DJ Puffy

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DJ Puffy is the stage name of Andre Parris, a Barbadian disc jockey born on November 20, 1991. He became famous after winning the Red Bull Music 3Style World DJ Championship in 2016, and he also won the Culture Clash championship with the team No Long Talk, making him the first person to hold titles in both big DJ competitions.

Early life
He was born in Barbados to Grenadian singer Denise Williams and Curtis Parris. He grew up in a musical home and was fascinated by turntables from age seven. Before his music career, he worked as a model and played tennis.

Early career
While at school, he started DJing as DJ Puffy after dressing as Puff Daddy at a party. He launched Prime Time, a long-running bi-weekly podcast showcasing current hits and new music. His breakout came in 2010 when he filled in at a carnival party; promoter Fewwture Ashby signed him to Dream Real Projects. In 2012 he took part in the first Caribbean DJ honours in Tobago and began performing on Caribbean carnival circuits. He also hosted radio on Slam 101 FM in Barbados until 2016 when he left for a world tour.

Red Bull 3Style and beyond
On December 17, 2016, DJ Puffy won Red Bull 3Style World DJ Championship in Santiago, becoming the first Barbadian to win and the first Caribbean finalist. He used a DJM S9 mixer and PLX 1000 turntables provided by Pioneer DJ during the finals. He traveled with his laptop and headphones, and his Caribbean music style was a key to victory. After winning, he toured Europe and Asia, visiting the Philippines and Japan.

Other competitions and performances
Puffy helped Toronto's 24Hours/24DJS win the competition, joining Dr Jay de Soca Prince’s team. In 2017 his Destination Africa mix with Nikita Chauhan and DJ Edu was played on BBC Radio 1Xtra and named one of the best guest mixes of the year. That year he also performed at Swizz Beatz's Art Basel event in Miami with Chronixx, Lil Wayne, Busta Rhymes, 2 Chainz, and Stone Love, and he played Mysteryland in the Netherlands.

Production and other work
He has produced remixes for Machel Montano, including Waves (2017) and Showtime (2018). In August 2017 he released Bangalang, a reggaeton track with Barbadian rapper Teff Hinkson, which gained international airplay and was featured on BBC Music; he appears in the Bangalang music video. He has talked about collaborating with Pioneer and Serato to run workshops and DJ meetups in Barbados. He was an ambassador for Carifesta XIII and continues to perform across the Caribbean carnival circuit.