Dancehall Veteran Lady G Talks ‘Nuff Respect’ On International Women’s Day

As the world celebrates International Women’s Day today, March 8, there is one Dancehall song that has remained timeless in expression of women’s rights.  Lady G’s Nuff Respect drew the line at disrespect in male-dominated sectors.

The song debuted in 1988 and the message still resonates with many. At the time it was created as Dancehall’s version of Helen Reddy’s I Am Woman. The fight for equality for women around the world remains and for some this song is a bit of a mantra.

South Florida Caribbean News caught up with Lady G who spoke about her inspiration behind writing the song and why she felt it was a necessary track.

“At di time there were a lot of songs coming out degrading women and disrespecting them. I thought it was di right time to put out a song uplifting women, give dem self-value mek dem know dat wi worth more than dat,” she said.

The song which was produced by Gussie Clarke, had to compete with a lot of other popular tracks on the same riddim including Gregory Isaacs’ Rumors, J C Lodge’s Telephone Love and Tell me Which One by Shabba Ranks. All of those were monster hits that year.

Lady G’s offering did stand out and would go on to endure the test of time as it is still played by many deejays and fans alike. It would be her break-out hit.

Later that year Lady G, whose real name is Janet Fyffe, would release two more tracks, with her mentor Papa San. Those tracks Legal Rights and Round Table Talk also did well on dancehall charts.

She’s certainly held to her tenet of no disrespect and is known for her infamous Sting stageshow in Jamaica. Her provocative style would see her clash with Lady Mackerel, Sister Charmaine and Junie Ranks. The following year in 1989 she clashed once more with Sister Charmaine, as well as Patra and Lady P.

What made Nuff Respect special was the fact that when she released that track there weren’t many other female deejays in the business. The song was a counter to the very male-dominated genre at the time. Most notably a lot of the songs by popular deejays at the time usually bore some sort of disrespect to the female body.

Lady G, who now lives in New Jersey believes that there has been some improvement in the relationship between male and female artists over the years. “A little disrespect will go on in between but they (men) look at us more seriously. Not like sex symbols like before,” she added.