Spragga Benz Gets Maroon ID, New Name Is Spragga El
Dancehall artist Spragga Benz is now Spragga El, according to his Sovereign State of Accompong national ID.
The social activist shared a photo of the ID/travel card on social media on Sunday, attracting a slew of questions surrounding his name. The Rasta Run the World deejay, whose given name is Carlton Grant, opted for his stage name to represent his first and middle name, with El as his current surname. El is Hebrew for ‘God’ and Greek for ‘shining light’.
While his nationality was depicted as Maroon, one user argued that his names still bear inextricable colonial ties.
“The name Grant is European and Benz is still European,” the person wrote, before suggesting that he opt for ‘Abioye’, a Yoruban name which means ‘born into royalty’.
“Respect,” Spragga responded. “I will be getting my official baptismal name soon.”
The entertainer was early in his support for the sovereignty of Maroons, even backing Maroon Chief Richard Currie in several online posts.
Spragga’s dustup with “Babylon” has been centerstage over the last three years, with the entertainer claiming that the “bigger heads” were conspiring against him for his denouncing of the vaccination program during the pandemic. At one point, he said he was shadow-banned on social media because of his views that the pandemic was planned to roll out a new world order.
Among the entitlements and provisions of Accompong Maroon citizenship is “freedom status” which Spragga is embracing.
“I declare and decree myself a free soul within flesh navigating through Babylon under threat duress and threat from agents of the corporate construct and admiralty governments,” he wrote on Instagram.
Other privileges include non-tax benefits (treaty and indigenous people), protection under their constitution, possible eligibility to vote in Accompong Maroon government elections, and eligibility for residency and visitation to Accompong Town in St. Elizabeth. They also have the right to dual citizenship, which Spragga pointed out.
Spragga’s Maroon ID was issued in March 2022, with an expiration date of 2032, which confused one user.
“Why is there an expiry date?” the comment read. “De jure hasn’t an expiry.”
Spragga responded, “We still have to refresh and update our own census records for proper governance, right?”
The Jamaican Maroons are often described as enslaved Africans who evaded their British masters to attain and preserve their freedom. Following a guerilla war that lasted several years, the British acquiesced and signed peace treaties with the Maroons, granting them freedom and self-governance until slavery was abolished in 1834.
Other entertainers who double as Maroon advocates include Queen Ifrica and Buju Banton.