Minister Marion Hall: “Not Returning To Dancehall, But I Am Dropping A Dancehall Album”

Weeks after saying she would “revisit” Dancehall to “win some souls”, Minister Marion Hall, formerly known as Lady Saw, now says that while she is not returning to the genre, she will be releasing a Dancehall album.

“I am not returning to dancehall, but I am dropping a dancehall album. I have already started it,” the singer told the Jamaica Observer.

Hall’s new Dancehall album comes after spiritual advisor Nardo ‘RT Boss’ Smith recently accused her of practising ‘obeah’ on deejay Spice to prevent her from taking Lady Saw’s title as Queen of Dancehall.  RT Boss also claimed that he “reversed the order” which unleashed some bad karma on Hall, that not only ‘ran her out’ of Dancehall but also led her right into the church.

The gospel singer, who converted to Christianity five years ago, took to social media on December 15 to defend her name against the accusations.  She further clapped back at RT Boss in the gospel-flavored Dancehall tracks, From Mi Born (Obeah Man), released on December 26, and Mi Soon Alright, released on December 30.

Now, Hall tells the Observer that the inspiration for Mi Soon Alright came directly from God.

“With Mi Soon Alright I was in my house, talking to the Lord, and I heard the voice of the Lord say: ‘Yuh soon alright.’ So I opened my mouth and I started to sing: ‘Mi soon alright, mi soon alright, mi soon alright’…It was about the pandemic, a song for people who are going through hard times. A lot of people losing hope, they’re fearful,” she said.

“We are not afraid. We are armed and dangerous in the Kingdom of God,” she said. “There are Christians who are so scared.”

Mr. Vegas had called out the former Dancehall star for being a “hypocritical Christian”, saying she pronounced Lady Saw dead five years ago, and shouldn’t be responding to matters relating to the dead.  Vegas believes the minister responded because she is envious of the current Dancehall space, which has seen more women come to the fore.

After hearing Vegas’ criticism, Minister Hall held a sermon where she responded, “you think God would call a woman like me who was so bad out there in the dancehall and just put me to sit down and not revisit the dancehall to win some souls?”

“The devil is a liar, wherever he leads I will follow. A who tell dem fi call me out? They don’t understand my calling and if they don’t understand it it does not matter one bit to me God. They perplexed the wrong woman of God.”

From Mi Born and Mi Soon Alright were co-produced on the Hitmatic Records and RP Record labels.  Minister Hall has not yet given a date for the Dancehall album’s release nor the number of tracks to expect.

Hall, 51, started performing at the age of 15 and was probably best known for Lady Saw’s feature on No Doubt’s hit song, Underneath It All, for which she won a Grammy Award.  Saw was also known for her hits If Him Lef, Good Man, I’ve Got Your Man, Man Is The Least, and of course Sycamore Tree.

She released her first album in 1994 titled Lover Girl, which was followed by Walk Out, Strip Tease, 99 Ways, Passion, Alter Ego, and Give Me A Reason.

Since she gave up being Lady Saw, Hall has released two Reggae gospel albums, namely When God Speaks (2016) and His Grace (2018) which included the fan-favorite track Tun Back Christians.