Malik Spellman has gone from the streets of Jamaica, Queens, to being an ex-con in Los Angeles and now a TV star.

Spellman, who left New York in 1980 as a teenager and landed in the heart of Los Angeles gang country, is the centerpiece of "The Peacemaker: L.A. Gang Wars," a new half-hour reality show that follows his efforts to settle beefs between warring gangs.

"If I waste a day or even an hour, that's enough time for a battle to start," Spellman says early in the first episode, airing Thursday at 10 p.m.

Spellman is a gang mediator, which surely doesn't come up often in Yahoo job searches or turn up in the placement offices of elite colleges.

His goal is to stop fights, often deadly ones, between rival gang members before guns are pulled from waistbands.

Think about that: He tries to get guys who carry guns and occasionally use them to, well, not shoot. And he does this on their turf. Add in television cameras, which film his work with folks who don't really seek Lindsay Lohan-like publicity, for a reality show produced by rapper-actor Ice T.

It's no wonder that at one point, Spellman puts on a bulletproof vest to go talk to the guys.

"We need peace, man. We need peace right here, instead of taking these guns and killin' each other," Johnny Jones tells Spellman.

So Spellman sets out to talk with the Crips after one gang member's pregnant girlfriend has been shot dead. Tensions are mounting, Spellman notes, and there's potential for a full-scale war.

"Tit for tat, that's how it's always been," says Teflon, who heads up one of the subdivisions of the Crips. Teflon, later on, gets shot "with a 4-5," Spellman notes, and gets out of his hospital bed to come to one of the peace meetings.

In the show, viewers get to see a small but intriguing slice of Los Angeles gang life. You won't walk away feeling like a gang expert, not even close. And it's hard to watch and not wonder if some participants aren't playing to the camera. Indeed, the resolution seems a bit too easy.

That said, it's also easy to admire what Spellman is trying to do, especially after hearing gang members reel off how many times they've been shot and stabbed.

"I got to the point where I don't care if I live or die," declares gang member Spook. "Ain't going to be peace on Earth. They say there's a heaven, so I want to see how it is in heaven."

Spellman is hoping to stop him before he gets there, and with a camera pointing at him, not a gun.

The Peacemaker: L.A. Gang Wars will air on A&E on December 16 at 10pm EST. The five-part series chronicles times of tense street gang mediation in South Central, Los Angeles, as seen by professional gang mediator Malik Spellman. With over two hours of total footage, the premiere episode on the 16th will be followed by a second episode right after.

Latest Interviews

Raspy Rawls Interview Pt. 2

Raspy Rawls Interview Pt. 1

Latest VLogs

iLoveMakonnen "Loudest of the Loud Tour - On the Road Pt. 2"

Life With Ty Dolla $ign (Ep. 7)

Lil Durk's "Wherever I Go" Tour (Pt. 1)