Walshy Fire opens up about his admiration for Koffee while sharing how he linked with her to produce her biggest hit, “Toast.”
There are many things for Walshy Fire to be grateful for in this world, and his work on Koffee’s Rapture must be pretty high on the list ever since it earned him his first Grammy win in 2020. Walshy is best known for being a member of fusion Electronic Music Group Major Lazer alongside Diplo, former member Jillionaire and Ape Drums. His core fans will remember the Maimi/Jamaican native for his work on the popular Florida-based sound system Black Chiney.
Black Chiney helped to revolutionalize the art of mixtapes during the early 2000s as they incorporated more production techniques into their work, which Walshy Fire also helped to foster. The deejay has been up to so much more since his Black Chiney days. While he has continued touring with Major Lazer, he has also engrossed himself in his own solo projects, which have helped to bring talents such as Chronixx and Koffee to the forefront.
While speaking with AllHipHop, Walshy Fire discussed his work with Koffee while giving an insight into how the youngest recipient of a Reggae Grammy works on her craft.
“She’s amazing. I don’t know if you’ve gotten a chance to listen to her new music as well, she’s so good. She’s such a great artist. She put out about 3 songs in the last couple months, all good. She’s a great artist,” Walshy said.
Koffee is scheduled to release her debut album titled Gifted this March. She has kept busy since her official debut single “Burning,” which was released in 2017. Tracks with rapper Gunna and dancehall/reggae acts Govana, Buju Banton, and Protoje have helped to plant Koffee’s roots. “The Harder They Fall,” taken from the soundtrack of the 2021 Western film, “West Indies,” and “Pull Up” off her upcoming album, have kept people entertained throughout 2021.
Her debut EP Rapture, which features songs such as “Throne,” “Blazin,” “Raggamuffin,” and “Toast,” also earned beatmaker IzzyBeats a place at the Grammy table. “Toast,” got special props from former POTUS Barrack Obama. However, the beat was almost not provided to Koffee.
Walshy explains that he contacted the management team for Izzy for a few beats. “The beat wasn’t for Koffee. I later found out that he did have another song with that beat, so maybe he did send it by accident. Which was also a good song, but there was another song on the beat. I knew it was a great beat, I was just waiting for the right time to play it. That’s how that worked out, I said ‘I’m waiting for the right time.'”
Walshy further explained his working relationship with Koffee, “She used to come over to my house and we’d make the songs on the dining room table. It was awesome. I’m glad to see she’s a big, big artist right now.”
In 2019 Fire signed a deal with Concord Music Publishing which “covers all his existing work including collaborations with Koffee (‘Toast’, ‘Throne’), Sean Paul, Chronixx, Rudimental, Anne Marie and Mr Eazi, Wizkid, Diplo, Popeye Caution, WurlD, Kranium, Konshens, Mr. Vegas alongside his work in Major Lazer,” according to Concord.
He is now eyeing another Grammy win, this time through Major Lazer’s Music is the Weapon (Reloaded) in the category of Best Dance/Electronic album.
Walshy confessed that music takes up 90% of his time. The disc jockey shuts down Miami with Rum & Bass every Tuesday at Coyo Taco from 9 PM-2 AM and still has time to ‘manage’ the happenings of his very own vinyl-only listening bar, Dante’s HiFi opened in Wynwood.
