Queen Of Dancehall Spice Explains How She Got Her Name
Queen of Dancehall Spice recently shared how she got her name, as well as her musical influences in an interview with Loop. Still on a high from the success of her latest single Go Down Deh, she spoke on her girl-group beginnings and the official moment “Spice was born” at her first Sting performance.
The Cool It deejay made her earliest moves towards stardom in her Old Braeton community in Portmore. “I started with a group of girls” the deejay, entrepreneur, and Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta (LHHATL) reality TV star said, but she claims her standout personality earned her a reputation and an alias soon enough.
“I think I’m just always the feisty, fiery person, so when me nuh deh inna the group, and they didn’t know my name, dem always ah seh ‘Weh di likkle spicy, fiery one?’ and that’s how the name Spice stuck to me. Dem always ah seh I’m spicy meaning I’m feisty and you know just witty.”
Spice’s efforts didn’t stop there, however, and pursuing her talent consumed her teenage years. She also shared how her hitmaker aspirations spilled over into her days at St. Catherine High School. “I used to deejay di lyrics dem from di books an mek up lyrics with whatever I learn and I used to be on the choir, enter JCDC festivals,” the Inches deejay stated.
Shortly after that, Spice was on her way to getting her big break with a co-sign from the Warlord, Bounty Killer. Her first time on stage was at a community event during which Bounty handed her a mic, and Spice excitedly recalled that more opportunities to showcase her skills started to materialize.
“One of my friends introduced me to Heavy D (Junior Frazer) who is one of di big promoter for Sting. And that’s where I got the opportunity to perform at Sting 2000,” Spice said.
She’s come a far way from those days where she was “mawga, mawga an deh pon di stage jus ah buss lyrics.” The performance at one of the island’s premiere stage shows opened up many more doors for her lethal skills to shine. “That’s where Spice was born, on Sting stage when I got called back so many times because of my lyrics,” Spice said.
Her influences
Aside from being musically inclined, Spice spent her childhood listening to some of Reggae’s best storytellers and she named Professor Nuts and Bob Marley among her favorites. Though her father passed away when she was just 9-years-old, he instilled in her a love for the classics.
“My father was a Rasta man so him used to love Professor Nuts, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer and dem type ah song deh,” she began. “Professor Nuts and Bob Marley were my father’s favourite so as a likkle girl in the household that’s all he used to listen to which forced me to only listen to those types of songs so I know all of Professor Nuts’ song word for word I know his whole entire album”, she said.
She added that he would reward her if she could deejay the lyrics perfectly and though he may not have known it, or lived to see it happen, it seems he’d been pushing her towards greatness all along.
Spice’s debut album, TEN, will be released in July under VP Records and is executive produced by Shaggy.