Emerging dancehall sensation has Summa Kali questioned how closely Shenseea’s crossover career represents Jamaican dancehall.
“Shenseea is not authentic, she is more like an industry plant,” she said.
Summa Kali, who known for the energetic single ‘Boom Pan It’, weighed in on the Queen of the Dancehall debate in an online TikTok platform on Wednesday.
“Shenseea is fake. She is not a good representation of the culture. Shenseea is not authentic…she is more like an industry plant. She is really just a social media influencer, she is not bonafide dancehall,” Summa Kali said.
“Memba say Shen sell out Jamaica for the past 5 years for the American culture that she can’t still break into…memba ah she say she go the batty route…she have 28 songs with over ten million streams and the streets nah sing her song dem word for word, only two real hit she have,” Summa Kali said.
Interestingly, Shenseea has been pointing to streaming numbers as the basis to crown her the new Queen of Dancehall.
But no way, says Summa Kali.
The debate centres on a title long associated with Lady Saw and then later, Spice, whose catalogue and influence helped make her one of the genre’s defining stars.
“Lady Saw is still my Queen of the Dancehall,” she said.
She pointed to Lady Saw’s foundational impact, lyrical dominance, and cultural legacy in Jamaican music. Summa believes that Lady Saw’s impact has never been surpassed or fully replaced,, even after her 2015 retirement from secular dancehall to become a Christian minister.
“To this day, Lady Saw song dem still ah get major forward any dance yu go, whether you under 25 or over 45,” Summa Kali said.
Lady Saw became the first female deejay/dancehall artist to win a Grammy Award for her collaboration with No Doubt on the triple-Platinum hit “Underneath It All”, in addition to charting on the US Billboard Hot 100 with Vitamin C on “Smile”.
Shenseea is still sticking to her guns. Shen made her case speaking with Miami radio host Papa Keith at a launch for her EP Catalyst, Shenseea pointed to her current commercial performance in staking her claim. She acknowledged Spice’s contribution, but made clear where she thinks she stands today.
Spice herself has previously named Shenseea and Jada Kingdom among the artists she sees as possible successors. For now, Spice remains widely recognised as the Queen of Dancehall, while Shenseea is making a public case for the title on the strength of her current numbers.
