Lady G is getting ‘Nuff Respect’ from Dancehall fans who have been viewing extensive video clips of her 20-minute performance at Rebel Salute, on the weekend.
The praises are pouring in for the veteran Dancehall deejay, whose real name is Janice Fyffe, who tore down the Rebel salute stage with a performance that has been described as explosive, ‘complete with clarity, gimmicks, message music, and stage presence.’ The artiste performed a slew of her hits, including Breeze Off and duets Round Table Talk and Legal Rights, which she recorded with Papa San in the 1980s.
However, it was during her commentary on the child sexual abuse and violence against women occurring in Jamaica, in songs which she said were not recorded, but were built for the stage show and reserved in her lyrical arsenal, that she showed her mettle as a class act.
“Caw is like dem naw show di woman dem no respect again. Dem all a kill off di woman dem and dem suppm deh. Mi realise seh dem all a kill off dung tuh di likkle baby dem. Mi naw guh tolerate dat Jamaica. Dis a uh fi wi Jamaica, weh dem a kill off baby and woman,” declared as she introduced a song on child abuse.
The 51-year-old also sought to tell persons who had might be saying she should exit the Dancehall industry, that she is still a bedrock in Jamaica’s music landscape, who did not have to ‘dash out’ to make it big.
“A whole heap a people a seh Lady G fi guh pot up becaw she ole now. Mi deh yah before Facebook; mi deh yah before IG, right; Mi deh yah before Snapchat, suh dem betta stap chat because mi still have it up,” she said.
Following her performance, the artiste who now resides in New Jersey told Winford Williams of the popular entertainment show, Onstage, that even though she was ‘under the weather’ and her voice was suffering as a result, she had come prepared to please.
“You know Rebel Salute is one of my favourite shows. So when I come to Rebel Salute you know mi haffi give mi hundred and 50 performance, even though my voice wasn’t in top shape. I was sick for the whole week, so mi decide seh fi da 20 minute deh weh mi get, if mi pass out when mi finish, mi just go give it mi all and that’s it. Because when I see my fans out there and my fans really enjoy me I have to really go hard, definitely,” she said.
In response to being lauded for her fresh lyrical content, her ability to connect with the audience about matters of substance, Lady G said this was an art perfected by entertainers who emerged in the 1980s.
“I am from the ’80s where we always have a couple a lyrics put down one side fi our fans. But that song is not recorded; that’s just a stage lyrics to address what’s going on right now,” she said.
Fans who commented said the current crop of female deejays have a lot to learn from Lady G in terms of stage performance, as the quality of their performance is very low, with most of them concentrating on singing about their private parts and other trivialities.
“This is dancehall; listen her flow and words of wisdom and knowledge and experience,” Shelllingz God said.
“These female artistes need to take a page out of Lady G books and get them act together. Pure garbage in the music industry now,” David Lawrence said.
