Macka Diamond Says Spice Ruined Her Friendship With Lady Saw

Dancehall artist Macka Diamond is blaming Spice for the demise of her friendship with Minister Marion Hall, formerly Lady Saw. 

Macka and ‘Muma’ were thick as thieves at the onset of the new millennium, with the former even reportedly setting her up with producer John John. Things would change when newcomer Spice entered the picture. 

In a recent TikTok livestream, Macka said she first reached out to Spice after her 2002 Sting performance, which received mixed reviews because of her dig at Elephant Man. Being a girl’s girl, Macka enquired about her address to make a welfare check. 

“Mi hear seh she lock up inna har house and seh she nah come out, and mi go deh and mi seh mi a go console this likkle girl,” the Bun Him artist said. “Mi tell har seh, ‘You a one bad artist, man, and mi a go come and par with you.’”

Spice

That led into Macka’s birthday concert, an all-female line-up including her new pal and more seasoned friend. Tension existed between the women at the time, and Macka said Saw didn’t want Spice on the show. 

“Mi call Lady G and seh, ‘You nuh know seh Muma a seh she nuh ‘gree with that’… Me and Lady G decide seh we haffi beg her fi come because she done deh pon it already, and a Muma that – she can’t be a no-show. So, we beg her and beg her fi come. Mi and Lady G plan seh we a go bring the two of them together backstage.”

So said, so done. 

“Mi nuh know what happen, but she and Saw get close from that time,” Macka said. 

Spice and Lady Saw at the former’s birthday boat ride in 2008
Photo credit: Nathaniel Stewart

Tension was also brewing between Saw and singer Tanya Stephens at the time, and Macka recalled Spice bringing her attention to a radio interview in which Saw obliterated Stephens. 

“When mi go listen the interview, Saw a seh something bout Tanya and obeah, and a talk bout Tanya daughter and all these things.”

Displeased about the “obeah” slander, Macka told Spice that she would call Saw once she “cooled off”, but said Spice beat her to the punch.

“The gyal run to Lady Saw, go tell Lady Saw how mi a chat her… That time mi nuh know a the friendship she waan mash up with Lady Saw because when she mash up mi and Lady Saw friendship, Lady Saw cya push me up… She always a tell me seh anytime me done, a she a go run the place.”

Soon after, Macka said she received a call from an impenetrable Saw, demanding that she discard her contact.

Lady Saw (left) smiles during a clash with Macka Diamond at Sting, 2013

“Mi only hear Muma call me, ‘Lost mi number’… So mi seh, ‘What happened?’. ‘Mi hear seh you chat me’. So mi seh, ‘Chat you bout wah?’. ‘Mi nav nothing fi tell you, mi nav nothing fi tell you because mi nuh waan nuh mixup’. So mi seh, ‘A nuh mix up. You haffi tell me a who, and if you cya call name, you cya bring nuh mixup to me. Weh you hear seh mi do? Chat yuh seh John John nuh waan yuh?’… 

“A so mi start seh inna the chair till me get so mad, till me all end up a cry… She just seh, ‘Lost me number, that’s all mi can tell you because Spice seh you seh this and that’… Mi seh to Muma, ‘Hear weh mi waan yuh do. If yuh cya bring her in front of me, yuh nuh have no case’. (She said) ‘Mi nah fi bring nothing and mi nah fi prove nothing’, and that was it, and the two of them just start team up ‘gainst me. Everywhere mi see dem, dem a fight against me. If me and dem have show, dem nah stay inna the same hotel with me; dem a give promoter pure problem.”

Macka said she sent several texts to Saw voicing disappointment that she had let a newcomer ruin their friendship, and that Saw finally came around. Only by then, it was too late.

“Me and she – the other one weh seh she run the place – start argue and cussing, and Muma Saw did a try bring it back together too, but mi seh you know what, unno gwaan unno ways because mi nuh inna the mixup.”

Spice and Saw’s friendship would eventually go to the dogs via nasty Twitter feuds where Spice labelled her “badmind” and malicious. Saw, on the other hand, painted Spice as a conniving opportunist who spread lies about her in an attempt to sabotage her network and image.

Saw gave her life to God in December 2015, and became an ordained evangelist three years later.