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    Sister Nancy, Lady G, Minister Marion Hall and Lila Iké — four  women from four different corners of Jamaican music and culture — held court during the 10th Annual Jamaica Day Celebration in Paterson, NJ on Aug. 1. Dancehall icon Sister Nancy showed up at the event, at Eastside Park in Paterson, clad in green, black and gold, a nod to Jamaica's Emancipation Day. “She opened with ‘One Two’ and ‘Ain't No Stopping Nancy,’ and by the time she wrapped with ‘Bam Bam,’ it barely mattered that her set was only about 20 minutes,” Jamaican-born, New York-based entertainment publicist Anthony “ER Guru” Anthony, told Caribbean Life on Tuesday, Aug. 4. “Forty-plus years into a career, she can still stop a park cold.” Afterwards, Turner said Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh gave Sister Nancy the Key to the City, handed over by Bill McKoy, president of the Bill McKoy Foundation, which has been running Jamaica Day at Eastside Park for a full decade now.  “We are deeply honored to have Sister Nancy at Jamaica Day this year, as we celebrate her incredible achievements,” McKoy said. “Here, in Paterson, we respect you, we love you, we honor you, and we give you your flowers now, while we can say thank you for your service.”  [caption id="attachment_84990" align="aligncenter" width="700"]Sister Nancy performs at Jamaica Day. Sister Nancy performs at Jamaica Day.David Warren[/caption] Turner said: “If Sister Nancy is the foundation, Lady G is proof the foundation never cracked.  “She came up in the '90s known for lyrics that hit hard and a real commitment to writing about women's lives, and her set at Eastside Park played almost like a highlight reel,” he said.  Turner said songs like “Nuff Respect” and “Breeze Off” — old duets with Papa San — “still got the same reaction they probably got 30 years ago.” He said Sister Nancy “hopped on a newer riddim from Stephen McGregor ‘Hill & Gully’ and told the crowd, plainly, that nothing in her house was dead.  “Then, she went backward again, into ‘Samfie Lover’ and ‘A Whole Heap a Man,’ the songs that first proved she could tell a story better than almost anyone on a mic,” Turner said.  But he said the biggest reaction of her set came from 10-year-old singer RJ — the grandson of artist manager Junie Star. Turner said “Thank You,” the 1995 gospel record Philip “Fatis” Burrell originally produced with Lady G and Chevelle Franklyn, “hit the bullseye for both of them.  “The crowd lost it,” he said. “RJ's TikTok numbers are impressive. His Michael Jackson covers have racked up more than 14 million views on ‘I Want You Back’ and another 4.3 million on ‘Who's Loving You,’ and even his cover of Kygo's ‘Can't Do It On My Own’ is past a million. A kid who grew up on TikTok singing a 30-year-old gospel song is not something you can plan for on paper. It just has to happen.”  Turner said Dancehall DJ Bruck UP squeezed in a quick burst of energy with “Good Life” before handing the stage back over — “short, but it landed.”  He said Lila Iké's set “felt like the bridge between everything that came before her and whatever comes next.” [caption id="attachment_84991" align="aligncenter" width="700"]Lila Iké. Lila Iké.David Warren[/caption] Turner said the Grammy-nominated singer ran through “Wanted,” “Thy Will,” “Second Chance,” “Good & Great,” and “Where I'm Coming From” “with a kind of control that explains why she's become one of the most talked-about voices in reggae right now. “She didn't shy away from naming her influences either, working in covers of Beres Hammond's ‘Double Trouble’, Bob Andy's ‘Too Experienced’, and Freddie McGregor's ‘Prophecy’ before closing with ‘I Spy’, the 2020 single that anchors her EP The ExPerience,” Turner said.  He said McKoy, presenting her Key to the City, put it simply, “she represents where reggae is headed, without losing sight of who got the genre here.”  The following day, Turner said Minister Marion Hall rounded out a strong performance, receiving her own Key to the City.  “Take away the individual sets and here's what's left: a festival that, in its 10th year, quietly turned into something closer to a coronation,” he said. “Four queens of Jamaican music, each one shaping a different decade, and a 10-year-old getting handed a piece of the tradition in real time.  “Nobody announced it that way. Nobody needed to. That's the kind of afternoon you can't really schedule,” Turner added. “Eastside Park just happened to host it.”
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