Denyque On Inequality In Dancehall: ‘You’re Not Going To Buss The Same Type Of Blank For Kartel And Spice’

Denyque believes inequality in Dancehall is still as prevalent as it has ever been, and though she’s not bothered, the Make Me Believe artist blames it on the culture.

The singer appeared on the Let’s Be Honest podcast with host Jaii Frais last week to discuss her musical journey when the conversation turned to gender disparities in Dancehall music.

When asked what some of the struggles faced by female artists in the industry today were, Denyque responded, “Definitely inequality … because women are always looking for equality,” before adding, “personally, I don’t.”

“I feel like a woman is a woman and there’s a lot of things that we can do that men can’t do, so I’m not looking for equal ground where certain things are concerned,” she said.  “Where work is, yeah, I would love some more opportunities but I realize it’s the culture, like people just nah go rail up for a female artist like dem would a rail up for a male artist, and I think that’s something us as women just have to come to [terms with].”

When Jaii argued that Spice was highly rated by almost everyone, Denyque interjected, “Yeah, but you’re not going to buss the same type ah blank that you buss for Kartel for Spice.”

Jaii argued that men simply relate better to the narratives that their male counterparts sing about rather than those of females.

“Yeah so that’s what I’m saying … I feel like if us as women just kinda be more understanding of that, like men are really from Mars and women are from Venus,” Denyque said.

Besides urging female singers to accept the conditions that come with working in a male-dominated landscape, the Same Guy singer mostly blamed Dancehall fans for showing favoritism to male artists. She used this year’s staging of Sumfest as an example.

“When I saw [what happened at] Sumfest and I saw everybody posting – Dancehall night specifically – and mi see everybody a post all ah di man dem, mi a say ‘Yo Shenseea did have one a di baddest performances dah night deh, why is nobody [posting it]’. Mi literally drape up two a mi fren dem fi it, cause I’m like ‘are you a fish bredda, like what are you doing?’” she said.

Denyque commended Shenseea’s growth as a musician and how “proud” she felt to see her performance that night, also adding that the Queen of Dancehall Spice gave her usually dominating set but, in her opinion, talks about the two on social media in the aftermath fell flat.

“Nuh man! Nuh man nah post none ah di woman dem, and that was my issue!” she said.

“Dem likkle ting there … where the inequality is concerned, that’s what we talking ‘bout. We ah talk ‘bout ‘Yo give we the same amount of airplay, give we the same amount of push,” she continued.

For more, watch the full interview with Denyque on the Let’s Be Honest podcast.