Dance Hall Lady

LADY SAW…

She carries the widest array of panhandles in the music industry. She’s the Queen of Dancehall… the First Lady of Dancehall … LADY SAW. The latest name, however, is quite befitting at this juncture in her career; because she is The Matriarch for all female dancehall deejays, and arguably, some female rappers. She is the first female deejay to win a Grammy --- which she did with No Doubt for “Underneath It All” as “Best Performance by a Duo or Group with vocal --- to go triple platinum (with said single), to go gold (with Vitamin C for “Smile”) and to headline shows outside her native Jamaica. Even before Gwen Stefani and her cronies tapped SAW for their multi-successful, mainstream single together, Missy Elliott and Foxy Brown had long contracted the singer/deejay/producer/songwriter to weigh in on their hip-hop/reggae flirtations. Truly, this Mama has made an impact, not only in the smoky corners of the dancehall where her sensuous lyrics cause couples to bubble and whine, but internationally. Her style, a blend of rude gyal, pump-your-fist-ladies anthems and raunchy, risqué rants about real and surreal sexcapades demand now more than ever.

There’s nothing matronly about this Mama. Strip Tease, her latest release album and sixth with VP RECORDS –the label that sired all of her albums: “Lover Girl” (1994), “Give Me A Reason (1996), “Passion” (1997), “The Best Of Lady Saw” (1998) and “99 Ways” (1998) – is a concoction that’s been blending for a while. The 20-track CD features production by Troyton of “Give Me A Reason”, Tony Matterhorn, Don “Vendetta” Bennett, Delano Thomas for Renaissance Crew Productions, and LADY SAW; herself. She’s Hot Mama on “Man Is The Least” and on the title track, “Strip Tease”: on which she chants to the men, “Let me strip / So I can tease / So I can bring you to the knees” …. She’s Sexy Mama on “I’ve Been Dreaming Of You” and the ‘Baddest Mama’ on “I’m Coming Over”. She rounds out her naughty self, though, when she becomes ‘Mama’s Girl’ on “Mama I Love You”: a dedication to her mother who died in 2002.

“When I perform Mama I Love You, people in the audience cry,” Marion says. “even some of my fellow entertainers too”.

LADY SAW has also joined dancehall music’s latest obsession with dance-themed songs. Hers is called “Move Your Body”; featuring Voice Mail.

If a video ever airs, she says it will feature her contorting her body into the main move, a full split. She tells us, she’s been practicing it for some time.

“Strip Tease” is the most balanced of SAW’s, yet. The topic range from cheating spouses  (“It’s Been So Long”) to taking another girl’s man (“I’ve Got Your Man”) … from a girl who just wants to have fun in bed (“None Stopper”) to being in love (“Still Convinced”). The song, “Pretty Pussy”, however, is the best example on this album to demonstrate just how controversial she can be. SAW – best known for her performances which usually entail simulated sex acts with men she handpicks from the crowd and for lyrics which have been called slack – might be labeled “post-feminist” or “empowering” by a better judge. “Pretty Pussy” is one such track. On it she names all the glories men find in this part of the female anatomy; while telling women to feel proud about their organ.

“Women love Pretty Pussy every time I perform it,” claims LADY SAW. “They want to hear it”.

The LADY SAW we hear today, though, was once a singer making hits with cover versions of CHAKA KHAN (“Sweet Thing”) and emulating her name-same, the late TENOR SAW with songs like “Am I Losing You” and “Glory Be To God”. Much of her older catalogue became hits in the U.K. and Jamaica. But, LADY SAW was always a top deejay in-waiting. The night she tested some of her hardcore, deejay-style lyrics at a sound system dance is the night she was granted entry into the male-dominated field of deejaying. It’s what convinced her to leave her home in the countryside of Galina, St. Mary for the studies, in Kingston.

It was in the late 80’s when LADY SAW ___ born MARION HALL on July 12, 1970 ---- at just 15 at the time, left behind her little tomboy self who used to sell fruits and race wooden carts for the young woman who made it out of the Kingston ghetto to become a first-rate recording artist. She became a regular in the studio after quitting her sewing job at the Free Zone; on the outskirts of Kingston. “That job wasn’t for me,” she says. “I would deejay at work during the day”. During a stint withy the Diamond Label, she released most of her dancehall from the early 90’s, among them: “If I Lef”, “Find A Good Man” and “Stab Out Di Meat”. VP RECORDS became interested in SAW when they realized how captivating she was. She’s been signed to the label for almost ten years. Since then, her more commercial hits include “Healing” (with BEENIE MAN), “No Long Talking” and “Sycamore Tree”.

Today, LADY SAW has her own production company, Hall Productions. She has produced two riddims: Blindfold Lock Jaw. She has produced major dancehall artists … the likes of Capleton, Spragga Benz, Sizzla, Bounty Killer and Beenie Man. She’s a mento to up-and-coming artists on her imprint; as well as to Ce’Cile, her artistic  progeny. She has recorded for Shaggy, legendary producers Sly & Robbie, Funkmaster Flex,  and Pharrell Williams of THE NEPTUNES. She has appeared on THE TONIGHT SHOW with JAY LENO and the ROSIE O’DONNELL SHOW. And, she is the only dancehall artist to have had her song, “Give Me A Reason”, covered by a country singer.

LADY SAW aspires to speak for all women.
 For one, she can relate. She is a mama to the three children: one girl and two boys. She’s
almost married, and has been through her share of heartbreak and infidelity. And being one of the few females in a male-dominated industry, she has definitely experienced ‘sexism’.

 While some prudish people find LADY SAW’s expressions --- both the lyrical and the physical --- to be offensive, she continues to address, with each stroke of her pen, what she considers to be the real issues women face: being daughters, wives, girlfriends, sisters and mothers in this modern world …. While still strip-teasingly sexy.

Can you imagine the hypocrisy!

Yes! LADY SAW was once banned from some important shows!.

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