Veteran dancehall artiste Harry Toddler has said that it is time for more women to join the genre.
It’s not the first time that he has made the comments either, as back in 2010, he addressed the issue and said that women were grossly underrepresented in dancehall. He did that through his track “Too Many Men,” which was a collab with Chi Ching Ching.
The “Watch Your Friends” deejay reiterated his stance during a recent interview with The Gleaner as he once again said that the dancehall space is too dominated by men. This time he added more to his thoughts on the matter as he said when one looks at all other genres, it’s also too many males.
As such, when women contribute to the genre, they should be loved and appreciated, he continued. That’s because it takes a lot of heart to still try to compete in a space that is so saturated with male acts.
To balance the scales, he believes that maybe every deejay camp should consider having at least one female contributing to the team.
The “Don’t Run In” artist also extended his congratulations to Nicki Minaj, who he said took a very positive step with her latest single, the “Fine Nine” remix of Skeng’s “Likkle Miss.” The rapper was able to bring together a star-studded cast of female acts to create the track.
Jamaican MCs Spice and Lisa Mercedez, Bronx rapper London Hill, Trinidadian soca act Patrice Roberts, British punchline queen Lady Leshurr, and Destra Garcia, Pamputtae, and Dovey Magnum are all featured on the song. The video for the song, which was uploaded to YouTube five days ago, already has a million views.
“I have been hearing about it all over, and it is a great power. [With] this, what Nicki do, mi need it fi the female dem fi just know right now seh more of dem can play the game. All who just have a year or a few years or even 30 years in the industry can still dominate,” Toddler said.
His 2010 hit “Too Many Men,” which was released on the Supa Swag Riddim, aimed at the fact that female deejays were becoming rarer and rarer. He used the track to state his opinion that dancehall culture doesn’t just have a surplus of male artists but that they also travel with large groups of men.
Toddler, however, admit that he was once part of the entourage culture since he was once a prominent member of the Scare Dem Crew.
“Entourage culture nah guh stop,” Toddler said. “First man me see inna my life with entourage a Shabba [Ranks]. Most of these things a guh remain the same, and then individuals would have to make their own choices.”
He went on to say that there are some artists that you will never see with an entourage because of where they are from. However, he also admitted that the entourage lifestyle comes with the dancehall space.
Harry Toddler recently dropped a track called “Psycho Bunny,” which is available on all platforms and has revealed that he hopes to release a one-drop album in late November. That album will be strictly reggae, and he is also hopeful that he will get some assistance from Sanchez.
