This month PBS launched a 10-minute episode of American Masters: In the Making, a digital docu-series featuring Jamaican-American, Walshy Fire. The episode is titled, ‘Walshy Fire: Pull Up’.

Walshy Fire, whose real name is Leighton Paul Walsh, is a Grammy Award nominated DJ, MC, record producer, and one-third of the global hit-making music group, Major Lazer.

In the docu-series, acclaimed African American director and filmmaker, Alica Edwards, gives a glimpse into the talented artist’s life through a combination of interviews with cultural experts and the people who know him best, as well as concert footage, in-studio videos, and found footage, all tied together through narration from the man himself.

Starting in Jamaica

The production starts with Walsh’s beginnings in Kingston. He explains how he was surrounded by what he dubs “the golden era of dancehall” when Shabba Ranks, Papa San, Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, and Super Cat were running the charts at the time.

“All these clubs and venues within Half Way Tree just shook where I lived,” he explained.

There, director Edwards weaves in footage of a teenage Walsh entertaining a crowd of his peers with impromptu bars.

Miami Upbringing

The docu-series highlights that his start in musical education was in Jamaica, the rest came from Miami. Many cultures in close proximity mix and combine into something uniquely of the Floridian city. It is in the food, music, and the people. It is what makes Walsh able to represent Jamaica and Miami at 100 per cent with zero contradiction.

When he was 21-years-old, and already an established DJ, Walsh joined the Black Chiney sound system. The group, consisting of four Chinese-Jamaicans, toured the world combining reggae, dancehall, house music, and much more.

“Putting it together was natural for us, we weren’t trying to do it,” explained Warren “Willy Chin” Hoo, another member of the group.

Promoting Happiness

Today, Walshy Fire is the only Jamaican member of the group, Major Lazer, where he entertains at shows packed to the brim with hundreds of thousands of patrons alongside group members, Ape Drums and Diplo.

Keith “Papa Keith” Walcott, a DJ and radio personality, labels Walsh as “talent in its true form.” For Walsh, it comes naturally. “I’ve been doing this for 28 years,” he explained. “I’m happy, it’s hard for me to not put out happiness. I reap happiness because of that.”

The Walshy Fire episode can be found on the PBS website and YouTube channel.

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