Minister Marion Hall “Never Going Back” To Lady Saw, But Says She’s Still Dancehall’s ‘Baddest’
Minister Marion Hall says that while she’ll “never go back to being Lady Saw,” she still remains Dancehall’s “baddest” female artist.
“Nobaddy nuh bad like me inna Dancehall yah suh. Mi jus nuh waan guh back deh!” Hall declared while performing her song Kiss Out Mi Bible at Groovin in the Park over the weekend.
“Dem nuh lyricist like mi. Das why dem worry. Suh, meck mi tell yuh suppm. Yuh have a problem wid how God a use mi. God sen mi yah suh. Dress mi like all oonu wha day; God dress mi up inna belly skin suh Chris an Karen can hire mi, an den di devilcome wid dem plot.”
During the event, which was held in Queens, New York, Hall made references to two of her raunchiest songs, Sycamore Tree and If Him Lef. “Mi used to do sittn bout tree an dem sittn deh and If di man lef. Mi muh haffi worry bout if di man lef. No man naw lef mi right now. If anybaddy lef me, dem lef di holy ghost,” she said to the delight of some audience members.
She also reeled off a slew of new songs written for stage performance, with lyrics supposedly aimed at her detractors within and outside of the music industry. In one instance, Hall blasted her critics for what she considered their setting of double standards.
“Some people say because I am a Christian I should not deejay; I shouldn’t speak broken English; I shouldn’t talk Patois… Once mi deejay, dem seh mi tun back. Papa San deejay; Lieutenant Stitchie deejay. Everybaddy. and is not a problem. Worried dem worried bout me,” she declared.
Prior to that, she seemingly took aim at one of her Dancehall compatriots with whom she has recently had an online tiff.
She sang:
“Mi nuh come yah suh fi igle
Mi nuh come yah suh fo Dancegall title
Mi come yah suh fi preach up di gospel
Suh tell a bleach-out duppy mi nuh frighten”
She then added:
“Mi a one Cristian weh clap back
Anwhen mi clap back head must crack”
In December 2021, Hall declared that “even now,” she could still rip errant deejays apart with” just gospel, godly songs,” as through her sheer talent, she could use the word of God in Dancehall style, to minister to and even clash and obliterate “‘in the name of the Lord,” any Dancehall rival who tried to test her on any stage, anytime, anywhere.
“I have this talent that is beyond me. It’s like it just exceed my expectation and others. Even now, I could step out and stand beside any one of those females and rip them apart with just gospel, godly songs,” Hall had told Tamara McKayle on The Trailblazers show.
The God Speaks artist had also shrugged off suppositions being made by some Dancehall fans that she might have thought she was fading away, thus her exit from secular Dancehall in 2015. Instead, she pointed out that her departure was not of her own free will, but a command from God.
“I could go on to 100 year old and still be the best at what I do… A lot of people see me here and they believe that ‘she just parked up’. No. God told me it’s time to preach. If I wanted to be out there, I would be out there. But God has a time when he lock us in,” she had stated.
A few weeks later, veteran music selector Foota Hype, and many other fans of Hall had batted hard for her to come back and dominate Dancehall.
Foota’s followers had urged her to return to the genre, even from a gospel perspective and take the path of Lieutenant Stitchie, who pioneered gospel Reggae/Dancehall, and who like her, is a Minister of Religion and still a dominant force in Dancehall music.
Some claimed her nemesis Spice, would be dethroned should Hall resume her once-prolific recording of Dancehall songs, even if only from the gospel realm like her male compatriots Lieutenant Stitchie and Papa San.
Others said nobody in Dancehall matched up to the 53-year-old, whether in aesthetics or talent.
In the meantime, Minister Marion Hall says she has a slew of new songs in her lyrical arsenal, which she has written for her upcoming performance at Reggae Sumfest’s concert night two in Montego Bay on Saturday, July 22.
“I’m writing for Sumfest too, and Sumfest is the place to be. That’s the place to be. That’s when you’re gonna hear the real…,” she told Onstage’s Winford Williams after he commended her on her performance at Groovin in the Park, and suggested that “Jamaicans now, after this, they can’t wait to see you at Reggae Sumfest.”