Mr. Vegas: “Spice Totally Destroyed The Fabric Of Dancehall”
Long story short, Mr. Vegas regards Spice as Dancehall’s biggest detriment.
The singjay has never shied away from criticizing the Jim Screechie artist, this time blasting her for entertaining a flamboyant “bestie” during her recent Unruly Fest performance in the UK.
The Caucasian male was part of the usual segment where she recruits a patron for her Sheet performance. The fan stood out by singing Spice’s Needle Eye before dancing with her female dancers.
Looking on, Mr. Vegas scoffed at Spice’s morals, adding that her predecessor Lady Saw (now Minister Marion Hall) would have never entertained homosexuality.
“Spice totally destroyed the fabric of dancehall,” the Raging Bull artist said.
“No morals nuh inna it again, no self-respect. When dem a talk bout Lady Saw used to slack and Shabba used to slack, we supposed to a sing bout p*mp*m and dem ting deh cause a dat we waan… We son dem come and have girlfriend and wife and give we grand pickney and continue we DNA. A nuh slackness that; that a reality a sing bout sex, but now a different thing.”
Hall, who baptised in 2015, recently opened up about dodging same-sex flirtations while she was Lady Saw. Spice, on the other hand, has been publicly unapologetic about embracing all her queer fans, to Mr. Vegas’ disdain.
“Spice bring the most nastiness inna dancehall… She nav nuh talent when it comes on to being a recording artist, so she haffi use dem things deh fi build up her show… A disgrace Spice a bring inna dancehall.”
Playing on her given name, Grace Hamilton, he added, “Her name fitting. She name Disgrace Hamilton.”
Aware that some folks will pull the “badmind” card, Mr. Vegas defended himself in advance. “Weh we a badmind Spice fah? Spice badmind her owna self… Spice a live inna misery…and dah misery deh a bring a negative energy inna the space and unno a embrace it and a accept it and a crown queen… Queen fi weh? Queen fi bring man pon stage come skin out?”
Skimming through her catalog, the Tek Weh Yuhself act labelled her work a slap in the face of dancehall pillars like King Jammy, Steely and Clevie and Dave Kelly. He further questioned the “hit” legitimacy of some of her songs which were built off 90s classics.
“’I’m on a romantic call’ – a Patra song dat… ‘Needle eye p*mp*m’ – a Shabba Ranks song dat. We nah seh people nuh tek other people work and remix it and dem thing deh, but 90 percent of her song dem unno know, a people work weh she try barber round.”
He did manage to give her credit for Go Down Deh, though he hailed Shaggy and Sean Paul as the pulling factors, likewise Dave Kelly being attached to her breakthrough song Fight Over Man.
“The one song weh she have, So She (Mi) Like It – weh dem carry go give Notnice weh Notnice fix up because him is a great producer – a dat alone she have inna her catalogue. Anything else a bare sheet and pillow and freakiness she gwaan wid pon stage.”
While Mr. Vegas expressed disgust at her set, Spice’s other peers, including Busta Rhymes, Konshens, and Kemar Highcon, are singing her praises with fire emojis online.
Unruly Fest principal Popcaan even commented “historical records” on one of her highlight clips on Instagram.
Spice is currently in promo mode for her upcoming album Mirror 25, an album launch for which unfolds in London today.