Tony Rebel Originally Wrote ‘Lioness On The Rise’ For Marcia Griffiths, Queen Ifrica Reveals

Queen Ifrica has revealed that Tony Rebel had originally written her hit Lioness On The Rise for his Penthouse Records stablemate and Queen of Reggae, Marcia Griffiths.

In an Instagram post that she shared on Wednesday, Ifrica said that the time had come for the contents of the song to fully manifest, as she expressed concern that Jamaica was under siege and the people of Kingston’s inner-city areas were the ones feeling the brunt of the problems.

“And we are saying now we are standing all up.  Remember weh di song seh?  Tony Rebel write it.  When the roll is call up I’ll be standing tall up… he wrote it for Auntie Marcia, but he was writing about me, because I was in the household doing it,” she said.

“I was talking care of the children thereof and dealing with all the issues, but of required I would have been on the frontline.   And I am letting you know now without any water in my mouth that I am officially on the frontline with no joke behind it.”

Released by VP Records, as part of Queen Ifrica’s Montego Bay album, Lioness on the Rise was produced by Donovan Germain of Penthouse Productions on the Automatic Riddim in 2009.

In an interview with Boomshots in 2009, Queen Ifrica had provided an indepth breakdown of the song Lioness on the Rise.

“Well the “Lioness on The Rise” is basically saying… There’s an individual who is ready to get up and to stand up for something, especially where it have to do with children. A lot of times, we as public figures tend to believe that we don’t have a responsibility to the people that are listening to us, in terms of being there as an ear, being there as somebody they’re accessible to,” she had explained.

“I am so surprised at when I’m dealing with people and I’m just being me, and they’re actually surprised at the fact that I would stop and talk to them, or that I would have a conversation with them for more than ten minutes. Because they don’t get that from our artists because they’re on this ego trip that a lot of us are on,” she added.

Continued Ifrica: “So “Lioness On The Rise” is basically saying that when the roll is called up, we are some of the ones that would be ready to stand up and to be counted as someone who doing something. Who’s not just singing to be famous. But there really are people who are willing to get into the community to get the conversations going and to find solutions”.

The Montego Bay album consisted of 13 tracks including two versions of the banned Daddy, the song which addressed incest, which was done in English and Spanish.

The other songs were T.T.P.N.C., Welcome To Montego Bay, Coconut Shell, Yad To The East, Don’t Sign, Keep It To Yourself, Calling Africa and the solemn Streets Are Bloody.  The album also included the romantic tracks Far Away and In My Dreams.

In May 2010, Ifrica was the toast of the International Reggae and World Music Awards, which was held in Queens, New York.  Montego Bay was one of the most popular reggae albums of 2009, and for that masterpiece she copped four awards – Artiste of the Year, Most Educational Artiste of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Best Female DJ/Rapper.

Ifrica, whose given name is Ventrice Morgan, began her career in 1995 after shining at a local talent contest in her hometown of Montego Bay. 

In 1998, at a show in honour of the late Garnett Silk, Tony Rebel, upon hearing the clean vocals and the unmistakable quality of her performance, Tony Rebel’s asked her to join his Flames Production team.

Since then, she has become among the most respected women in Dancehall and Reggae music, touring extensively and being a staple act on Rebel Salute and at times Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay where she has always been one of the most highly-anticipated acts, over the years.

Rebel and Ifrica broke up in 2021 after 23 years together, the singer confirmed in May this year.