my father died when i was nine leaving five of us behind i watched mama struggle to put
on a pot latte clothes and shoes i really never got butt i never met that bother me much call
me no tabi ghetto have to make it and such promise myself to make it to the top people
try to pull me back i can hear it in my chat no matter what people say i'm gonna make it anyway
no matter what i say or do my dreams are my goal that will come true no matter what people say i'm
gonna make it anyway people but man no matter what i do if they ever ever know what i've been through
ever since the release of her breakout song 2005's fight over man
spice has been a fixture of dance hall music the veteran jamaican artist continues to carve a lane
within the often misogynistic genre proving that women can still dominate just as well as the man
grace latoya hamilton known professionally as spice was born in spanish town saint catherine
jamaica and raised in portmore as a child she used to attend church regularly and sing in the choir
this is the place where she would discover the talent that would change her life when spice
was nine years old her father passed away as the breadwinner for the family which included four
other children the loss resulted in tremendous financial hardship the following year she found
herself on a plane to london england to go live with her grandfather who was happy to take her in
and show her a different way of life it was a different way of life all right
too different after a short time spice opted to go back to jamaica
unfortunately things would take another turn for the worse when spice now around the age of
13 came home to find out that she no longer had a home a fire had destroyed everything
leaving the family essentially homeless bouncing around from one place to another
a couple of years later fellow jamaican dance hall artist bounty killer brought spice on stage during
a show in her hometown her talent blew not only bounty away but everyone in the crowd as well
he even told her that she would become the next queen of dancehall one day a girl from spices high
school introduced her to junior heavy d frasier the event promoter for the longest running stage
show in jamaica sting spice made her first major appearance at the show in 2000 she went on to
perform there year after year and as a result of the positive reputation she was building
she got the chance to travel and tour overseas despite not having any hit songs while on tour
in the uk spice met renowned record producer dave kelly from there she released her debut single
called complain in 2003 for her first hit single spice used the popular 85 rhythm to create
fight over man which became very popular in the dancehall scene two years later in 2008 spice
would get put on the worldwide map in the most awesome way fellow dancehall artist vives cartel
reached out to her to collab on his track rompenshop the song quickly achieved international
recognition receiving vast rotation on mainstream urban stations in the u.s and in turn helped take
spice's career to a superstar level everything spice does on the daily comes from her island
upbringing even her signature blue hair in a july 2021 interview with bet.com she stated i remember
when i started to become popular in america and some people were like oh she wears blue hair
like i was like hold up my blue hair comes from my jamaican culture we're known for wearing colorful
hair within the dance hall genre that's the inspiration behind my blue hair which i've been
wearing for two decades this ain't no new come up thing let's get it out there real clear and proper
spice's personal life also took a positive turn when she became engaged to her boyfriend
of three years nicolas lal in 2009 the couple however ended up calling off the engagement and
ending their relationship in 2016. they did though have two children together
a son and a daughter spies decided to venture into other business opportunities
and opened a beauty salon in kingston and a sports bar and lounge in her hometown of portmore
she also launched her own clothing boutique chain with branches in kingston maypen and montego bay
in the summer of 2011 spice released a remix for her song called fun featuring rapper missy elliott
the collaboration sparked a friendship and missy invited spice to her birthday party that year
what happened at the event would create a lot of drama and represent the end of another friendship
spies took to the stage during the party to do a little freestyle that included a reference of
her being the baddest girl out of jamaica spice believed long time friend dancehall artist lady
saw heard what she said didn't like it and as a result stopped speaking to her
in addition spice also believed that missy's decision to do a song with her
instead of lady saw left a bad taste in her mouth over the years things didn't seem to
simmer down since in early 2022 lady saw had spice's name back in her mouth again
during a couple of online sermons she conducted on social media spice did a live stream of her
own on instagram in response where she summed up that the real reason their friendship dissolved
was because lady saw couldn't stand to see her take over the reign as queen of dancehall at the
end of 2014 spice released her debut ep so me like it over the next several years spice kept
the momentum going by continuing to release her music independently including the popular tracks
needle eye and indicator after making a guest appearance in season six of vh1's reality tv show
love hip-hop atlanta spice joined the show as a cast member in season seven in 2018 she founded
the grace hamilton women empowerment foundation which aims to enrich women through education
business and entrepreneurship then towards the end of the year spice went viral after posting a
very shocking photo on social media after a brief hiatus where she scrubbed her account clean she
uploaded a picture of herself with dramatically lighter skin on her instagram in october the image
caused many to think she had whitened her skin eventually she confirmed that she faked whitening
her skin with makeup to raise awareness about the issue of colorism within the black community
thanks to colonialism and slavery lighter skin became the preferred beauty standard in many
nations around the world where the vast majority of people are of african descent many people in
positions of power in jamaica specifically have lighter skin and straighter hair as do most of
the country's beauty queens conversely those with dark skin say they face discrimination actually
the darker the skin the worse the treatment spice herself has said she's endured such discrimination
and wanted to call it out in her music she did just that in her single black hypocrisy which was
released the next day along with an accompanying music video what i was trying to achieve with
the song and the video was to bring awareness to colorism i am using myself as an example of what
people from the black community are causing these young girls to do i'm deliberately showing them
that when you discriminate them by the complexion this is why there are so many women in jamaica
that are bleaching because society will make them feel like they will look better that way
spice's debut mixtape captured was released in november following a legal dispute with her label
vp records over the release of her long delayed debut album the title is in direct reference to
her feelings about the ongoing battle spies signed a five-album deal with vp back in 2009 and she's
been struggling to put out an album with them ever since in an exclusive statement to billboard the
label said vp records recognizes that spice is a remarkable artist with undeniable talent however
she has not delivered enough tracks to complete an album project in 2017 spice agreed to help
secure songs independently to complete her album vp offered her a budget which she turned down
and instead released her mixtape outside of her recording agreement we find this unfortunate as
those songs could have potentially been used to finalize her first album we take pains to ensure
all proper business measures are taken to prepare the products we release this process takes time
and is well underway for our eventual spice album vp records is committed
to completing this album in participation with spice to be released in summer of 2019
the album debuted at number one on the billboard reggae albums chart in may 2019 spice launched
faces and lashes an online beauty store that initially offered a line of wigs
later that year cosmetic products were added to the line later some private drama
between spies and her ex-baby daddy became public she took to instagram to blast him
hotter than a scotch bonnet pepper after he did an interview with jamaica newspaper the star
he claimed that he's not the deadbeat he's been portrayed to be over the years she said that he
always has an excuse as to why he can't provide for his offspring and he's not involved in their
schooling or extracurricular activities this wouldn't be the last time the two would go back
and forth on social media over their children in 2019 spice debuted her online talk show called
spice it up on magnumhub.tv it's been running for three seasons the start of a new decade
brought the start of a new romance for spies when she began dating video producer and director
justin budd whom she met on the set of love and hip-hop atlanta in the last quarter of 2020 and
in response to her first love music being taken away from her during the worldwide lockdown
spice tapped into another passion and launched her clothing line called gracie noir in august 2021
spice's debut album title 10 was finally released the project executive produced by shaggy features
the hits friends and the shaggy and sean paul collab go down there it's also been nominated
for best reggae album at the 64th annual grammy awards in 2022 the title represents the number
of years she has been working and fighting to get the project out in a july 2021 interview with the
breakfast club spice tried to explain why things took so long but had a difficult time since she
didn't understand it herself after some time had passed spice says she got fed up with the weight
and just stopped corresponding with the label altogether she decided to move ahead by being
her own one-woman show producing releasing and promoting her work herself on social media on
february 28 2022 spies posted a photo with a solo message for her nearly 4 million followers
on her instagram besties i'm taking a break from social media i'm not as strong as i used to be
in fact i'm weak and tired of being a target please pray for me while i pray for myself i love
you all until the death of me the post has racked up thousands of comments of love and support
from her fans even though spice didn't share any specific details there is speculation that
the reason behind her hiatus is linked to the release of a collaboration she did with
jamaican pastor steven blagg they began work on the track back in 2020 but spice revealed
in another ig post that she asked him not to release it and believes he did so to cloud chase
hopefully spice can lean on those closest to her that she trusts
to get her mental health back on track and reconnect with her fans when the time is right
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