Renee 6:30 endured ‘dead-fi-hungry’ path to quit dancing

Not too long ago the word 'dancer' would be used in any conversation about Renee 6:30, and quite rightly so, as that is how she distinguished herself in the dancehall.

However, after stepping out as an artiste in the same space that fully embraced her dancing skills, she was met with some amount of pushback.

Renee 6:30, whose given name is Renee McLean, is now more comfortable than she has ever been and is calling on the community to respect talent and be more nurturing of those, especially the females, who want to explore their other talents. In her case, she noted that she got a bad back injury from dancing and that also contributed to her considering her next move.

"To the way how my back was hurting at the time, there were times when I felt like I couldn't walk," she told THE STAR.

"But I always loved singing and right now I am an artiste and everybody get that by now. It wasn't really easy to make that transition because yuh have people who would seh 'She a dancer, wha' she a try?' And I still used to get a lot of calls for dancing. But mi low the dancing shows and go pon a dead-fi-hungry path. I had to mek that sacrifice tru I didn't want to confuse the people by dancing and being an artiste at the same time," she added.

She shared that she had to prove herself to her peers, producers, musicians and promoters and tells a story of being at a studio with a big artiste and giving him advice on a song; but she was ignored.

"But when somebody else said the same thing ... put the hook before the verse ... he did it. At that point I had to jump up and seh 'Give me mi ratings'. I have very good ears and in the music business that is important. I want to tell all those females who may be dancing now and feel like their space is really as an artiste to go for it. I did and you can too," she said.

Having established herself with singles such as My Body and Mad Ova, and separate collaborations with two of her favourite artistes, Vybz Kartel and Charly Black, she is now getting calls for shows and recently returned from a one-month stint in Canada.

And, when it comes to songs, the creator of the Puppytail dance move has stepped right out on a frolic with a song titled Champion Kitty.