Whenever You Hear “Scorrrrnnnn Dem!” You Know The Deal
No long talk has been out of action for a bit but they live by the quotes: “If you’ve got nothing constructive to say, say nothing” / “Better to say nothing than chat shit.” And no long talk has their first female. And who better than the hottest female out right now, Spice! “Scorrrrnnnn Dem!” Ahead of the #MoreLife2016 show in London’s o2 Brixton Academy (alongside Tarrus Riley and Assassin aka Agent Sasco), Spice speaks to No Long Talk about her gospel beginnings to X-rated dancehall, almost quitting, why her daughter “does not know who Spice is”, whether dark skin hinders progression in showbiz, and the importance of social media. Audio & Video After The Jump..
“I was a very very quiet, nice little girl,” the artist says of her school years. “I don’t know what happened along the way!” she adds with a laugh before detailing her role as the leader in the school’s gospel choir. “I was the leader for the class, so I was just that disciplined girl in school.”
The star, born Grace Hamilton, was raised with her siblings by her church-attending mother. Her father passed away when she was nine years old. “My father wasn’t around when I started doing music and my mother is a Christian – she’s still alive,” she said of her parents. “[My mother] isn’t into the genre that I do, but she knows that I have a talent to do music, so she’s happy that I’m doing it but she would rather I sang for God.”
It was Baby Cham who helped kick start her recording career following a tour in the UK. “I was doing that tour without a hit song,” she reflects. “I was getting booked for shows because of my craft on stage. Baby Cham said to me on the tour ‘Why are you doing all of this and you don’t have a 45″ out’.” Spice didn’t have any links to good producers so on their return to Jamaica, Baby Cham introduced her to one of dancehall’s greatest producer’s, Dave Kelly. Together they made her breakout song, “Fight Ova Man”.
Another landmark hit for Spice was obviously “Ramping Shop” with the immensely talented Vybz Kartel. Despite the songs international success, Vybz Kartel was never able to reap the full benefits through touring due his travel restrictions. “I remember, at the time Vybz Kartel was unable to travel, so I was just reaping,” she laughs. “People know [Vybz Kartel] as an aggressive person. I know him as a fun-loving person always chatting and laughing about something.,” she recalls of time spent with the currently incarcerated deejay whom she knew before he became the star we know now. “We had a past relationship as friends coming out of the same community in Portmore.”
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Speaking from the point of view as a mother of a young daughter, Spice doesn’t see herself as a role model to young females. “My daughter does not know who Spice is,” she says. “She does not know that character, that person, she does not know what I’m doing outside of being the mother that she knows. It’s my responsibility as a mother not to make her see my performances, listen to my type of music because she’s not of age.”
She also talks on the success of “So Mi Like It” saved her career as she was thinking of retiring if it didn’t buss.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/261411857″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]Tarrus Riley, Assassin, Spice, Mighty Crown and Metro Media take over Brixton Academy Saturday 30th April. For more info: www.academymusicgroup.com/o2academybri…2016-tickets
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