‘Curated it for the culture.' Walshy Fire documents dancehall in new book

Miami Herald

18-04-2025

Walshy Fire has long been involved in the dancehall scene.
As a kid, he grew up near House of Leo, an iconic dancehall venue in Kingston, Jamaica. As a young adult, he joined Black Chiney, a Jamaican sound system. And for the last several years, he has been a fixture of South Florida's dancehall scene, hosting his own party as well as touring around the world with Major Lazer.
In 2025, the artist born Leighton Walsh took his love of dancehall to a new venue: the page.
With his recently released book entitled 'Art of Dancehall: Flyer and Poster Designs of Jamaican Dancehall Culture,' Walsh looks at the culture of dancehall through the fliers that colored the scene. The fliers came from his collection and from those of graphic artists around the world including Lee Major, Muscle, Mark Professor and Stanjah.
Published by Penguin Random House, 'Art of Dancehall' is available at Books & Books for $50.
The book establishes the actual dancehall venue as the crucial meeting place for those who wanted to hear the burgeoning genre. Before cellphones and social media, those pieces of paper that promoters handed out told people what was happening in the dancehall scene, particularly if it came by way of the cassette, according to Jamaican DJ and producer Jason Panton.
'You wouldn't know what was going on without cassettes because they used to put fliers in cassettes,' Panton recalled, explaining that people would record dancehall nights on the tapes and distribute them. These cassettes 'would inform what was going on in sound system culture.'
The book shows how, as dancehall spread across the globe, the art created to promote the shows differed by country — from the hand-drawn, DIY nature of the Jamaican flier to the simple typography of the British to the combination of both that was seen in the U.S., even as far as incorporating the Japanese dancehall scene.
'Japan is a special place,' Walsh said. 'Anything that's in culture, they try to do it better than the people that originated it.'
For Panton, it's the attention to detail that ultimately stands out.
'You can tell it was done by somebody who really understands dancehall culture,' Panton said, explaining that Jamaicans need to do a better job of 'preserving our own culture' which Walsh deserves the utmost credit for doing. 'What makes this connect on an intimate level is someone who loves the culture does it.'
Added Panton: 'It feels like someone inside of the culture curated it for the culture .'
Walsh, who spent three years working on the project, thinks its time that dancehall got its flowers. Hip-hop got its shine in 2023 as the world celebrated its 50th anniversary. Soca even got a similar reverence later that same year. Now, it's dancehall's turn.
'There's a need to get everyone on board about how important dancehall culture is,' Walsh said.