By GERMAINE SMITH, Staff ReporterLIKE THE TOOL from which she got her name, Lady Saw has smooth sides which are permanently linked to her rough edges.
Her coarse edge has been used to munch through criticism, public outrage, public restrictions, and private betrayal by some formerly close to her. Lady Saw has paid her dues in the dancehall business.
Now, as she celebrates her recent Grammy status, Marion Hall, the woman some call the 'Dancehall mumma', 'Dancehall Godmother', 'Dancehall first lady' reflects on her cereer to date.
She told THE STAR that compared to ten years ago, there is not much new happening in the music in terms of content.
"There are no major changes that I can see," she states. "People are still doing certain tunes. There is still slackness, gun tunes, girl tunes and weed tunes. One thing that I see though, is that more rasta deejays are getting into the slackness thing. So many of them never used to do it."
Looking back at her baptism by fire because of her raunchy lyrics a few years ago, Saw says that she harbours no bitterness to the authorities, nor to the public for their lashing.
"Everything is cool from my part, it is back to normal now. I don't feel anyway about it now, everything is cool."
Cool is the most appropriate word to describe her new attitude. Lady Saw says she will not trouble herself over certain things anymmore. Counteractions and verbal clashes are only two things she says she will never get mixed up in.
Clashes
"I don't care about those things (clashes and counteractions)," she asserts. "If it is friendly no problem but when it gets disrespectful I back off. I don't care, them can gwaan counteract, it doesn't matter to me."
"Clashing is unnecessary. I don't have anything to prove to anybody by doing that cause I am good. I don't need these things to send me ahead. I am taking it in strides now, I am more relaxed, not making anything much bother me. I don't even watch our local charts because they are no good. Once I have my tunes playing that's fine."
She throws her warning early however, for those who might think that she is getting soft. "Lady Saw will never become soft. It's just that the rough part I cover it sometimes. Certain things I used to do, I don't do anymore. When I am on certain stages if I can use a certain word instead of another I do it. When it comes to voicing tunes the rhythms I voice on, I have to carefully choose them as well."
Another difference in her life is the time and effort she has taken to bring new female talent into the business, and to help female talent already there. She now sits in the production seat and has been working with at least three new artistes.
"I have to support the females in my way. I am recording a few of them on my rhythm already. This is my way of bringing them forward. Although we are producing we need the radio people to back us up with it. Only a few disc jockeys play the female artistes them. Say for instance a big rhythm comes out the jockeys tend to only play the big names on the rhythm and don't play the females."
Her private life she adds, is one which she tries to guard as much as possible. She is hush hush about the man in her life, only saying that they are fine.
Her children, she adds, "are doing very well for themselves."
As one of the few female dancehall artistes who has 'made it', Lady Saw offers some advice to upcoming female acts which to say at best, are like personal testimony.
"If you are looking towards the top just keep your goals in sight. Try to minimise too many female friends cause that tend to be not good. Too many female friends are dangerous, take it from me. When you are good and they know that, you don't know where your enemies really are. You don't know which enemies you have because they get hard to identify. Just stay focused."
