Nikki X - Contributed

Upcoming female artiste Nikki X says it's a rocky road for females in the dancehall business.

According to the artiste, she has the entire package as she writes and performs her own songs, but it seems that is still not enough.

Born Nicolette Livingston, Nikki X has been doing music for the past three years, yet she sings a familiar song saying 'it's not an easy road'.

"As a female I am going to reiterate the fact that it is not an easy business for us to get into I guess, it's a result of the patriarchal society," she said.

According to the young artiste, despite the many challenges the major difficulty is to get people who are willing to give her a chance.

"My biggest challenge I must say has been getting the right persons to work with in terms of producers etc., and people who genuinely want to mould young talents, and not just want to take advantage of you because of their superiority," she said.

The artiste says she has proved herself on occasions, and still she is no closer to getting where she wants to be, she gave an example.

"Last October, I entered a DJ/Singjay competition. I was the only female among nine male competitors, so you know I had to work twice as hard to earn a place in the finals, I eventually won that competition and was supposed to work with some of the most prominent record labels such as Big Ship, TJ, Romeich, Equinoxx, Head Concussion Records, Chimney, Big Yard, Live Up etc., and I'm yet to receive any of the above or other prizes that were part of the deal. Again this just proves how hard it is for females in the music world," she told THE STAR.

Nikki X cites Tanya Stephens, Lady Saw, CéCile and Tifa as her main local influences, and on the international scene the likes of Rihanna and Nikki Minaj are the top of her list.

Despite her many challenges, however, the artiste maintains that she stands a good chance of making it to the mainstream, and according to her, when she gets to that point there is no limit to her capabilities.

"There are no limits or boundaries that I can possibly think of at this point in my life where I could say that's how far I'd like to take my music career. In other words, I am willing to go anywhere the music takes me," she said.

"People should listen to my music because it's fun, entertaining and different from the way you'd hear other females," she concluded.