Spice Hails Bounty Killer: “My Bravery Came From Him”
Queen of Dancehall Spice says Bounty Killer may have foretold her future 26 years ago when he pulled her up on stage at 14.
“He was so receptive to me. I remember him telling me at 14 years old I would be the next queen of dancehall”, Spice, 40, in a recent interview with former NBA star and New York Post podcaster Jalen Rose. “My bravery came from Killa. He told me I’d be a star at just 14 years old. How could I not be confident?”
“I feel like that was my moment… I started to speak lyrics and we started to go back and forth… And [Bounty Killer] looked at me and he said to me, ‘You are going to be the next queen of dance[hall],’” Spice explained.
Spice, whose real name is Grace Hamilton, previously reflected on that moment a few years ago after Bounty made an appearance on her talk show, ‘Spice It Up’.
She chronicled the interaction in an Instagram post addressed to Bounty, in which she relayed: “Here’s the man who first handed me a microphone when I ended up on his stage in a Lyric Clash at age 14 yup @grunggaadzilla you know my story not just my glory… Mi LOVE YUH BAD. You told me of my greatness before I even knew it and to this day it’s what inspired me to be so BOLD… You told me who I’d be who I am today. Do you have any idea how deep that is? Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Bounty Killer, whom Spice referred to as the G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time), was as forthcoming with praises in response to the Instagram post.
He had shared: “I know, I know I know Grace, but thanks for always reminding me though and you’re most welcome my darling. I’m so happy to be a part of your illustrious story and you are always and forever grateful. Stay graceful.”
The two had further directly discussed that moment following the release of Spice’s chart-topping album 10 in 2021, after Spice asked Bounty what he saw in her when he decided to give her the chance he did.
“I saw the fire in you, I saw the determination and I saw the talent. I saw the drive… All the things I saw, I see it blossom into the Dancehall Queen today,” Bounty told her.
While it remains unclear whether that Lyric Clash was the first meeting between the two Dancehall stars, their publicly observable relationship has always been a compliment-filled one.
Bounty has, on separate occasions, given Spice her due. He had once referred to her as the “baddest female in Dancehall”, and told followers of his on social media: “… Spice is the greatest female deejay today so who nuh like gwaan fight and bite aight…”.
The Love and Hip-Hop star’s feature on The Renaissance Man podcast also saw her discussing the impact of her father on her confidence. Though he died when she was only nine years old, Spice revealed that he played a significant part in nurturing her love for music.
She explained to Rose: “He’s the reason I’m in music, because I remember before he died, he used to play Bob Marley in the house … He used to tell us to sing the songs and he would give us extra food on the plate. And I used to love my belly, so I used to sing for food.”
Spice also shared: “He was very boastful about me to his friends. Like, everywhere he would take me, he would be [like], ‘My daughter can sing.’”
The God A Bless singer has always been mindful of her father’s contributions to her life, and earlier this year, she honored that memory of him with the Gospel-Reggae track, ‘Spice Marley’ – released on March 24. Her father’s name was Anthony Hamilton.
Wrapping up her appearance on the podcast, Spice was asked about her life-threatening health scare, and how it’s impacted her outlook on life.
Spice told the retired basketball player: “I literally was given a second chance to life, and I refer to my current life as my second life. I’m more humble, I’m more forgiving. I have a calmer spirit.”
She added: “I remember things that used to bother me in my first life… it doesn’t bother me now in my second life. The little things that I used to take for granted, I no longer take it for granted.”
The much-publicized ordeal, which involved a ruptured hernia and sepsis, occurred in October of last year and is a moment Spice has since enshrined in her life as a turning point. The star’s first single of this year, God A Bless, which was preceded by a few head-turning, pregnancy-hinting Instagram posts, was the project that marked her return to Dancehall after that hiatus.
Spice shared – reiterating the sentiment she expressed to Jalen Rose – that, “I died in October 2022 and God literally gave me a second chance at life.”