Walshy Fire Releases New Book, ‘Art Of Dancehall’

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Renowned MC/DJ (and 1/3rd of Major Lazer) Walshy Fire has released his new book, Art Of Dancehall. The book offers a glimpse into dancehall culture by celebrating therare and historic dancehall flyer and poster designs that became a hallmark in places like Jamaica, New York, London, Canada and Japan. And Art Of Dancehall includes commentary and contributions from collectors Lee Major DeBoss, Mark Professor, Sheldon “Muscle” Bruce and StranJah. The book also includes rare flyers from the late Jamaican poster icon Denzil “Sassafrass” Naar and New York’s Errol “Irie” Myrie.

The book documents the explosion of dancehall around the world; emphasizing the allure of sound system culture. The flyers serve as a window into these vibrant art and music scenes, highlighting legendary sound clashes in places like Brooklyn and Toronto.

“Art of Dancehall is a definitive celebration of the distinctive art of poster and flyer design in the highly influential culture of Jamaican dancehall music, by one of the best-known ambassadors of the genre,” reads a press release. “And the first Rizzoli book to spotlight dancehall and Jamaican sound system culture.”

Walshy has long been dedicated to celebrating Caribbean culture and music, from his own cross-cultural explorations of dancehall and Afrobeats, to his work on other projects like remixing “The Harder They Come.”

"At the end of the day you know that there’s a thing in each song that you can’t replace, you can’t substitute it,” he told UDiscoverMusic last year. “So the best job is to just work around that thing and make a good, updated sounding song, don’t rinse the soul out of it. It was very important for me to do that.”

“A lot of people — they don’t like to hear new versions of songs that they love. But one thing’s for sure, I understood that the soul of the songs was what made them and I do my very best to make sure that stays in there.”

Along with Walshy Fire releasing his first book, the Grammy winner is also prepping a new album, also titled Art Of Dancehall.