Lady Patra is one of the female pioneers in dancehall music, but her influence stretches beyond Jamaica and dancehall into hip hop where her artistic DNA can be found influencing many of today’s female artists.
The Jamaican deejay’s undressed style, unique sense of fashion and her goal of being a global superstar while representing her culture is embodied in her debut album Queen Of The Pack.
Queen Of The Pack was released on August 4, 1993 by Sony Music and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Reggae albums chart. It is the only album by a female dancehall artist to be certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association Of America for selling more than 500,000 units. According to data received by WMV from Billboard sales tracker Luminate the album has sold 626,000 units over its lifetime in the US.
The lead single from QOTP “Think (About It),” peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Rap Singles chart and 89 on the R&B charts, establishing her as a force to be reckoned with in rap circles.
She then dropped “Worker Man,” which climbed to the top of the US Dance charts and No. 53 on the Hot 100. Worker Man also peaked at No. 84 in the U.K. The third single, “Romantic Call,” featuring west coast rap artist Yo-Yo, peaked at #55 on the Hot 100.
“Pull Up To My Bumper,” her remake of Grace Jones’ hit peaked at No. 60 in the Hot 100 and No. 50 on the U.K. singles chart. For her second album she teamed up with Aaron Hall for the title track “Scent of Attraction,” which peaked at No. 89.
Born Dorothy Smith, Patra also went along for the ride on Shabba Ranks‘ hit “Family Affair”, a cover remix of Sly and The Family Stone’s 1971 hit for the Addams Family Soundtrack which hit #84 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1994.
No woman in dancehall has more Hot 100 entries; still the Westmoreland singer took a break from the industry at the height of her career.
With her enchanting voice and charismatic presence Patra sizes up with the best of the best in dancehall and hip hop music. She tells WMV in this exclusive interview how she conquered the world with the slow wine, a dance that she learned from the women of Seaview Gardens.
You have been representing dancehall and Jamaican culture for more than 30 years. How does that feel?
It feels amazing, and what I love about our culture doesn’t matter if you are young, old, medium or small, music is such a foundation and it speaks so much volume, and that’s the reason why I am excited I was in that era. I give respect to Muma Nancy, Sister Carol, Julie Ranks, Sister Charmaine, these are the ladies I used to hang around with. I am pleased to be a part of it for so long although I have taken a break for my own sanity.
Now I am in charge of my own career and I have a good team and I am willing to do it once again.
How did you get into music?
It started out in Church like a whole lot of people. I am from Westmoreland and in schools dancehall, family members brothers, Police Youth Clubs, that’s how I started.
Where was your first recording?
My professional recording was with Gussie Clarke, Mickie Bennett and Stephen Stanley and New Name music at the time. It was so fascinating because I didn’t really know what I was doing, I knew I wanted to be a star. During that time I realized I could sing as well and it was fascinating going into the studio and it was hard for me.
There is a story about Beres Hammond singing “Tempted To Touch” dedicated to you. Were you there when that song was recorded?
No I was not (laughs), people kept saying that to me. Beres is a good friend of mine. It was a beautiful song because I love it so much. It’s very sensual and romantic and full of melody.
You made the decision to sign to a recording company early in your career, what was the initial feeling when you signed?
It was lovely that I signed because that’s what I wanted. I said to my mom and everybody that if I am gonna do this I don’t want to be a deejay, I want to be a superstar. So when I went to Sting I heard Sony was looking for me I was amazed about the whole thing. I made sure to put in the right energy and at the time I had Shang as my management, the part of it I didn’t appreciate pertaining to business. But now that I am educated about it I am good with it. I wanted to take control of things but Sony was good for me because they pay me my publishing. I didn’t know it was gonna take so long to get my release (from the label) but during that time (I took a break) I have learned to be more creative.
Did you take a break because you were tied into the Sony contract?
I was the one who walked away from everything. I finally realized and I wanted people to understand what was going on. I didn’t want to feel like a slave. I walked away and I knew I had to make the decision at that time. It has never been Sony Records, I was good with Tommy Mottola, soon I will write a memoir. What I did was good for me and it’s for me to leave an impact and I made sure when I walked away I was still number one. I was so caught up in my own spiritual moment which felt so good. Everything turned out beautifully.
You were hanging out with Tupac, what was he like?
He is one of the most down to earth entertainers you will ever come across. I even took him on some undercover thing because he wanted to experience Jamaican culture. He was here when I got my Gold award. I introduced him to Rory and Stone Love. They were all in Montego Bay and he was the most down to earth person. When I did the Romantic Call video I was in my trailer and he came to see me to my surprise. He wanted to be in the video, so we had to get the guy we hired to be in the car and put Tupac in the car. He hung out with us for the day and he was so cool and we made the Romantic Call video which is a masterpiece.
Your influence is in Hip Hop even to this day, were you deliberately making translatable music that can cross cultures between dancehall and hip hop?
Well you done know seh Jamaica first to the world in everything that we do. I have to give Shabba Ranks respect because he opened up the international thing. First of all, Jamaican women are confident no matter the size. It was the girls from Seaview Gardens who taught me how to wine slow. I come from the country so I used to wine fast and they say; you can’t go out like that you need to slow down P.
It took an entourage to help me with that, but when I got to America it was a smooth thing because what I did was take our culture. You have to know where you are and respect your culture and once you respect your culture and your image you know you have everything under control. Only Madonna was dressing sexy and the hip hop artists were in ‘Kriss Kross’ colors and I went in my batty rider shorts and immediately it influenced people because they like authenticity, they love real and they love simple stuff. I think I was born to do this and Sony was just the icing on the cake.
