Tanya Stephens Says Marcia Griffiths Is Only Living Legend Jamaicans Won’t Disrespect
In a music culture that sometimes disregards the contributions of its founders, Tanya Stephens believes there’s only one veteran spared from the hot and cold adoration of fans: Marcia Griffiths.
“Marcia is the only living legend that I see Jamaican people not try to disrespect,” she said on Reggae Interviews. “Let me give them their props; they love her, we love her… I’ve never, ever seen an incident where they ever try to disrespect her, but outside of Marcia, everybody is fair game…”
The ‘Queen of Reggae’ released her Golden album today, a collaboration with Kemisphere Music and Donsome Records.
Stephens has never shied away from giving the All My Life singer her flowers, and only wished the same respect and acknowledgment were bestowed on others who’ve paved the way. Instead, she believes some elders are only mentioned for commercial gain.
“For example, Bob Marley is a product and Jamaica uses Bob Marley to sell the Jamaica product, and that is why they even pay so much homage to Bob because Jamaica is constantly competing with his family for him,” she posited. “Then there are other people who get commercialised and have all of the ideals and dreams attached to them, some other people similar to Bob but to a much lesser extent, obviously, and that’s the only time they get mentioned… Then there are some really great talents, great contributors who don’t get mentioned.”
Raising the calls to make Marley a national hero, she said much of the public adoration is a mere bid for a viable national ambassador.
“When you hear Jamaicans trying to push the argument for making Bob Marley a national hero…this is commercial, this is all capitalism, because if the Marleys agree to have Bob become a national hero, then Jamaica then holds a stake in Bob and they can use his likeness, use his currency without having to pay for it, so, it is purely commercial.”
The It’s A Pity hitmaker also called out corporate entities for playing a role in the exclusion of music icons from marketing campaigns.
“Somebody will come up and have one slightly lukewarm song and corporate will fall over themselves trying to include them, and there are greater artists who would simulate an entire generation of people, like me, they never look at,” she said.
Using rocksteady crooner Alton Ellis, she argued, “If I saw his image on something and I heard his song, my emotional attachment might encourage me to go buy that product. They don’t appeal to me with most of the stuff they use because they use this fanaticism, this current culture.”
So current that she was labeled irrelevant by MC Nuffy after she vowed to never return to the Reggae Sumfest stage.
“Our society has gotten to the point where I’ve experienced people saying, ‘Oh, you stop talking cause you’re not relevant, you’re not current’… (Our culture is the) only culture I’ve observed which actually tries to dismiss its foundations – I’ve never seen that anywhere else.”
Besides Griffiths, she also toasted to madam Queen of the Pack, Patra, whom she collaborated with for the half-a-century birthday banger, Fifty.
“Besides the fact that I love her music and I looked up to her, she came on the scene before me. Even if we’re the same age, she’s older than me in the music, so, it really felt special being able to include her on the song, celebrating everything that she stood for before I could stand.”
Fifty was one of 20 tracks on Stephen’s eighth album, Some Kinda Madness, produced by Tads Record, which premiered in 2022.