‘You can’t take Marion Hall out of the Queen of Dancehall’

As Lady Saw, the acclaimed Queen of the Danchall, she ruled Reggae Sumfest, titillating patrons with her salacious lyrics and gyrations, and in 2015 made history as the first female artiste to close the festival.

Fast forward to 2023 and, having morphed into Minister Marion Hall, the secular-artiste-turned-preacher makes her return to the Reggae Sumfest stage, but stated that her mission now is to "win souls for Christ".

But will Minister Hall, who has recently been involved in bangarang with the church and proclaimed that she was banned from that institution, succeed in totally ditching her Lady Saw persona once she touches the Reggae Sumfest stage?

"You can't take Marion Hall out of the Queen of Dancehall and you can't take the Queen of the Dancehall out of Marion Hall," Joe Bogdanovich, CEO of Downsound Entertainment, producers of Reggae Sumfest told THE STAR.

"Her performance is going to be monumental; she is going to be awesome," elaborated Bogdanovich, who is working with Minister Hall on a musical project which has already seen the release of the single I'm Doing Better.

"Marion is a great talent, a great entertainer, a great lyricist ... a clean, pure person. There are not many of them around," he added.

He shared that the single is doing extremely well, but did not address the backlash when Minister Hall revealed the cover art for the single, which showed her in an outfit that her detractors thought was way too revealing. She addressed this troubling topic last Sunday during her online preaching sermon.

"I'm telling you what God has still told me to tell you ... you will not stop me from praising Him. You will not stop me from dressing up. These are mine," she said, referring to her breasts. "I come in the name of the Lord so if you have a problem with my blessed body talk to God about it. Amen? Hallelujah. A my t***y dem?

And, showing off her skills honed in the dancehall, she immediately built a tune about them: " A fi mi dem, a fi mi dem. A fi mi dem, a my t***y dem. A fi mi dem, a fi mi dem. A fi mi dem, a God gimme dem."

Bogdanovich shared that a second song will be released in a few weeks, and that the team has produced three songs so far.

"It was really interesting working with her on the songs. She just amazed everybody. The whole team on the project was exceptional," he said. Quizzed if he was taking Minister Hall out of church, Bogdanovich repeated "Are we taking her out of church?"

"We are just taking her into herself. I just wish her the best. Everything is possible for her," he added.

Reggae Sumfest is this year celebrating a milestone 30th staging and Minister Hall will bring the curtains down on the festival on Saturday July 22