and down the streets. That's how people found out about our music," Diplo said.

The DJ credits the themes and lyrics of their music for why the Cuban government allowed them to play.  

"I think our music was a bit easier for them to accept. We don't have any political views, we don't do any profanity, nothing very negative in our music. So for us, they love the kind of records like 'Lean On' or 'Light It Up,' records that are about self-discovery about helping yourself. I think lyrically our content was easy for the government to help us with," he said.  

The title of the documentary, "Give Me Future," is meant to reflect the idea that younger generations of Cubans want to be a part of what's happening in the world right now.

"You go there, you feel the old cars, kinda old history and you don't realize there's you know, over 10 million people and there's kids there and they want to be part of the world," Diplo said. "They want to feel like they're part of what we're doing and it did feel like this was their moment." 

But the DJ admitted he thought this would be the first of many concerts for the country.

"There would be a huge amount of Americans going there and concerts but it really was the only thing and now the doors are kind of closing," he said. "So we don't know if it's going to happen again." 

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