Spice, Tanya Stephens Say They Were “Fooled, Misled” By Lady Saw

The Dancehall fraternity might need a day of Truth and Reconciliation, following confessions from Tanya Stephens that she had joined forces with Lady Saw to lyrically disparage Lady G; Spice owning up to her role as a confederate of the Heels On singer to rival Tanya herself, and allegations made by Macka Diamond that Spice and Lady Saw had conspired to derail her career.

On Saturday morning Stephens said that she had plotted with Lady Saw to form an alliance to tear down veteran female deejay, Lady G.

“When me jus a come inna the business the demon used to complain bout Lady G. Anyone who knows G knows she is the sweetest of all the artists. Nicer than any other artist I know including myself. After G the demon moved on to me. Then came a host of others…,” the Rebelution artist had written.

Spice re-shared the post and asked Stephens to accept her “humble apology” for her past actions and attitude toward her including counteracting one of her songs.

“I know you have seen me in past times and have shown me nothing but love but I think I owe you this public apology for being young naive and misled in my younger days. I’m sorry I counteracted your song and came at you for reasons that had nothing to do with me. I was wrong to not have Judged you for myself and rather was listening to Satans Voice,” she said.

“Thank you for being such a beautiful humble veteran and for paving the way for Us women , I love and Respect you for life,” Spice added.

However, Stephens said an apology was not necessary, and referred Spice to the gun song that she had co-written targeting Lady G, which she recorded as a duet with Lady Saw.

“Nothing to forgive Spice. Go look up a song wid me and the cribbit name “Bruk dem up”. That was done for Lady G. A me and Andrew Henton write and produce it because she begged us to. She fool me fi a while too and G have noten but love fi me…,” she explained.

The song Buck Dem Up, released on the Insomnia label in 1999, appears to have been a counteraction to Lady G’s song Rock Back, released on the Exterminator Label in 1994, which took aim at artists who were corrupting Dancehall with “dem slackness an dem bag a gun talk” as well as “preaching false doctrines”.

Buck Dem Up had lyrics promising “another wicked Jamaican murder”, since both Saw and Stephens were, among other things, shottas armed with Glocks, Berettas and Mack pistols.

“Den saw, Nuh di careless bum dat, shi nuh drap out already? Who tell har fi tun back?” Stephen said in one verse, while Lady Saw stated that “wi a guh gun dem out and den wi bun dem out”, as among other things her rival “look like yuh want a obit inna di Gleaner”.

On Saturday morning Macka Diamond, in an hour-long live Instagram session, spoke of the tribulations she had endured at the hands of Lady Saw and Spice, with  whom she had been friends.

“People fi talk di truth.  Oonu team up wid di lady (Lady Saw) too. Even when di lady seh bout live inna house and dis and dat, yes!  Yuh (Spice) went there to live and di two a oonu sat there an oonu tuna gatekeeper and lock out Macka Diamond career.”

“I remember when I see the both a them decide that ‘OK, let us put Macka aside.   Let us lock har out’ and all these things.  Mi seh ‘Father God yuh naw sleep; I am gonna see the crumblings’ and mi just thank God mi live fi si this day and I live to see that I can tell the people dem what mi did a try fi seh long time,” Macka told her fans.

With her eyes welling up with tears at times, Macka went on to give instances of where she had been barred from events due to Spice and Lady Saw’s handiwork.

“I remember mi get a show wid di two a dem a California… Di two a dem decide seh a dem alone want di show.   And di girl (promoter) haffi fight and fight until di girl put mi pon di show.  An when di girl put mi pon di show one amount a suppm dem gwaan wid.   Dem nuh want inna di same hotel wid mi; dem gi di girl pare headache,” Macka said.

“Yuh si when mi reach a New York – cause a two show – one was in the Bronx, and one inna California. An yuh si when mi reach a New York, di promoter dem, nobody nuh come look fi mi.  Me one hitch inna mi hotel; mi nearly dead fi hungry… because dem a tell the promoter she shi nuffi pay mi no mind; mi a nuh nobaddy; mi a nuh no artiste,” she added.

In Bronx, she said that up to the end of the show, Lady Saw and herself had not performed.  However, the promoter asked the club owner for an extension and got 10 minutes.  Macka said she was the penultimate performer and Lady Saw was the closing act, but what Lady Saw did next left her mortified.

“Muma Saw grab di mike yuh si, and shi deejay di whole 10 minutes.  And when shi done shi tell di people dem: ‘Good night; oonu walk home safe.  Bye everybody’.

The Cucumber artist said that the audience began shouting and calling for her to perform, and so she took the microphone and deejayed in the midst of the crowd,  as she could not bear to go back on the stage Lady Saw had just vacated.

“Di only ting dem badda dan mi wid is fi trace mi, becaw mi heart clean and mi nuh know how fi deejay dutty tings and disrespect people and carry dem dung and drag dem dung inna di mud… Di only thing dem have ova mi is loud mouth and know how fi disgrace people betta dan mi,” she said.

The Holy Childhood High School old girl also said that American rapper Foxy Brown wanted to remix her hit song Bun Him, but Lady Saw dissuaded the rapper from doing so.

She also said in one instance a show in Grenada, Lady Saw had told a promoter that she did not want to travel on the same plane or stay in the same hotel as her, and made disparaging comments about her, and berated the promoter for giving her first-class treatment.

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