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September 3, 2011
Star Entertainment


 

Spice juggles motherhood, music

Contributed-Spice holds up a gift while showing off her daughter Nicholatoy.

Despite becoming a mother in 2007, Spice just could not stay away for long from her first love, and soon returned to the stage and immediately hit the track running.

In late 2008, she visited Guyana to do a show with Vybz Kartel and while there, a beverage company asked both artistes to stay an additional two days to shoot a commercial. There, she began a friendship with Vybz Kartel, so much so that they decided to do collaborations together and after returning to Jamaica, they voiced Ramping Shop.

The musical force ruled the airwaves for months and catapulted Spice to the top of the dancehall arena, and in early 2009, she won the EME award for Female Deejay of the Year. Spice also walked away with Best Female Performer, Female Deejay of the Year and Young Hot and Hype Female Deejay at the Youth View Awards.

In late 2009, the racy lyrics in Ramping Shop ignited a number of debates questioning the song's impact on the younger generation. This quickly prompted the Broadcasting Commission to implement a radio ban on all songs that necessitated editing of any kind.

However, it seems the ban merely fuelled the popularity of the song and a PG-13 version of the song soon re-released by Kartel and Spice. To date, the song has received almost 6 million YouTube hits.

The song's overseas popularity only further fuelled the demand for Spice at shows, some of which include the annual Best Of The Best concert in Florida, Reggae Sumfest in Jamaica and Irie Jamboree in New York. Spice says, "The dancehall public in the USA has accepted me and it's great. I have really worked hard to get to this stage of my career."

Spice has also started to diversify her business interests as an entrepreneur starting a 'Spicey Empire'. She recently opened a high-end clothing store called 'Spicey Couture in the upscale Mall Plaza in St Andrew. She also teamed up with her fiancé and opened a sports bar in Portmore, StCatherine, called '8 Ball Lounge'.

On the musical side of things, in 2010 she again walked away with the Female Dancehall Artiste of the Year award at the EMEs. She also collaborated with popular female entertainer Pamputtae for the single Slim vs Fluffy which ruled the local airwaves and dominated the number-one spot on the Canadian dancehall charts.

Immediately following that, Spice's single, Jim Screechie, was an instant hit and dominated the Caribbean airwaves for more than a year - even during her short hiatus when she gave birth to her daughter.

Intent on maintaining her number one spot in the dancehall arena, Spice along with her new management company, Movers and Shakers, spearheaded by Stacey Chung, orchestrated the remix of the dancehall single, Fun, featuring Missy Elliott. The infectious track, has garnered significant airplay and has been featured on the world's leading hip hop sites and mainstream newspapers including Hot 97 New York's 'gossip guru', Miss Info's site, MissInfo.TV, Funkmaster Flex's website, MTV's Buzzworthy Blog, Rap-Up.com, The UK Guardian newspaper, The Trinidad Guardian, and more.

Focused, passionate and fearlessly creative, Spice has her eyes set on being the next dancehall sensation who will dominate the international scene - and from all indications her dream is about to become an admirable reality.

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