Dancehall Artist Lisa Hyper Says Hip Hop Artists Must Be Seen As Musical Equals

The first lady of Gaza Lisa Hyper has admonished Dancehall artists not to genuflect to Cardi B and Nicki Minaj, arguing they too are global musical heavyweights and are just as talented as the Hip Hop artists, who must be seen as nothing else but their musical equals.

Hyper’s comments which she posted in her Instagram stories on Friday, came against the background of the praises being showered on Cardi B and comparisons about whether she or Nicki Minaj loved Dancehall more, by one veteran Dancehall artist.

Several younger Dancehall artists had performed at Cardi’s party, among them Shenseea, Spice, Kranium, and Ding Dong.

For the Pretty Butterfly artist, the rappers are doing Dancehall no favors, but, instead were using the genre as a means of one-upmanship, as the two were considered musical combatants.

“The two gyal dem a war and a use Dancehall as big bait.  How unu nuh see that?” she noted in her first post.

Seemingly rattled by the ongoing elevation of Minaj and Cardi, she implied that it pointed to self-diminishing of talented Jamaican artists.

“Don’t know why unu behave like dem a star and unu moon,” she noted, before adding: “None nuh better than none.  They both all culture vultures.”

The Phoenix artist joins her Dancehall counterparts Foota Hype, Khago and his wife Francine, who have long contended that American rappers have been exploiting and watering down Dancehall.

In April, Khago declared that Jamaican Reggae and Dancehall is a global cultural heavyweight towering over American genres, and that he has had to chase away American rappers who have approached him asking for permission to sample his hit song Nah Sell Out.  Khago’s wife and manager, Francine Gayle, who spearheaded his successful million-dollar lawsuit against producer Flava McGregor, also agreed, noting that Americans were exploiting the music and mistreating many of the artists, sampling their music and making them appear irrelevant.

The couple’s sentiments were also echoed in October 2019 by veteran Dancehall selector Foota Hype, after American Kanye West came to Jamaica to stage his Sunday Service. The selector had also said American rappers and other artists tend to either sample or pirate Jamaican music, or collaborate with Reggae/Dancehall artistes in order to redeem their faltering careers, remain relevant, and fatten their bank accounts, while downplaying the Jamaicans.

Foota had said that even though these artists have latched onto Jamaican music, because Reggae and Dancehall sells the most globally, at the same time they do not to pay homage to the Jamaicans who created the original works, instead giving the public the impression that they are the originators.