| BY KEDIESHA PERRY— Observer writer— | 1 |
IT is no secret that veteran deejay Sister Nancy has paved the way for many that came after her, in a traditionally male-dominated industry. In fact, her 1982 hit Bam Bam is seemingly timeless, as it continuously makes international charts, and was most recently featured in popular Netflix series Ozark.
“I went to the studio with Yellowman one day and he did a Bam Bam also. Then, in the same time, I wanted to complete the One, Two album. It (Bam Bam) ended up being the 10th song on the album. The next day, I went into the studio and freestyled [my version], got it on a tape, then went home and wrote the lyrics,” an ecstatic Sister Nancy said during an interview with the Jamaica Observer last month.
Bam Bam was a last-minute addition to Sister Nancy’s 1982 album One, Two which was recorded at Channel One studio in Kingston. It was produced by Winston Riley and released on his Techniques label. Earlier this month, it was certified silver in the United Kingdom for 200,000 in streaming and digital by the British Phonographic Industry.
Sister Nancy’s Bam Bam samples lyrics of Toots and the Maytals’ winning 1966 festival song of the same name.
Five years ago, American rapper Jay-Z sampled the song in his recording Bam, which was included on his 2017 album 4:44. The song charted at number 93 in the United Kingdom, and numbers 47 and 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts, respectively.
Sister Nancy, whose real name is Ophlin Russell, grew up in St Andrew.
The younger sister of deejay Brigadier Jerry, she led a flood of female deejays who emerged during the 1980s. They included Lady Mackerel (now Macka Diamond), Lady G, and Shelly Thunder.
She migrated to the United States in the mid-1990s. Among her other hits are Transport Connection and One, Two.
In 2016, Billboard magazine called the song “a strong contender for the title of most sampled reggae song of all time”.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked Bam Bam at number 454 on its 2021 edition of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.
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