Blue Print: Since the release of her reggae single, Brand New Page last week, dancehall artiste Spice says she is pleased with the response the track has garnered thus far.

The reggae song which was produced by Blaqk Sheep Music on the Tropical Connection Riddim was the perfect way to start the year, Spice says. "I chose to release it in January because that's always the time most persons are determined to stay true to their new year resolutions and improve on things in their lives. That's what Brand New Page is about - getting rid of things that shouldn't be in your life and making a fresh start."


"So far the response has been great, I can't complain. The roots reggae stations and their listeners have been loving that song and before promoting my next single, Take Him Out alongside Mya, this will be the track that my team will be promoting both here and in Europe," says Spice.

The creative artiste is also up for a number of nominations at this year's Youth View Awards, scheduled to take place on February 4 at the National Indoor Sports Centre. The nominations include: Young, Hot and Hype Female Artiste of The Year, Fashion Icon Female, Favourite Local Female Artiste and Favourite Dancehall Artiste Female.

Spice who is known for her hits including, Ramping Shop with Vybz Kartel, Slim Versus Fluffy, Jim Screechie, Hot Patty Wine, Funalongside Missy Elliott and more, says, "I'm definitely looking forward to this year's YVAs; it's always so much fun and they always come with some great concepts. I also am extremely happy with the number of nominations I received and I want to thank all the fans who have been voting so far."

Read More...»

Dancehall artiste Spice has recorded ten new singles slated for release this year. The songs which range from the humorous, to the raunchy and the gutsy were recorded within a two month span and videos for two of the singles, Tell Me Why and Official Girl featuring upcoming rapper, J-Young, will be shot and released in a few weeks.

In addition to the previously stated songs, other singles to be released by Spice include Nah Stress Ova No Man produced by Leeds House, Time Fi Live Up produced by Live Up Records, Worry Bout Dem produced by Frass, in addition to two songs produced by Supa Hype, Handle This and Cutting Board featuring Anthony B.


The artiste whose correct name is Grace Hamilton says, "I'm happy to be here recording and doing the singles. Sometimes we take a lot for granted including our talents and gifts, so I hope my fans will enjoy the fun-loving songs that myself and the other artistes have to offer."

Spice who was also in the Negril area for a concert last weekend gave an outstanding performance afterwards said, "This year I'll be pushing myself harder than ever; doing a lot of singles and releasing a lot of videos and hitting the road for shows. Music is a job just like anything else and that's how I treat it in a professional manner. I don't intend to be sidetracked by anyone or anything going forward and putting the final touches on my album."

Read More...»

Caribbean Lifestyle Media-Have you heard Spice new song "Back Broad"? It was was featured on the much talked about DNA Riddim produced by TJ Records. The concept for the video is said to be about confident women being fashionable.

The shoot is scheduled to take place at 4 Latham Avenue, across from Hype TV, tomorrow (Friday, March 12) at 3p.m. Spice stated "I also want to invite all my fans who want to be apart of the shoot to come out dressed to impress. I always like my fans to feel free to be apart of anything I do, so come out; it's going to be a lot of fun."

Read More...»

Caribbean Lifestyle Media would like to take this time to congratulate all the winners of EME awards. Chino who received the "breakthrough artiste of the year", alongside Jah Vinci released a string of hits such as "From Mawning", "Pon yuh Head", and "Protected".

Chino whose correct name is Daniel McGregor says, "I have to say thanks to everyone who helped me to make my success possible. One person can't do it, it takes a lot of belief in yourself and a great team, great fans and media persons and others in the industry who believe in you. So thanks to everyone and for the new year I'm staying focused and coming with a lot of hot new tracks and two albums: one for the US market and the other for Japan."

Spice also won the category of "Female Dancehall Artiste of The Year". Spice Stated,"I was off the island every weekend from the beginning of the year right up until December. People will look on and see artistes travelling and putting out the songs and think that it's easy. No way was it easy doing all that, being a mother and running two businesses, so I am extremely excited and happy about being acknowledged for the hard work I put in and I'm so thankful to everyone. I can't say it enough,"

Read More...»

Caribbean Lifestyle Media-I am sure you have heard that Lisa Hype is no longer a part of the Portmore Empire and you may also have heard that Lisa Hype recently released a new tune "Sting Aftermath", bashing a few female Dancehall artistes. One of those artiste that was in the line of Lisa Hype's fire was Spice. Spice responded recently to Lisa's new tune. Spice stated "Lisa Hype, I mean Lisa Swipe is in no position to utter the words she did from her mouth, but I honestly feel very sorry for her. She's going through a shameful time in her life right now and is obviously looking for a dark hole to stick her head in. Lisa Swipe is calling names to keep her name out there; but my name? She ah play wid fire. She know say she nuh bad like mi likkle fingah. Di time she tek ah pick pon di female artiste dem, she need fi go clean off di discharge offah har stomach. She ah gwaan like ah me tek har pictuh an sen' it out. And it's such a pity. Outta every female artiste name whe she call, she ah di crawniest one. She feavah Geico lizard. I've been in the business for 10 years and I've never stooped so low, just to get highlighted. But Lisa doesn't know when to stop stooping and get up off her knees. It's tragic. Let me not bother to go there because she is not in my world. Lisa, as a woman-to-woman, I have never been as humiliated as you are in my life, so I have no idea what you are going through. I can only imagine. So I wish you a speedy recovery."

If you happened to be one of the lucky ones to get an uninterrupted feed live from the Sting website, you may have wondered why Spice did not perform. Caribbean Lifestyle Media received a statment from Spice who clarified what took place. Spice says: "Nuffy sabotaged my thing. After Pamputae performed, he knew it should have been me, but he called up General B instead. When did he expect me to perform after that? During the clash with him and KipRich. It was unprofessional and it was done purposely because before that he was following the lineup and list. I just want to apologise to my fans for not performing. I didn't get the chance to and I had a real end of year performance in store."

Spice recently recorded a response tune title "draw me out" and is available below for your listening.

*Please keep in mind tune has not been edited and involves course language. Listen to Spice tune here:

Spice DRAW ME OUT by DancehallSoca.com

Read More...»

Two weeks ago after being in a near-fatal car wreck, Spice is back at it and has to intentions of slowing down her music career.

Last week Friday Spice, whose correct name is Grace Hamilton, did a splendid job while performing in Turks and Cacaos, even after fellow artiste Vybz Kartel, who was also scheduled to perform on the show, failed to attend. In a previously published STAR story, the promoter voiced his concerns about Kartel's absence from the show, and also said he hoped that all would go well for the event later that night. Spice says, it did. "It was a great night and I pulled out all the stops and gave it my all and it turned out great. The people loved it."

Then on Saturday morning after returning to the island Spice moved on to performing at the Champions In Action concert later that night. During her 'spicy' set she did a number of songs, including one letting fans know which entertainers want her and why. "That song is just for fun; it uses the different slangs some of them have and the fans really enjoyed it. I went on very late, some time after 6 a.m. but it was great." So receptive were the fans that they called her on for an encore performance.

On Tuesday, Spice left the island to attend the Irie Jamboree launch in New York and was a special guest host at the Heineken Irie Jamboree Club Tour in Queens, New York. She will thereafter travel to LA, California to deliver yet another show-stopping performance and return to the island next week.

Read More...»

Early this morning (Saturday), Dancehall artiste Spice was in a head-on, near fatal collision. The artiste was heading to Kingston from Westmoreland, for the much-publicized 'Digicel ATI Flip It Fridays' at the Quad, when a black motor vehicle travelling from Little Ochi sped unto the main road which Spice and others were driving.

Spice says, "Canar (her fiance) was driving and when he realised what was happening, we tried to swerve to avoid the crash, but we still collided. The man in the other vehicle was coming out of Little Ochi and said he didn't realise that the street was finished and he was heading on to the main road. So he came out at the T-Junction without looking. I just can't believe it even now. I can't believe it."

The artiste says a few minutes before the accident she started to feel sleepy, so she asked someone to exchange seats with her and take the front, so she could rest in the back seat of the Pajero. "I am usually in the front seat and some of the times I'm not wearing my seat belt and last night I wasn't because we were in a rush to get back to Kingston for the show at Quad, so I just jumped in. If I was still in the front I would have died because I would have gone through the windscreen. All of the front is totally damaged. It can't be driven. I just can't believe that could have been it. I am thankful to be here right now."

In addition, the artiste's publicist, Kavelle Christie wishes to apologise to the promoters of the event and fans on behalf of Spice. "As anyone can see her absence from the event ('Flip It Fridays') was unavoidable. Grace is completely out of it, but she wanted her apology out there as well. That's just how she is as an artiste and I find it remarkable and admirable that someone could go through something like that but still be so focused and passionate about her work and fans."

Read More...»

Clad in a full red Micheal Jackson inspired ensemble, Dancehall artiste Spice hit the Sumfest stage a few minutes after 1 a.m. this morning at the Jagra Dancehall Night, and all will agree that she gave nothing short of a stunning performance and left patrons on a musical high.
Delivering a hardcore dancehall set, splashed with: well-crafted lyrics, male dancers stripping her to reveal her red get-up and seductive splits, Spice had the massive crowd cheering from beginning to end.

"It was a great performance. It's something I took the time out to plan because I was always travelling for shows, but I was in Jamaica for over a week to prepare for Sumfest and I am definitely pleased with the response," said Spice.

Grace "Spice" Hamilton, who is now a Billboard artiste after landing the number 86 spot on the R&B/Hip Hop Charts with Ramping Shop, her controversial duet with Vybz Kartel, is celebrating yet another victory. Spice was last week signed to the prestigious VP Records label for a major album deal. She said, "Last year so many people started to approach me about signing me to album deals but I was so hesitant. After reading over some of the contracts and listening to what some of them had to say it didn't seem like the best option. But when VP approached me and we went over the terms and when I thought of the fact that they were primarily focused on Caribbean artistes and they know how to market their own, I felt more comfortable and I decided they were the best option."


Spice who has been on the scene for more than ten years, but only came to the fore in 2000 after working closely with Baby Cham and Dave Kelly on the Mad House label and releasing the hit Right There (feat. TOI), said, "I am happy to be finally putting out an album and showing fans the different sides to Grace "Spice" Hamilton. It's been a long time in the making and I want both them and myself to feel great about the results." The still untitled debit album is expected to be released in November of this year.

Read More...»

After protests and bans from the Jamaican authorities because of what they claim were 'the evils' associated with the mega-dancehall hit, Ramping Shop, it seems those in the US have ignored the local furor and plunged neck-deep into 'ramping' up a storm. So much so, it is still one of the hottest songs on the international scene and as such, debuted in the number 96 position on the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop charts a few days ago.

The song which was done by the Dancehall diva, Spice and ace-deejay, Vybz Kartel has in recent months heated up the US mainstream airwaves especially on the well-respected Hip-Hop station, Hot 97 FM - which no doubt helped to propel it unto the charts.

Spice, who was understandably happy with the new success of the controversial track said: "I am extremly happy at the success and so overwhelmed because it was banned here in Jamaica and there were a lot of people fighting against it. I just need them to stop doing things like that, because the song is loved right across the world and they embrace it, so why shouldn't we? This is my first Billboard song and I can't explain how great it feels. We worked really hard to promote it and now the work is paying off. I have to say thanks to the writer, Vybz Kartel, because he was the one who came up with the concept and approached me and the song was very well done. Also thanks to the fans, because if they didn't love it or consistently request it on the New York stations and other US stations, we couldn't be here now. This is only the beginning for Spice."

Spice returned to Jamaica on Saturday after shows in Trinidad, St. Maarten and New Jersey and wasted no time in checking up on the happenings in her newly-opened store, 'Spicey Couture'. Spice will then begin to make preparations for her Sumfest performance which will take place in a few days in Montego Bay.

Read More...»

Dancehall diva, Spice returned to Jamaica after a show in Trinidad last weekend and already, she's off to to two other stops, St. Maarten and New Jersey.

Spice spoke in reference to her performance in Trinidad and said, "The performance itself was great, but because of the continuous rain many people didn't get to make it. But what I loved was the media stops myself and the promoter made. I was so impressed with the television stations there and how some of their entertainment sets looked. It didn't seem like a Caribbean country's own at all."

Spice also said she was looking forward to thrilling the St. Maarten crowd "and showing them what I'm made of. I don't get to go there as often as I like so when I do, I go all out to create a memorable performance."

She returns to Jamaica this weekend to check up on the happenings in her newly opened store, Spicey Couture and after which make preparations for her Sumfest performance later this month.

Check out the video clip for the Spice's "Spicey Couture" launch

Read More...»

Vybz Kartel and Spice have come up with a new version of Rampin Shop that is receiving much airplay in broad daylight. Like the original, this version is all about sexual intercourse - or to use the current dancehall slang, "daggerin". The main difference between the two is the metaphors that are used for the act.

In the "x-rated" version of Rampin Shop, Vybz and Spice brazenly use the common slang words for the private parts and the sex act, instead of the formal Latin/English names. So for penis, Kartel substitutes a popular metaphor: the male domestic fowl, as in cock-a-doodle-do. And the vagina becomes a domestic pet, the pussycat. Sexual intercourse is enacted as a playful romp.

In the revised version, Spice invitingly says to Kartel:

Well yu ha fi rev it hard
Drive it full speed and crash it if you like
Da gear stick ya feel rough
Put di car inna di garage
Drive in front way or back it up
Til di headlight show

Some listeners will claim that these lyrics are "cleaner" than the original since Vybz and Spice are pretending to be talking about driving rather than sex. The lyrics are "suggestive" rather than sexually explicit. But even without knowing the original lyrics, it is quite clear what the version is supposed to suggest. The gear stick is obviously meant to be a penis. The stick then swells the full length of a car. The garage is the vagina in which the car is parked.

Vybz and Spice are clearly taking the Broadcasting Commission for a ride. For there is, essentially, no difference in the meaning of the two versions of Rampin Shop. Both sets of metaphors are sexual allusions and it is nothing but hypocrisy to pretend otherwise. Whether gear stick or male domestic fowl, the literal object is identical - the penis. And the vagina, whether as pussycat or garage, serves the same purring function. Read more

Read More...»