“She’s a real female gladiator,” said Bounty Killer. “When she first went on stage to fight the boys, no one knew her, she didn’t have a popular song and the boys were more popular than her. That’s something big, that’s not ordinary.”
In 2003, Spice began touring the Caribbean, Europe and the United States. That year she connected with Dave Kelly, a respected dancehall producer, and released “Fight Over Man,” which became a hit. Three years later, she decided to manage herself.
“I felt like I was so creative, and yet I was the one doing the work,” she said. “I started making music videos, visuals and better things for myself because now I’m building a brand.”
In 2009, “Romping Shop,” her single featuring another dancehall legend, Vybz Kartel, spent 15 weeks on the Billboard chart. In 2014, she released her debut EP, “So Mi Like It”, which was also a success, reaching number 14 on Billboard’s reggae album chart. In 2018, she joined the cast of the reality show “Love & Hip Hop Atlanta” to gain visibility, she said. Spice had already broken through into the American mainstream, but she wanted to ‘add a face to the sound’.
That same year, she released a mixtape, “Captured,” which reached No. 1 on the reggae album chart.
“You felt what she was saying because it was done with so much passion and so much conviction and energy, and that’s how she broke through the pack,” said Shaggy, 53, the Grammy Award-winning reggae singer who is the executive. producer of “10.” “She literally embodies everything she’s been taught by Jamaican culture.”
Today, Spice is no longer the nervous girl freestyling at the Sting Festival. Now, when Spice commands the stage, she’s in complete control. Her voluptuous body is often strategically covered by tailored outfits made from stretchy fabric in vibrant colors, which usually match the vibrant blue of her signature wig.
Earlier this year, while performing at Amazura, a Queens nightclub, she arrived with a metal briefcase in tow, a pale pink bob wig, a matching leotard and an ankle-length tulle coat to match her thigh-high socks adorned with fuzzy pink feathers. The crowd, pointing their camera phones at her, became a sea of LED lights, bouncing to the beat of the heavy dancehall bass emanating from the huge speakers.
