Despite continued effort to make good of her music career, female Dancehall artiste Macka Diamond believes that she is often harshly and unjustly criticized and unfortunately by members within the Jamaican industry. Though 2011 has been strenuous on the industry and arguably for various reasons including a worldwide recession and the inability of local artistes and industry players to stimulate or re-energize the Reggae/Dancehall brand; Macka Diamond has worked hard throughout the past year at sustaining her own image and brand. She was able to garner an islandwide approval from the fans after the release of an all summer long, runaway hit titled ‘Cowfoot.’ Thereafter, Macka released a second album, ‘Don’t Disturb Me’ on iTunes and was named the International Reggae and World Music Award (IRAWMA) International Female Rapper/DJ of the Year http://www.irawma.com/ as well as listed as one of the 10 Most Fascinating People of the Caribbean http://www.caribbeanemagazine.com/2011/12/top-10-most-fascinating-people-of.html She also became the first female Dancehall artiste to be featured on WorldStar Hip-Hop dot com after the release of her ‘Power Wine’ video http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh29EIK9514R4K7vRZ and have done over 20 gigs internationally including the world premiere of movie, Redemption of Paradise to which she played lead roll.
Despite all this achievement in a time when many artiste have not been able re-vamp or make a significant impression on the fans, Macka Diamond has not been nominated in any significant category of the Star People’s Choice Award http://jamaica-star.com/thestar/20120106/ent/ent5.html! Although this is not encouraging for her she said, she refuse to take issue but what annoys her is that she was placed in the ‘Worst Dressed Female’ category of the Awards and she believes this is a direct attempt to further humiliate her! “This demonstrates the disregard persons have for individual achievement in this industry. If they don’t like you, no matter how well you do, your work is not contemplated; and that is one of the self inflicted wounds this industry suffers and will continue to suffer if nothing is done to curb the actions of those who fail to put professionalism before personal vindictiveness” said a somber Macka Diamond. “I don’t care if they believe I am the worst dressed artiste, that is not my grouse because in my opinion I believe women in Dancehall should be creative and represent Dancehall so my dressing is by choice and I make no apology for being creative, an important ingredient that is lacking locally. However, while I like Hip-Hop and RnB music and the images the artistes of these genres project, I believe there must be a distinguishing difference between Jamaican music and any other. It might not seem significant here in Jamaica but it certainly makes a statement on the international side.”
Macka Diamond said she will continue to work her butt off and will only retire when her body tells her to do so. As for the fans, she believes it must be frustrating to them (the biggest supporter of the music) to know that their own opinion counts little resulting in them hardly if ever, given a chance to choose what they like and often times have to ‘suck up to’ what is fed to them.
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