ENTITY · PERSON
Spice
Probable
Spice (born Grace Latoya Hamilton) is a Jamaican dancehall artist widely known as the "Queen of Dancehall" and one of the most prominent women in the genre. She scored her first major success with the controversial 2009 single "Romping Shop" alongside Vybz Kartel, and later broadened her profile through the reality series Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta. Signed to VP Records, she released the Grammy-nominated debut album 10 in 2021, followed by Emancipated.
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Debate & reception
How people argued about the music — praise, criticism and public debate. See all debate & reception →
debate
Female sexual candour in dancehall: agency or objectification?
Two documented readings, stated neutrally: some scholars and artists frame explicit, female-voiced lyrics as claims of sexual agency answering decades of male 'slackness'; others argue they can reproduce the same objectifying frame. Carolyn Cooper's work is often cited on the agency side. Sources: Carolyn Cooper, Noises in the Blood; DancehallMag; BRICKS Magazine.
Stance: sexual agency & answer to male slackness vs reproduced objectification
debate
SOJA's 2022 Best Reggae Album Grammy and the question of who owns reggae
“reggae and dancehall could have been more recognized because oftentimes other genres take from our culture and we do not get that rating that we deserve”
At the 2022 Grammys, the American band SOJA won Best Reggae Album over five Jamaican nominees, reigniting a recurring argument about cultural ownership versus reggae's status as a global genre open to all. Critics called it an instance of outside acts profiting from a Black Jamaican art form while its originators go unrewarded; defenders pointed to reggae's deliberately international reach and the Academy's genre-not-nationality criteria. Nominee Spice publicly voiced the ownership grievance. The following year the award returned to a Jamaican act, Kabaka Pyramid ('The Kalling'), which some read as a corrective.
Stance: cultural appropriation and Jamaican ownership of reggae vs reggae as a borderless global genre judged on the music
debate
Space for women in dancehall: gatekeeping or opening up?
A neutral framing of an ongoing debate: a contemporary wave (Spice, Shenseea, Koffee, Jada Kingdom) is cited as evidence that space for women is expanding and leading internationally; others note the top tier remains small and that women still report having to out-perform men to earn equal respect. Sources: DancehallMag; BRICKS Magazine; World Music Views.
Stance: expanding space & international lead vs persistent gatekeeping
debate
Dancehall Queen style: female self-fashioning vs vulgarity
The Dancehall Queen figure and the bold 'skin-out' aesthetic — batty riders, wigs, elaborate custom outfits, exemplified by 1990s icon Carlene 'the Dancehall Queen' Smith and later by artists like Spice — anchored a recurring respectability argument. Supporters framed the fashion as female autonomy, body confidence and an economy of style and competition; critics (including church and 'uptown' commentators) condemned it as vulgar, over-sexualised and a bad influence, especially on young women.
Stance: revealing dancehall fashion as women's self-expression, empowerment and cultural economy vs vulgarity and a corrupting moral influence