Minister Marion Hall Hails “Respectful, Real And Loving” Lady G
Minister Marion Hall has professed her sisterly love for her Dancehall compatriot Lady G, describing the Breeze Off artist as loving, respectful, and real.
A few days ago, Hall, formerly Lady Saw, shared a photo of herself and Lady G following her performance at Groovin in the Park in Queens, New York, and hailed her as a legend.
“My sister, the legendary Lady G, came to support me, at groovin in the park yesterday. When we hugged, we both had tears in our eyes. We didn’t need words to express what we were feeling. I love you my sister,” she captioned the post.
Hall had also heaped accolades onto Lady G during a post-performance interview with Onstage’s Winford Williams.
“I just saw Lady G a while ago and when we hugged each other, the tears just started falling from both of us eyes, without words. We have this love and respect; mutual love and respect for each other because we know how to love,” she recounted to Williams.
“It is good to know that real people are still in music that understand love and respect for each other,” Hall added about the Spanish Town native.
This is not the first time Lady G has been venerated by her peers for being welcoming and all-embracing.
In September last year, Queen of the Pack Patra praised the Nuff Respect artist for treating her with “so much love and respect” when she was a teenage newcomer in the music industry.
Also, in January 2022, singjay Tanya Stephens, in confessing that she had joined forces with Lady Saw in 1999 to disparage Lady G lyrically, expressed remorse at her own actions while declaring that the Round Table Talk artist, given name Janice Fyffe, was the “sweetest and nicest” artist in the Dancehall space.
The confession had come after an online squabble where Spice also owned up to her role as a confederate of the Heels On singer to rival Tanya herself, and allegations made by Macka Diamond that Spice and Lady Saw had conspired to derail her career.
Stephens had said she had plotted with Lady Saw to form an alliance to tear down Lady G.
“When me jus a come inna the business the demon used to complain bout Lady G. Anyone who knows G knows she is the sweetest of all the artists. Nicer than any other artist I know including myself. After G the demon moved on to me. Then came a host of others…,” the Rebelution artist had written.
She had also made references to the Bruk Dem Up gun song that she had co-written and co-produced targeting Lady G, which she recorded as a duet with Lady Saw, this after the Heels On artist begged her to do so.
The song Bruk Dem Up, released on the Insomnia label in 1999, appears to have been a counteraction to Lady G’s song Rock Back, released on the Exterminator Label in 1994, which took aim at artists who were corrupting Dancehall with “dem slackness an dem bag a gun talk” as well as “preaching false doctrines”.
Buck Dem Up had lyrics promising “another wicked Jamaican murder”, since both Saw and Stephens were, among other things, shottas fully-armed with Glocks, Berettas and Mack pistols.
“Den Saw, Nuh di careless bum dat, shi nuh drap out already? Who tell har fi tun back?” Stephen said in one verse, while Lady Saw stated that “wi a guh gun dem out and den wi bun dem out”, as among other things her rival “look like yuh want a obit inna di Gleaner”.
Nevertheless, Lady G, who has had a knack for helping her musical sisters elevate, has had a good relationship with Lady Saw over the years.
In 2004, she co-opted Lady Saw onto her Flava riddim, where she recorded the track Video Light on her G-String label. The two later teamed up with Macka Diamond for a video medley that featured Lady G’s Enough, Macka’s Woman Wi Name and Saw’s Video Light, with Captain Barkey as the cheating love interest.
Lady G’s breakout hit was Nuff Respect, produced by Gussie Clarke in 1988. Along with her Spanish Town compatriot Papa San, she also recorded two other Dancehall classics, Legal Rights and Round Table Talk.
She became a part of Danny Browne’s Main Street label in 1994, and later recorded the hit single Breeze Off on the legendary Filthy riddim, the same beat which resulted in Mr. Vegas’ international hit Heads High and General Degree’s Traffic Blocking.
Lady G’s other hits include Perform, Moschino and Versace, The Gun, and Provide the Wine.
She won the Female DJ Of the Year award in 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, and 1998. In February 2020, she was also recognised by the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JaRIA) with an ‘Iconic Artiste in the Music Industry’ award.