Caribbean Heat: Dancehall Queen Lady Saw

Lil Kim, Foxy Brown and Trina are known for their overtly sexual lyrics but they are all relatively safe performers compared to today’s Caribbean Heat star, Lady Saw. This woman is a force of music who has dominated the Jamaican Dancehall music industry for almost 30 years and is still a highly demanded artist.

Lady Saw started her career in the early 1980s and her raw lyrics made her unlikely symbol of the feminist movement. In fact, her challenges of male dominance and sexuality scandalised the Jamaican music scene, and she has been banned from performing in several areas of the country.

Nonetheless, Lady Saw’s clever writing skills earned her global recognition and she has worked alongside No Doubt on their monster hit ‘Underneath it All’, which peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Listen to some of Lad Saw’s most notable hits and watch some of her popular videos below:

‘Backshot (with Spragga Benz)’

‘Chat to Mi Back’

‘Hardcore’

‘I’ve Got Your Man’

‘If Him Lef’

‘Life Without Dick’

‘Man is the Least’

‘No Long Talking’

‘Stab Out the Meat’

Lady Saw is the definition of what a patriarchal society tries to surpress – an aggressive, bold and outspoken women who controls who own sexuality. Yet, her work has inspired a wave of artists – Spice, Macka Diamond, Tifa – and competed with that of her male counterparts, thus establishing her as an icon of the Dancehall genre.

There is no doubt that Lady Saw helped to change Caribbean culture and break barriers for her peers. However, the space for female Dancehall artists is still limited and as men continue to dominate the field, the former is group is still starkly underrepresented.

Thoughts?