Throwback Thursday: Spice’s ‘Jim Screechie’

“Tip pon yuh toe and meet me ‘round a di back…” And just like that, you have unlocked the memory of Spice’s adulterous 2010 hit, Jim Screechie, the focus of this week’s #ThrowbackThursday spotlight.

The 2010s in Dancehall was a period marked by the changing of the guards on a number of fronts in the genre. Big groups like Portmore Empire had been showing signs of rapid decline, and new artists were on the rise.  It was the perfect storm for a young and ambitious Spice, and she struck decisively.

Jim Screechie, the title track on a unique riddim of the same name by Equiknoxx Music, became an inescapable party phenomenon during its time. The song proved a significant boon to Spice’s already ascending career.  It was a major statement made by the young Grace after she appeared opposite Vybz Kartel on 2009’s Rompin Shop. 

Directed by Kirk Lee, the video begins with Spice in bed, who is dressed in what appears to be lingerie and a flamboyant hairdo made out of beer cans. 

Feigning sickness as her man enters and leaves the room, Spice is also served a cup of beverage by a maid, who also exits shortly after. The moment she is alone, the riddim begins to grow, slowly, from a whisper. Around the same time, Spice’s Blackberry goes off, signaling the start (or continuation) of her cheating saga, and she tells her ‘sneaky link’ (as we know them today) in the full-throated chorus:

Come meet me ’round a the front of the yard
Come put it pon me, make me scream and bawl
Woii!
Mi man no deh yah, a stall him a stall
Come put it pon me, make me scream and bawl
Woii!

High schoolers, men, and women – wherever they were, would sing this whenever it came on. Best case scenario? They also dance to it too.

The brazen affair triggers a dramatic sequence of events, largely because Spice’s ‘Jim Screechie’ repeatedly tries to make his way to her through some unusual – and funny – means. He first tries and ultimately struggles to climb a wall, but is thwarted by a nosy neighbor on high alert.

Spice’s ‘Sneaky Link’ finally made it over the wall, but ended up being chased by a dog. All that trouble aside, he remained persistent. That decision in the video was deliberate, and it feeds into Spice’s reminder that she possesses the “affi come back.”.

But what was on show here was Spice’s consistency. In a lot of ways, ‘Jim Screechie’ was a surgical look at her arsenal, and fans who had doubts about her place as a then-candidate for the Dancehall Queen throne quickly had to reassess where those doubts came from. It was also one of the first times Spice had gone for such a breathy, easygoing approach to a track.

Jim Screechie ate the riddim (of the same name), and even other artists who tried to use it could not quite replicate Spice’s success. 

Other versions included Aidonia‘s Jackhammer, Beenie Man‘s Beat Them Badd, RDX’s For The Girls, and TOK’s Everybody Clap.