Actor JaQwan Kelly plays the role of Masta Killa in Wu Tang Saga. Masta Killa is one of the founding members of Wu-Tang Clan.
Wu-Tang: An American Saga is a new American biography series drama that is streaming on Hulu.
The series began its first season on September 4, 2019. The series is in its third and final season, which premiered on February 15, 2023.
Wu-Tang Saga is a story of the American rap group Wu-Tang clan during the time when the epidemic of cocaine was high.
The group comes from Staten Island and was formed in 1992.
The story leads to show how the Wu-Tang started with the initial vision of Bobby Diggs aka The RZA.
Instead of leading the dark path of the cocaine business in 1992, he opted to go out for music and rap that secured his family’s life and for a better future.
Masta Killa In Wu-Tang Saga And In Real Life
Actor JaQwan J. Kelly plays the role of Jamel Irief aka Masta Killa in the Hulu original series Wu-Tang Saga.
Masta Killa’s real name is Jamel Irief. But his original birth name was Elgin Turner. He was born on August 18, 1969.
Though he is one of the founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan rapper group, he is a lesser-known member of the Clan.
Irief was born in a busy city in the United States in Brooklyn, New York. He was one of the last members of the Clan who joined the rap group.
He was not even a proper rapper when he began to mingle with the group.
But later he was taught by Gary Eldrige Grice aka The GZA in his early days to not slow the progress of the group and to go along with the flow of the music.
For his name in the Wu-Tang Clan, he chose a name from kung fu called Shaolin Master Killer as the name sounded cool to him.
Later on his first appearance on his track ‘Da Mystery of Chessboxin’, he was in close competition with another member of the rap group Killah Priest which he barely won.
Later he made appearances in Wu-Tang’s classic rap such as Winter Warz, Duel of the Iron Mic and Glaciers of Ice.
After that, he was officiated as the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan who made regular appearances since 1997 in Wu-Tang’s second album Wu-Tang Forever.
Killa released his first solo album in 2004 with No Said Date. He was the last member of the Clan to put out their solo music which won him Nature Sounds’ best-selling album.
Since then he has released two more albums called Made In Brooklyn in 2006 and Selling My Soul in 2012.
Masta Killa Actor JaQwan Kelly
Masta Killa from Wu-Tang Saga is played by actor JaQwan J. Kelly. The actor has been in the movie industry since 2013.
Kelly is an American actor, writer and producer who comes from the neighborhood of Harlem in New York City.
Not much of his family background is known about but he seems to celebrate his birthday on July 3 every year.
He completed high school in New York City. Later on, he went to the State University of New York to complete his graduation in Bachelor of Arts in Theatre.
After completing his bachelor’s degree, he came to the Harlem School of the Arts where he officially started his first journey in acting.
His well-known acting career in movies and TV series includes Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Blue Bloods, The Transfiguration and The Post.
His other credits include The Wright Turn, The Pass, He, the People, Mrs. Fletche, The Get Down and Vote for Us.
He was one of the producers and writers of the short movie He, the People, and produced another movie called Young Love in 2013.
It has already been 11 years since the actor began his journey in the movie industry, and now he coaches young people aiming to be actors.
Besides that, he also worked in many voiceovers acts where he was even allowed to voice for GoodReads Choice Award nominee Tyler Johnson Was Here.
Wu-Tang Season 3 Episode 5 Recap
Wu-Tang Saga season 3 episode 5 mainly explores how the less-known members of Wu-Tang chose the path of rap.
In episode 5, we see Lamont Jody Hawkins aka U-God at the hospital looking at his son through the window. His son was being operated on as he has been shot bullets in his kidney area and on his hand.
U-God is furious and wants revenge while looking at his son’s condition. When he asks his wife, where was she when the accident and about to accuse her of carelessness, she instead blamed him for not being here when the accident happened.
Knowing that he goes to Sierra who was taking care of his son during the incident, he goes to her house. But Sierra’s father blocks him.
Angered U-God hits the father and goes to confront Sierra.
Sierra is scared and tell him it was Shoddy who did that to his son. She explains that two people out of nowhere came started to have a heated argument and started to fire guns.
U-God goes to his friend Carlos looking for information on Shoddy. Later Carlos calls him that Shoddy was there at the moment and he got to make his choice clear on getting revenge or not.
The story moves about Inspectah Deck when his fan comes up to him asking when his new album is coming out.
Like any other member of Wu-Tang Clan, he also wants to bring out his album. While thinking he gets inspired by the hotel’s music that they were staying.
He is back at his home and everyone around showers him with praise and his girlfriend Alicia also loves him. He tells his girlfriend he wants to put out a new album.
When he reaches the studio, he finds that Do Not Touch is written on the tape wrapped around the mixer. He takes his chance and starts making his own beats.
The scene changes to Masta Killa where he is told by Raekwon that if he wants to be part of the Clan, he got to work up some music.
He goes to the barber shop to cut his hair when suddenly the barber cutting his hair is pissed off by the owner and is trying to leave the job.
But Killa goes behind him and makes him understand and motivates that he got to create his foundation to show his full potential.
He also tries to take his own advice. And he understands that his family doesn’t know he has a talent for rapping.
U-God has a conversation with his son, which leads to him changing his thought about taking revenge. He understands it was not worth it and that it would mess up his life as well as his son’s life.
Bobby was initially angry at Inspectah Deck for using the musical instrument but after listening to the music of Inspectah Deck, they felt that the music would be a hit.
Killa talks about wanting to continue his music career. His uncle doesn’t believe him but when Killa tells him that he has rapped with Wu-tang in Chessboxing music, his uncle tells him that’s his favorite song.
In the final scene, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah are annoyed that Biggie’s song is getting hit and number one for seven continuous days. Now they are trying to bring out their new song.