Approximately 90 percent of the music released online in the few weeks since Major Lazer’s “Hold the Line” hit the Internet has been remixes, edits, or works otherwise based on “Hold the Line.” That’s a science fact, according to my U.S. Department of Music Guide to Made-Up Statistics. Why come? It could be that Diplo and Switch–the dudes who make up Major Lazer–produced the track, or that Santigold sings on it, or that the time is just right for horse-whinny samples.
The capacity of “Hold the Line” to drive the Internet even more nuts than Paul Wall does will most likely get a boost from its new video, which applies the junky animation style of 1980s Saturday mornings to the adventures of Major Lazer–not the production supergroup but the fictional character, a Jamaican badass with a laser-cannon arm and a hoverboard. The moment where I went from “Oh I get it” to “HELL YES” was right when it cuts to the spot-on action figure tie-in “commercial.” I’m sensing some real merch potential there.