2 on her Spice Official Entertainment label with distribution by 21st Hapilos Digital, Captured debuted atop the U.S. Spice emphasizes that she wrote and produced the majority of Captured’s 19 tracks in less than a month. “VP wrote me back, saying that they don’t want to release me from my contract, but they still don’t want to put my album out, so that’s why I called my mixtape Captured,” adds Spice. Spice sent a statement to VP through her lawyer asking to be released from her contract. Spice Is Ready to Reign as the 'Queen of Dancehall,' Even If Her Record Label Won't Help I would tell my fans, again, ‘My album is coming,’ and then it deteriorates to nothing.” “Then they said, ‘Okay, we’ll drop the album this year,’ and they recorded a few songs with me to make me feel like I am actually working on the album.

“VP told me, ‘We’re working on your album, we’re going to release it,’ so I told my fans, ‘My album is dropping’ then, when it didn’t happen, I told VP I am going to get a lawyer,” she explains. However, an album has yet to follow, which has prompted Spice’s rancor. In an interview at Kingston’s SR Music/Entertainment Factory where Spice was rehearsing for the following day’s Captured launch, the 36-year-old artist, born Grace Hamilton, told Billboard that she signed a “three or five album deal” with VP Records. VP released Spice’s So Mi Like It EP in 2014 in 2018, Spice became the first female Jamaican artist to rack up 80 million views for the “So Mi Like It” video. Written as a ballad, Spice’s haunting vocals on “Captured” lament the time she gave to the union: “365 days in a year, multiply that by 10, now this is not fair/You buried my dreams, my entire career/’Cause I gave you my heart, but you did not care.” The object of Spice’s scorn isn’t a neglectful lover or derelict husband: it’s VP Records, the Queens, New York-based reggae independent, with which she signed in 2009. “Captured,” the mixtape’s title track, recounts a soured relationship from which the singer cannot break free. However, another song on Spice’s mixtape details an ongoing controversy, which could have further-reaching implications for the artist and, perhaps, the wider dancehall/reggae industry. Spice commitment to color in her look has been embodied in her clothing brand Graci Noir and her makeup brand Faces & Laces.Two months later, the uproar surrounding Spice’s lightened complexion during the performance has subsided, with her fans and colleagues relieved that the confident, beautiful artist hadn’t bleached her skin but, instead, pulled off a brilliant marketing stunt with the help of a skilled makeup team. It’s not an easy thing to maintain, though, as she revealed that it could take her at times up to three hours to get the look that she wants. I feel like the title has a lot to do with how I carry myself,” she added. “You have to show up and show out all the time. She said it’s because of the title that she makes sure to dress a certain way, and this extends to the way she shows up on stage and how she makes her entrance at her concerts. Spice fashion choices are heavily influenced by the fact that she is considered the Queen of Dancehall, she went on to explain. Like I never started doing this like ten years ago,” she continued. Now everybody wants to take it over from me. When I used to do it, people used to call me crazy. She added that it wasn’t a new trend either. The “ Go Down Deh” singer went on to share that colorful hair is a part of dancehall culture, and that’s why she always chooses to add some color to her do. She said even when she started becoming popular in the US, and people questioned her hair color, she would let them know that “My blue hair comes from my Jamaican culture.” This could be seen with her most recognizable hair-do, her blue hair. Her love of her culture permeates her entire being, she went on to say, including how she dresses and how she presents herself.

She explained that she loved just about every aspect of Jamaican culture, including food. In a recent interview with BET, she once again showered Jamaica with love and respect. Even now, as she lives in Atlanta with her family and is a mainstay on the cast of Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, Spice never forgets to proudly display her love for her native land. She’s never forgotten the island that influenced her career and helped her burst onto the dancehall stage. If it’s one thing that you can be assured is that no matter what, Spice always reps Jamaica.

Spice is opening up about the origins of her signature blue hair and what being the Queen of Dancehall represent for her.

Spice from love and hip hop