Sister Nancy Talks "Bam Bam," Why She Loves Jay-Z & Longevity In Reggae
Sister Nancy is racing around New York City, sharing her "truths and rights."
The first lady of dancehall has just left an interview at radio station Power 105 and is en route for a number of back-to-backs. She's promoting a documentary about her journey — "it's not a story, it's my life," she clarifies — called Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story. In August, she released a new Mad Professor-produced album, Armageddon — her first LP in over 20 years. In December, Nancy will headline a celebration of her career featuring female artists including Renée Neufville.
This hustle isn't unusual for Nancy — the Kingston, Jamaica-born MC has been performing since she was a teenager, when she was mentored by her brother Brigadier Jerry — though the amount of activity and acclaim is something slightly more recent. The past 12 months have been the busiest of Sister Nancy's 45-year career.
"People love what I stand for. I always give [the audience] something they can think about," Sister Nancy tells GRAMMY.com, Zooming in from a car in Midtown Manhattan. "I will never be your ordinary thing. When you come to see me, it doesn't matter the time or the space, it's always going to be good."
While Sister Nancy needn't be reminded of her influence — "I'm the woman who created dancehall … on the mic system, around the sound system. I'm the one who did all of that, first" — the past 15 years have seen the artist receive her flowers on a global stage. In addition to her status as a rare female voice in a sea of male performers at the dawn of dancehall, Sister Nancy is recognized for her influential, highly sampled single "Bam Bam."
She recorded the early dancehall anthem in 1982 when she was just 20 years old as a last-minute addition to her debut album, One, Two. An interpolation of Toots and the Maytals' 1966 song of the same name, Sister Nancy's in-studio freestyle was laid over sparse rub-a-dub production, allowing her declaration of ambition and skill to ring loud and clear.
"I went with Yellowman to Harry J's Studio. Yellowman did a 'Bam Bam,', and I had to finish my One, Two album, and I just said I am going to do a tune like Yellowman did. And I did 'Bam Bam,' my way," Nancy recalls. "I just made up in the studio right there."
Remarkably, "Bam Bam" was far from an instant classic and received little airplay in Jamaica. Sister Nancy wouldn't perform the song on a Jamaican stage for eight years, until she featured at 1990's Sting competition. Yet the song made its way to the States, where it found popularity in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut's Caribbean diaspora and caught the ear of hip-hop innovators of the '80s.
Sister Nancy's grooving refrain and undulating horns from an Ansel Collins riddim have been widely sampled in the four decades since its release. Multiple sources consider it the most sampled reggae song ever (WhoSampled.com counts 155 samples), with Beyoncé, Madlib, Run D.M.C., Lauryn Hill, Chris Brown, Alicia Keys, Ariana Grande, and Buju Banton and many others pulling from Nancy's crisses lyrics. It's been used in film and television, including prominently in 1998's Nas- and DMX-featuring Belly.
"I didn't hear it play in Jamaica. I didn't know how big it was at all. I just didn't hear it at all," Nancy recalls. "And remember, I had songs before that like 'One, Two' and 'Transport Connection'; they were playing, but I didn't hear 'Bam Bam' until I come to the U.S."
Sister Nancy moved to New Jersey with her daughter in 1996, and worked as an accountant in a bank. She never stopped performing, and while Sister Nancy traveled as far as Israel to sing, she was often relegated to multi-artist bills — and not in the largest text. She was known and respected among those in the diaspora and by folks with a crate-digging sensibility, but wider recognition remained somewhat elusive.
Still, Nancy kept her spirits up, locking into her faith and sense of humor. "The inspiration [comes] from almighty God himself,” she says. “You can't be a sulky person and I don't believe in that. I like to make people laugh."
Like many artists of her era who either had bad contracts or no contract at all, Sister Nancy did not benefit from the popularity of "Bam Bam" for the majority of her career. Nancy was largely unaware of its popularity as a hip-hop sample, and didn't receive royalties for the tune (itself owned by producer Winston Riley, who died in 2012). Things came to a head in 2014, when Nancy's daughter shared that "Bam Bam" was used in a Reebok commercial. After that, there was no stopping Sister Nancy.
"I just couldn't take no more. I just say it's time for me to be compensated, and I just did what I had to do," the icon says of her legal battle for royalties. "It was not a difficult process. I just did the right thing and everybody who was involved just complied, and I was satisfied."
In 2016, Sister Nancy received 10 years of back royalties as well as royalties going forward, which allowed her to retire from the bank and pursue music full time. She encourages artists in similar binds to find an attorney who's familiar with their work.
"The attorney that I got told me that he and his wife was my biggest fans, so it was easy for him to really work for me," she says, adding, "I don't go for no young lawyer because they have name. Get people with experience to fight for you."
With her rights restored, Sister Nancy's trajectory changed dramatically in the latter half of the 2010s — due in no small part to nods and samples from two of hip-hop's biggest artists. Kanye West prominently sampled "Bam Bam" in the Rihanna-featuring "Famous"; Nancy's chorus comes in midway through the song, adding an ethereal quality to West's braggadocio. "Famous" was nominated in multiple Categories at the 2017 GRAMMYs, including for Best Rap Song.
Of the many, many samples and interpolations of her work, Sister Nancy is unequivocal about who delivered her favorite: Jay-Z
For his 2017 single "Bam" featuring Damien Marley — off the GRAMMY-nominated 4:44 — Jay-Z not only sampled "Bam Bam," but worked with Nancy directly. After hearing Nancy on Hot 97's "Ebro In The Morning," Jay-Z flew the legend to Jamaica to sing and feature in his hybrid music video-documentary. That direct connection, a deferential gesture, was not lost on Sister Nancy.
"That's the best one. I'd rather work with him than anybody, it's because he did the right thing. He took me with him. I appreciate that," Sister Nancy says of Hova. "I have a respect for him because he chose to go with me and do it the right way. The rest of them just went behind my back."
In the years since, Sister Nancy has continued to thrive. She's performed on global stages and can be seen regularly at New York hotspots such as Union Pool, Public Records, and S.O.B.'s. Janelle Monáe featured Nancy not once but twice on 2023’s Album Of The Year-nominated The Age Of Pleasure, and sampled "Bam Bam" on “Water Slide." In further recognition of her impact, Burberry asked Sister Nancy to participate in their spring/summer 2024 campaign, which was shot in Jamaica.
She continues to release new music of her own, though she believes in letting projects simmer before embarking on something new. Armageddon —her first full-length since 2001's Sister Nancy Meets Fireproof — was released this summer, seven years after it was recorded with Mad Professor in the U.K. "Mad Professor is someone I look up to. He's a genius, and I love working with him," Sister Nancy adds. "He remind me of [Jamaican dub pioneer] King Tubby. "
While Sister Nancy's icon status has long since cemented, she remains committed to performing. She's one of few women of her generation to do so; peers like Sister Carol and Marcia Griffiths continue to share their messages in a reggae style, though with less frequency than Sister Nancy. Her presence on record and on stage has inspired generations of singers and DJs.
"If someone can patronize you or learn from what you're doing, it makes it worthwhile," Nancy says. "I'm going to do that as long as I can talk. As long as my voice is heard, I am going to be doing that. Because there ain't no stopping Sister Nancy."
More than 40 years later, she's still happy to discuss and play that single she recorded back in Kingston as a young woman. "I have to appreciate 'Bam Bam.' I have no problem talking about it because it's mine. I did the song, so I'm not tired of talking about it. I'm not tired of playing it either," Sister Nancy says. " I love it. That's my voice. I made that."