Despite winning the honour of Favourite Local Female Artiste at the 2015 Youth View Awards on Saturday night, dancehall diva, Spice is fuming after claiming she was robbed of several more; insisting her hit single, So Mi Like It deserved to be awarded.
Spice, whose real name is Grace Hamilton took her grouse to Instagram, calling out Youth View Awards organizers after So Mi Like It, which was nominated for Favorite Local Music video and Hottest Summer Song failed to win in either category. The chart-topping single was considered a favourite to win both awards, with the original single having accumulated over 15 million views on YouTube before being remixed alongside hip-hop legend, Busta Rhymes.
“So you expect me to roll over and play dead?” she said. “You expect after all the hard work I put in, I’m gonna sit back and let you act like I didn’t deserve what was due to me? Did you think that me of all persons would be quiet about how, biased this industry is? Well, let me tell you this. If you didn’t want to hear it, So Mi Like It is one of the biggest dancehall songs last year. Not to mention the most viewed video out of Jamaica last year. So you are trying to tell me the people hated this song so much that no one voted for it?”
She added, “If you are going to keep such a beautiful ceremony, please make it logical and truthful because the people are not blind and dem a talk bout it. Yes, I won Female Artiste of the Year, thanks, but you didn’t have to award me for that title I knew it belonged to me hands down.”
Spice even went as far as to say, in Kanye West-esque fashion, that some artists need to stop collecting awards they do not deserve to win.
“Some a unno artiste fi stop collect people things too because mi know guilt a nyam out unno belly bottom,” she said. “Fair is fair … that song should have been awarded, this is not going to discourage me, my strength only pushes me to work harder suh mi can show unno up.”
Though it is considered the most popular award show in Jamaican music and pop culture, the Youth View Awards has been criticized on the past for its repetitive winners and nominees. The voting system heavily involves social media to determine nominees. Artists such as Konshens and Tony Matterhorn were particularly vocal on social media about the selection process.
Some of the big winners on the night included incarcerated deejay, Vybz Kartel who won for Favourite Male Artist of the Year, Chronixx for Celebrity Role Model and Favourite Music Collaboration for Who Knows (feat. Protoje). Rvssian, Miss Kitty, Kranium and YVA record winner, Tifa were also big winners on the night.
