Downloaded from YTS.MX
♪
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
♪
♪ Some of them go see and want come mash up me plans ♪
♪
[Sister Nancy] Sister Nancy is a DJ, and DJ roots
and culture and that cannot change.
I'm not for sale,
you can't buy me.
I don't mix, I don't dilute, I don't blend.
[laughs]
♪
What grabbed me about Sister Nancy
was a clarity in her voice.
[singing] Originality.
♪
She just cuts right through.
♪ Sister Nancy is 1 in 3 million ♪
♪
♪ A true dem nuh know it's-a from creation ♪
♪ Bam bam ♪
[Pete Rock] We go to the local parties
in our neighborhood, and Sister Nancy comes on,
everybody starts screaming.
Sister Nancy!
[Audience] 1 in 3 million!
Sister Nancy!
[Audience] 1 in 3 million!
This one right here is the original pressing,
from Jamaica, of 'One, Two.'
♪ Nancy born and she grew ♪
♪ in a Kingston 6... 6... 6 ♪
♪
[Kool Herc] Sister Nancy,
she gave her light to reggae music
because she states real roots.
She raw!
♪ Bam Bam dilla, me say Bam Bam Bam ♪
♪ 'Sey Bam Bam dilla, 'sey Bam Bam Bam ♪
[Michie Mee] Dancehall had an accent,
hip hop had an accent.
And the legacy lives on through 'Bam Bam.'
I respect Sister Nancy 'cause you give us the courage
to keep going. Stay tuned.
♪ I, Nancy, write the crispest lyrics ♪
♪
[DJ Red Alert] As a DJ, I start playing Sister Nancy.
To some it was like, "What's that?"
♪ Me born an me grow ina Kingston 6 ♪
♪ Nancy write me crispest lyrics ♪
♪ When you hear dem nuh sound like a cripsy biscuit ♪
She come with that song where the people loved
and still love it, and can't stop love.
[different songs play together]
[Sister Nancy] It's original, Bam Bam has been sampled
over a hundred times.
They can't get enough of it.
But recently was used on 'James Bond,'
Netflix series called 'Ozark,'
went to number one again on iTunes.
♪
[Angela Yee] Sister Nancy and 'Bam Bam,'
it's in commercials, it's in movies.
It's in TV shows.
So for her, she should have been making millions of dollars.
♪
It's important when you can shine light on pioneers
who have come before you, who have blazed trails,
who have taken music, our music,
to the next level.
♪ This woman ♪
♪ Don't trouble no one ♪
♪ I'm a lady and not a man ♪
She literally is saying, you know, "I'm a woman"
and, and projecting herself onto the scene
that is male-dominated.
♪ A true dem na know it's from creation ♪
♪
[Sister Nancy] When you give me that mic, I am ready.
Most special voice, most greatest voice,
most powerful voice any female DJ ever have.
Sister Nancy have that.
♪
[Lula Lounge Announcer] Sister Nancy!
♪ In a Bam Bam dillim ♪
♪ Me say Bam Bam Bam Bam ♪
♪ Bam Bam Bam Bam ♪
♪ What a bam bam ♪
[thunder rumbles]
♪
♪ Original, originality ♪
♪ Original, Sister Nancy ♪
♪ Tell me who ♪
♪ Can run dancehall like me ♪
♪ Ya betta tell me who ♪
♪ Can run dancehall like me ♪
♪ Repeat ♪
♪ You see a woman like me be full of decency ♪
♪ Me under the guidance of King Sellasie ♪
♪ Tell me who ♪
♪ Can run dancehall like me ♪
♪ Repeat ♪
♪ It name original ♪
[audience cheering]
♪ Original ♪
[audience cheering]
♪ Original ♪
[audience cheering]
♪ Original, this is originality ♪
♪ Original Sister Nancy ♪
♪ Original, originality ♪
♪ Original, Sister Nancy ♪
♪ Nuff of dem talk bout dem professional ♪
♪ When I make a mistake, it's very normal ♪
♪ When I take up this mic, it's my signal ♪
♪ Dress up fi go a dance, tonight I'm casual ♪
♪ I'm the only women dejay ever win a medal ♪
♪ Me nah 'fraid of no woman, me nah 'fraid of no man ♪
♪ The way copacetic, mi well official ♪
♪ Mi write my lyrics like mi write pen pal ♪
♪ And only to Jah I remain loyal ♪
♪ Original ♪
[audience cheering]
♪
[Sister Nancy] I'm just a real woman,
strong black woman,
and a woman who does know what I want out of life.
First, I warm up.
[Sister Nancy] And go hard to get it.
Morning.
[Sister Nancy] So I'm comfortable with me.
[Sister Nancy] I was never this big.
Getting older, I know it's best for me to lose the weight.
So I'm doing my best to take some off.
Makes me more flexible,
moveable on the stage and all of that.
Keep the voice right too.
♪
[Sister Nancy] And it feels good.
♪
Bam Bam!
♪
[Sister Nancy] Me nuh worry bout nothing.
That is me.
I don't worry about anything in the world.
I just live.
♪
My hair look good?
[Crew] It's good!
♪
[Sister Nancy] There's a lot of requests for Sister Nancy
all over the world.
♪
[laughs]
[phone rings, playing Bam Bam ringtone]
Hello? Yeah.
[Man on phone] We're here, we're ready for you.
Call me when you're close to m.
[Man] Hey, let me hold it.
Mad, bad, sad.
[laughing]
♪
[Sister Nancy] I travel a lot. I tour a lot.
I'm always out there.
If I'm home for a month, it worries me.
It's normal to me.
♪
[Sister Nancy] So much people write me,
so much people tell me,
"So Nancy, I, I live and breathe your music.
Not only Bam Bam, but all of it.
All the tracks that you have ever done.
We live and breathe them."
Keeps me alive.
[Announcer] The original, Sister Nancy!
[audience cheering]
Greetings, New York!
♪
[Sister Nancy] This is my work. I love music,
and I have to do music.
I have to do music.
Me born feh do this, me nuh practice this.
I was born to do this.
♪
[Young Brother] One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine, ten.
Ready are not, here I come!
[Sister Nancy] When I was a child growing up in Jamaica,
I always do what the guys do.
♪
[Young Nancy] I'm not gonna get caught!
[Sister Nancy] I'm like a tom boy.
[speaking Jamaican Patois]
♪
♪ You canna come catch me ♪
♪
[speaking Jamaican Patois]
[Sister Nancy] Me born a ragga muffin.
Me born rough.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Nobody could have keep Nancy.
Nancy just want to be out there all the time.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Where I'm from in Jamaica,
dancehall is always there.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Dancehall is a place that you go to listen,
music.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Sounds from different areas in Jamaica
come and string up on a Friday,
Saturday and Sunday,
and then keep them dance,
and then play the music.
♪
[Sister Nancy] You buy your little roucou soup,
them time dem have curry goat and white rice
and roucou soup. That's all you can get there.
♪
[Sister Carol] When I was growing up in Jamaica,
I used to live next door to a sound system
called Sir Percy Welterweight.
♪
And on that sound system you had brothers
like Brother U-Roy.
And he was powerful.
♪
Drummer, please!
♪
[Sister Carol] We used to just sing the songs,
and do a lot of imitation, and talk like them,
and wanted to be like them.
♪
[Sister Nancy] And he will talk from 12,
11, 10 in the night until 6 in the morning.
No stop, non-stop, no move.
And people is just there.
♪
[Sister Carol] We were hearing music coming outta Jamaica
from Brigadier Jerry.
At that time I didn't know that Nancy was his sister.
[singing]
♪ Pack up pon the Brig, you one big supastar ♪
♪ Dem say gyal, pack yuh tings ♪
♪ And come out of the Brigadier way ♪
[audience cheering]
[Sister Nancy] In my opinion, my brother is the greatest DJ
that ever walked on two foot.
♪ And it don't matter who really care ♪
♪ Because every Jamaican is a supastar ♪
[laughs]
♪ Oh, we never borrow ♪
♪
Me a roots and culture DJ.
Me nah mix, me nah dilute roots and culture.
And we don't have a DJ that come out of Jamaica
that never talks like this.
Most of DJ start from slackness,
then them get into culture.
Me, it was straight out culture.
♪
[Sister Nancy] I idolize my older brother.
Mi follow mi brotha everywhere.
I wanted to be like him.
♪ Jamaica, Jamaica ♪ by Brigadier Jerry
♪
[Sister Nancy] I used to watch a black and white TV
and listen just to hear him come inna the yard.
And when he does come in the yard,
he always go to the bathroom.
Sis, wahgwan, you good?
Yeah, I'm doing good.
[Sister Nancy] When he go to the bathroom,
I would go there with my pen and my paper.
Sometime him don't even know that I'm coming.
Him sing in the bathroom, talk in the bathroom.
Write whatever I can get from him,
him nuh know I'm doing it.
♪ Ain't no stopping Papa Briggy, no way ♪
♪ Papa Briggy been riding rubba dub ♪
♪ From nine years old ♪
[Sister Nancy] Sometime I don't get it the perfect way
how him say it, but I get it,
and then I do my best to make it the way I want to make it.
I really follow him.
He's the one who make it all possible for me.
♪
[muffled speaking]
[Sister Nancy] I'm not going to change anything.
I'm going to put my dress on.
I have my bra on, and my panties, and that's it.
[Shandy] Okay.
I'm gonna put my dress on, my shoes
and I'm ready to go.
[Shandy] Okay, then maybe, maybe right to...
[Shandy] Ask grab, take back.
I'm all ready, and I'm go. I'm ready to go.
That's me shoes. Need me shoes on.
[Shandy] Okay, Uber driver's here.
Let's go!
♪
[Sister Nancy] Because you know, I've been up and about,
travelling and all of these things.
You know, I go to Europe in the end of this month,
then I um, I do the last show in,
um, France with Matty on the third.
Then I'll come back, go to Jamaica,
then I come back from Jamaica.
Then I head out back to Europe on, um, in July,
in the beginning of July.
And I come back, and then I go back again in August.
♪
[Sister Nancy] It is good because this is what I'm about.
And I love, I love to work.
This is what I do best - entertaining people.
Yes, I do.
[people chatting]
Hello.
Where do I walk? Here?
[Doorman] Yes. How are you?
I'm good.
How are you? Hi.
Hi. Please follow me.
[music playing]
Thank you.
[Doorman] Have a seat somewhere here.
[music playing]
[Sister Nancy] Some entertainers like the limelight
and the hype, and the entourage and thing.
I, I'm not like that.
I love to see crowd, but when I perform.
I love being by myself.
I don't have to worry about anyone around me.
[audience cheering]
[Announcer] I wanna big up all the ladies in the place
right now that know nothing can stop you.
There's nothing you can't do that no one else can't do.
And no one can't tell you what to do,
when to do, or how to do it.
And you see, this artist I'm gonna bring out right now
is a perfect example of somebody like that,
who took her own journey and her own steps
and led the way as a pioneer.
So, Brooklyn, I need y'all to help me welcome
the queen of reggae dancehall music,
from Kingston, Jamaica,
Original Muma, Muma, Muma Nancy!
♪
Greetings, Brooklyn, salut.
♪ In the east ♪
♪ In a west ♪
[freestyling]
♪ Sister Nancy is the best ♪
♪ Or did he really eat enough ♪
♪ I am your ram dance daughter ♪
♪ Sister Nancy come clean in America ♪
♪ Yes ♪
♪ The ram dance daughter ♪
♪ Tell Muma that it on fire ♪
[freestyling]
Originality.
Can't change for love nor money.
Let me hear it for Brigadier Jerry,
in the whole world, he's my brother.
Love you like how God love Moses.
♪
[Sister Nancy] I started my career on a sound system.
DJ Pon Di Mic, that's where I took it to the dancehall.
♪
She was in the dancehall space.
Yes.
The space. - Dominated by you men.
Yeah!
♪
When she was coming up and standing beside
her brother them, and, and all these men
around the sound system,
and when she come in and hold the mic,
and ah say, "Yeah," you know what I mean?
Like that is it, you know, that's what,
that's what being empowered by who you are is,
you know what I mean? You own the space.
♪
[Sister Nancy] You got guys who tell me
that to put the mic down.
Some of them tell me I sound like a mice,
like I like a likkle rat.
Some say um, "Try a little mor.
Okay. You nuh sound good right now."
[Donna Hope] Women DJs in dancehall culture,
for a woman to get on the mic,
it was a very difficult journe.
♪
And so the women who breached these barriers
did so against many social structures.
They were very brave.
♪
[Michie Mee] We all know Sister Nancy is the pioneer
of dancehall itself, period,
in terms of a female grabbing the mic and toasting.
She brought confidence that a woman needed
to stand on stage and stand firm.
Sister Nancy really set the pace.
♪
[Sister Nancy] When I started, there was one female DJ
before me that was, um, Mama Liza.
Mama Liza and Kojak.
They were recording together.
I was the one who come out by myself
and, and make it, um, popular, make it big,
inna de dancehall.
♪
[Sister Nancy] I began to make a name for myself,
and it start buzzing, "Brigadier likkle sister,"
everybody, "Briggy likkle sister."
I really build up a likkle thing for myself.
♪
Often times you heard about the brothers doing that.
You know, rubbing shoulders and working together.
There's not a lot of women that can ride
with them three, four hours straight.
♪
Nancy's a rough house,
hardcore,
and she love music,
and she was born to do music.
♪
Sister Nancy was a breath of fresh air.
Her voice was so beautiful.
Being a female was very unusual to, to be rapping
because it was all about the men's voice.
So hearing Sister's Nancy's voice was very unique.
She had a very powerful voice.
And it was an exciting time.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Being so bad, I always run away from home.
[dog barking]
[Sister Nancy] That's where I meet General Echo.
♪ Arleen ah mussi dream, yuh deh dream ♪
[Sister Nancy] So I go with them couple times,
and they will gimme the mic a one and two time,
and I, I shout out, and the DJ that night,
and him like me.
Introducing tonight on the baddest sensations on the road,
Sister Nancy! Come on, Sister Nancy.
[audience cheering]
[Sister Nancy] Echo told me that he wanted me
to meet Winston Riley.
♪ Ring the Alarm ♪ by Winston Riley
♪ And not a sound is dying ♪
♪ Whoa, hey ♪
[Sister Nancy] Him was a business man,
him know the music business to a T.
♪
♪ Some sound sound like a big drum pan ♪
[Patricia] Winston Riley, he was so much a part
of Kingston, and the music scene
back in the sixties and seventies.
♪
First as an artist, as part of the group, the Techniques,
a popular harmony group
during Jamaica's Rock Steady era.
Many hit songs.
♪ Travelling Man ♪ by The Techniques
♪
♪ I don't want to be ♪
♪ A travelling man ♪
[Patricia] From that, he made that transition
into a very successful produce.
♪
[Sister Nancy] General Echo took me
to Techniques Record Shop,
and I met Winston Riley there.
And mi haffi audition fi him right there.
And him like me.
♪
[Sister Nancy] He took me to Channel 1 ,
and we record 'Papa Dean.'
♪ Papa Dean ♪ by Sister Nancy
♪
[Sister Nancy] I wrote that through myself.
Of course you're nervous. Come on.
If you've never been to a recording studio,
and you see all these men.
These giant men who've been there
long before your time.
So I was very nervous.
But after a while it, it just come natural,
being there, you know.
♪ Papa Dean ♪ by Sister Nancy
♪ Papa Dean wan fi give me sardine ♪
♪ Papa Dean wan fi give me butterbean ♪
[Sister Nancy] I just want to hear my voice on the radio.
[radio static]
[Sister Nancy] I remember the first time
I hear it play on the radio.
We call them transistor radios, and thing.
♪
[Sister Nancy] The whole place have it pon him radio.
"You Nancy deh? You Nancy deh?"
Yep. It was me. [laughs]
That's all I wanted to hear.
♪
[Sister Nancy] It was a joy,
and nobody couldn't talk to me after that.
That is Sister Nancy there.
That's where I start my name right there.
I can remember that so clearly.
♪ Money Can't Buy Love ♪ by Sister Nancy
[Sister Nancy] And I did 'Money Can't Buy Love,'
'Proud a We.'
♪ Proud a We ♪ by Sister Nancy
♪ Special dedication to you ♪
♪ This one dedicated to you, to you ♪
[Sister Nancy] And 'Transport Connection.'
♪ Transport Connection ♪ by Sister Nancy
♪ Ting called a transport connection ♪
♪ Originated by I, Sister Nancy ♪
♪ From the uptown city ♪
♪ From the southern passing, do it, ya know ♪
[Sister Nancy] And then I did 'One, Two.'
♪ One, Two ♪ by Sister Nancy
♪ Nancy make a little plan ♪
♪ A mi say two, I tell, no bother... ♪
[Sister Nancy] I did that five tune for him, singles.
'One, Two' was so big and great in Jamaica.
'One, Two' take off, global.
♪ A mi say five, I tell you if you slip, you will slide ♪
♪ A mi say six, a mi name Sister Nancy ♪
♪ A mi say seven, but every man wan go a heaven ♪
♪ A mi say eight, I tell you, Nancy lay dem down straight ♪
♪ A mi say nine, Jah man... ♪
[Sister Nancy] And I started to travel all around the world
because of 'One, Two.'
I went to Grand Cayman first.
That's the first place I ever leave Jamaica to.
♪
[Sister Nancy] And I went to England,
and I went to Canada.
[Sister Nancy - interview] Sister Nancy, live and direct
from Yard, you know.
Hope everyone have a Merry Christmas,
and I hope you have a Merry-Happy New Year, ya seen?
[ Sister Nancy speaking Jamaican Patois ]
♪
[ Sister Nancy freestyling ]
♪
♪ You too greedy ♪
♪ You must learn to satisfy ♪
♪ Say you too greedy ♪
[Beth Lesser] It's the old reggae quarterly magazines
that were all done between '82 and '88 I think.
And I'm looking for the Sister Nancy.
What? I just found an ad for your radio show.
Look, 'Reggae Showcase.' [laughs]
Yeah, I don't think I paid you for that.
[laughs]
♪
[Beth] There's Nancy.
[Dave Kingston] Yeah, so there's Nancy
sitting on the wicker chair.
Yeah, in our apartment.
That would've been before we went,
just before we went to the radio station.
What happened to that chair?
Oh, we threw it out. It fell apart.
♪
[Beth] The first time she came to Canada
in 1982,
and it was just such a thrill to walk in,
into the apartment with her.
Wow. Nancy's here.
[Dave] And this is when we did the formal interview,
obviously pretty informal.
♪
[Dave] And that is Beth's Walkman,
and there's Nancy, just, just relaxed.
[Beth] Yeah, that was me taping the interview.
♪
[Beth] It was just so nice to have a woman
to talk to for a change. It was all men.
It was all male attitudes.
And then to have Nancy there was, yes.
♪
[Beth] And these are my black and white negatives.
And this was the, the negatives.
This you can see, you can probably find
the picture of you and--
Oh the--
And Nancy in here somewhere.
There it is. There's you and Nancy right there.
[Dave] Yeah. No, that's, I look pretty happy.
[Beth] Yes, you, you did.
♪
[Beth] Oh, here's a few of the prints of Nancy from that.
This was when we interviewed her.
[Dave] See how young she looks too, right?
[Beth] I know.
♪
[Dave] So, you know, we sort of talked about the interview,
and said, "You mind doing a little bit live
on the mic maybe?"
So we just started and just kept going,
and it was like a dancehall session on the air.
[Dave - on radio] Good evening,
you're listening to Reggae Showcase on CKLN FM.
I'm D. Kingston. I'll be here for an hour
with a bit of a Christmas trea.
Tonight we've got live from Jamaica, Sister Nancy,
who's gonna be riding some rhythms later on in the show.
[Sister Nancy] The man called David in the studio.
And I, Sister Nancy, the pastor hear slightly, you know.
Greetings, once again.
♪
[Sister Nancy freestyling]
♪ 'Cause at di age of 15, mi wicked and wild ♪
♪ At the age of 18 me well versatile ♪
♪ Now the age of 20 and a cold profile ♪
♪ And me a do it in a cold profile ♪
♪ A runaway, I tell ya, better stop your running wild ♪
[Sister Nancy freestyling]
♪
[Sister Nancy] Just looking to put in some more work,
you know, not excluding recording.
♪
I'm going to the recording studio
to do a couple of dub plates here in Georgia today.
Make some extra money, bonus,
that's where I'm going. yeah.
♪
Hi!
♪
[Sister Nancy] As long as I'm paid for my work,
I'm gonna work. That's me.
[Rik] Hi, I'm Rik.
Greetings, listen.
[Sister Nancy] You meet a person, and a person like
how you sound, and them have interest
in recording you, or whatever.
It's just a simple thing becaue you're doing something
for them and they're doing something for you.
And them need you more than where you need them
because you have the voice.
♪
That's Kareem?
That's Kareem.
Okay.
[Sister Nancy] Most soundmen,
when dem call Sister Nancy for dub plates,
they want you to sing for them sound.
I do my things straight.
One take, one take and I'm done.
♪
Check. Mic check.
Microphone check, one, two.
Level.
[Sister Nancy freestyling]
[Sister Nancy] I am a very good DJ of my craft.
Me a do et long time, so mi know weh mi a do.
Try it now.
[Sister Nancy] And nothing is supposed to be hard for me
'cause it's music.
[singing] What a Bam Bam!
Seh what a Bam Bam.
[Sister Nancy singing] Bam, dilla-dilla-dilla-dilla
dilla-dilla-dilla- dilla-dilla-dilla.
Bam Bam Bam!
♪ Repeat! ♪
♪ I born and me grow inna Kingston 6 ♪
♪ Nancy write the crispest lyrics ♪
♪ When you hear dem nuh sound like a cripsy biscuit ♪
[laughing]
[faint talking]
Whoa!
Peace in the house, hear, sir?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Blessed love.
[airplane taking off]
♪
[Sister Nancy] When I came back from Canada,
I went back home.
Winston Riley come check me, and him tell me that,
"Nancy, you need to do a 'One, Two' album
because the 45 did so good."
Him tell me that him woulda record me,
the, the Friday evening.
♪
♪ Said my name is Nancy, I talk with dignity ♪
♪ My name is Nancy, I talk with dignity ♪
♪ And anywhere mi go me people say mi ready ♪
[Sister Nancy] I did nine tracks of the album.
I had one left.
I didn't have any more music to finish the album.
I run out of lyrics.
At the time I was working with Yellowman.
♪ Zungguzungguguzungguzeng ♪ by Yellowman
♪ Yes, yes, I just want it ah the best ♪
[Sister Nancy] That day when I followed Yellowman
to Harry J's studio, he did a track named 'Bam Bam.'
♪ Bam Bam ♪ by Yellowman
♪ Bam bam dilla bam bam ♪
♪ This man ♪
♪ Don't trouble no one ♪
♪ My name is Yellowman ♪
[Sister Nancy] We get the 'Bam Bam'
from Toots and the Maytals
because, you know, Toots did it originally.
♪ Bam Bam ♪ by Toots and the Maytals
♪ What a Bam Bam ♪
♪ I-I-I-I ♪
♪ I want you to know ♪
♪ That I am the man ♪
♪ Who fights for the right ♪
♪ Not for the wrong ♪
[Herbie Miller] Frederick Hibberts,
Toots and the Maytals,
back then in 1966 when he recorded 'Bam Bam.'
♪ So you will find out the man ♪
♪ I'm supposed to be ♪
He's singing that he's a humble little man,
he doesn't trouble anyone.
♪ No, this man ♪
♪
♪ Don't trouble no man ♪
But if you should trouble this humble little man,
it will be a Bam Bam.
So we don't know what that mean, you know.
♪ But if you will trouble this man ♪
♪ It will be a bam bam ♪
♪ Bam bam bam bam bam bam ♪
I'm no walk over, so don't test me.
If you come,
it going be Bam Bam.
So you can interpret Bam Bam to be how Muhammed Ali
used to knock out with them guys, Bam Bam.
Or you can interpret it how Viv Richards
used to lick the ball them, Bam Bam.
Or you can interpret it how people go
and fight each other, Bam Bam.
I don't know what Toots meant.
♪
[Sister Nancy] And I called Winston Riley from the studio
and I say, "Mi wan finish the album today."
"Weh you ah go put pon it today?"
Mi tell him say, "Mi ah go do a 'Bam Bam'
'cause mi deh ah the studio with Yellowman,
and Yellowman do a 'Bam Bam,'
and mi wan do a 'Bam Bam.'"
[Pete Rock] The Sister Nancy 'Bam Bam' record,
my father used to play a lot on,
he had the 45, and I used to always ask him
to play that one with the horn
'cause it started off with the horn.
[vocalizes horn sounds]
♪
[Herbie Miller] She goes into the studio.
Sometimes you just don't have a lyric,
and you just improvise.
She elaborates on that classic.
[Sister Nancy] I was there with Winston.
I never write it, or anything.
[Jenelle Monae] 'Bam Bam' is such an iconic song.
It just feels like it was a one-take situation.
And it was like you were getting a moment
that was so authentic, and so true to her.
♪ I say one thing Nancy cyaan understand ♪
[Kurt singing] One ting Nancy can't understand.
Wah mek them want talk bout mi ambition.
Come on. She's like,
"Why you judging me as a woman?
Come on, I can do this."
♪
♪ Some a dem a ask me where mi get it from ♪
[Pete Rock singing] A true dem nuh know it's-a fram creation.
A true dem nuh know it's-a fram creation.
Bam Bam.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Bam Bam mean you attack man.
It's an attack. Just attack.
Me ah come, I am coming.
Whether you like me, yes or not, it's just me.
And if you can listen to the lyrics,
you see the lyrics, it's just based upon me.
♪
♪ This woman never trouble no one ♪
♪ I'm a lady, I'm not a man ♪
♪ And MC is my ambition ♪
♪ I come fi nice up Jamaica ♪
♪ So Bam Bam ♪
[Sister Nancy] When I start to DJ,
a lot of people said I didn't sound good,
but I didn't care.
So I said, this woman don't trouble no one,
I'm a lady, I'm not a man.
MC is my ambition. Me ah go come nice
up our nation, nice up Jamaica.
Ey!
Come nuh, come. [speaking Jamaican Patois]
Me was born here. Come.
♪
[singing] I, Nancy, write the crispest lyrics.
When you hear dem nuh sound like a crispy biscuit.
You come ah dancehall, so me seh well well slick.
So Bam Bam.
[Sister Nancy] Born and raised in a Kingston 6,
that's where I was born.
♪
This is my yard. This is where I was born and grow.
I was born in this room.
♪
[Sister Nancy] My mother has seven children.
I am the second to last one out of the seven.
And my house was a church because my father
is a religious person.
I was born right here. Okay?
I was born right in here.
[Sister Nancy] And we live with my father and my mother.
Knowing my mother working as a teacher,
and she was also a bus driver.
In Jamaica, you have JOS,
Jamaica Omnibus Service.
♪
This is 5 Terron Avenue, original Mr. Jerry
and Mrs. Niniya, All Jerry.
Venice, Duke, Patsy,
Dicky, Brigadier,
Ike, Nancy, and Teeny.
♪
Whoo!
Nancy!
[Sister Nancy] I go to Jamaica every two months of the year.
I always have my family around me.
♪
[Sister Nancy] My brother is there, my husband lives there,
so I go back as, you know, as often as I can.
You know what it means to be a family,
what it means to be together,
what it mean to be unified.
♪
[laughing]
We married four years now,
but we've been here nine years
and he is my life too.
Of course he is.
All of my family, and that's my life.
♪
[Sister Nancy laughing]
Everything I know in my life, a she teach mi it.
My big sister, Aunty Patsy.
Love me auntie, Bam still,
Bam Bam, I'm out.
[Sister Nancy] Bam Bam!
♪
[Sister Nancy] I like being in Jamaica a lot.
♪
[Sister Nancy] You know, the surroundings,
it have a different feeling, a different vibes.
In Jamaica you're out there all the time.
Ey!
Swing pon there and jump out too!
♪
[laughing]
[Sister Nancy] This is my born ground.
This is my home.
♪ A some a dem a seh me a go mash up dem plan ♪
♪ A true dem nuh know me a one busness woman ♪
♪ Sister Nancy, she a 1 ina 3 million ♪
♪ So bam bam ♪
[Sister Nancy] Three million is, a three million people
in Jamaica, and I'm the greatest there.
♪
That's that rap that we be saying like,
"Yo, I'm one of a kind.
I shock your mind."
She like, "Sister Nancy, me 1 in a 3 million."
Like that's where she is.
♪
[DJ Red Alert] First time I heard 'Bam Bam,'
it was early eighties.
Something about it that you, it caught your attention.
You not only hear, but you feel it.
And that's what it was when I heard that song.
It's just one of those things where that song is heavily,
heavily loved in the Black community.
We'll use it over, and over, and over, and over again.
'Bam Bam.' [speaking Jamaican Patois]
Me wan Bam Bam, man,
nah, Yellowman.
Grand slam, man.
♪ Bam Bam ♪ by Sister Nancy
♪
♪ Me say one thing Nancy cyaan understand ♪
[crowd speaking]
♪
[Little Briggy] Whenever Muma Nancy's back in Jamaica,
or she's home,
it's a joy fi play 'Bam Bam' a million times.
Jus even the clippings, this ting,
when Muma Nancy get pon stage with 'er beer
and 'er, and 'er, and 'er cigarette in 'er hand.
You see how cool she was?
You see how easy she was?
Dem ting deh neva come ova night.
♪ Bam bam, sey, what a bam bam ♪
♪ Bam bam dilla, bam bam ♪
♪ This woman ♪
♪ I neva trouble no one ♪
♪ I'm a lady, I'm not a man ♪
♪ And DJ is my ambition ♪
♪ I come fi mash up Hey ya ♪
♪ Say Bam Bam ♪
[Queen Ifrica] The sincerity is what was in
Sister Nancy's corner.
Sister Nancy with her spliff in her hand,
and the whole energy there,
as a sister you can't just say,
"Yeah, don't come too hard near me
because it is what it is."
♪ Me born an me grow ina Kingston 6 ♪
♪ I, Nancy, write me crispest lyrics ♪
♪ When you hear dem nuh sound like crispy biscuit ♪
♪ You come ina de place so me seh well well slick ♪
♪ Seh Bam Bam ♪
[Michie Mee] If I didn't see Sister Nancy go up there
with the confidence, with her likkle spliff
and her likkle, you know, her likkle beer,
and just like wearing the clothes,
the earrings, the jewelry,
the finger waves, the low haircut,
just everything that represented dancehall.
She was the woman that was the template of it.
And then come around, you got a hit record
connected to that?
It doesn't get any better.
[Angela Yee] I'm from Brooklyn,
so I heard 'Bam Bam' my whole life growing up
through the walls, [laughs]
all on the block at block parties.
For women, that was our joint.
[Renee] From the millennials to Generation Z,
the baby boomers, white people,
Black people.
There's something undeniable about Sister Nancy
and 'Bam Bam.'
♪ Say Bam bam dilla ♪
[audience singing] Bam bam!
♪ Mi say Bam bam dilla ♪
[audience singing] Bam bam!
♪ Bam bam dilla ♪
[audience singing] Bam bam!
♪ Mi say Bam bam dilla ♪
[audience singing] Bam bam!
♪ Bam bam dilla ♪
[audience singing] Bam bam!
♪ Say Bam bam dilla ♪
[audience singing] Bam bam!
Let me see your hands!
[audience singing] Bam bam dilla, bam bam!
♪ Can you say what a bam bam ♪
♪ Can you say bam bam dilla ♪
[audience singing] Bam bam!
♪ Can you say bam bam dilla ♪
[audience singing] Bam bam!
♪ Can you say bam bam dilla ♪
[audience singing] Bam bam!
♪ This woman ♪
♪ I never trouble no one ♪
[Ringo Smith] You never know what's gonna take off
and, and last for a long time.
I think when you think about Nancy's 'Bam Bam,'
yeah, it may be that one take,
but, it's, you're speaking to the people.
You know, you're speaking to the people,
and, and people, they love it, you know,
generation, to generation, to generation.
And 'Bam Bam' was, like, you said 40 years?
It's going to go on for another 40 years,
and another 40 years, and another 40 years.
We might not be here, but it's still going to keep going.
♪ I'm a lady, I'm not a man ♪
♪ MC is my ambition ♪
♪ I come fi nice up Jamaica ♪
♪ So Bam bam ♪
♪ Seh what a bam bam ♪
♪ Bam bam dilla, bam bam ♪
♪ 'Ey so me seh one ting Nancy cyaan understand ♪
[laughing]
Big tune! Big tune!
Big tune.
Ey?
[Man] You look like 60. [Sister Nancy] 60?
♪
[Sister Nancy] I migrated here in 1996.
♪
[Sister Nancy] This house, as you see here,
when I came, this is where my mother has been.
So this is home for us.
♪
[Sister Nancy] All of my memories,
all of my good, bad, and everything memories
are in here, right here where I sit.
I'm not going anywhere.
♪
[Sister Nancy] My mother pass away, and we are still here.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Ever since that time she pass away,
I keep a little gathering in te back of the yard, as you see.
It's just me giving back to my friends
who always support me.
♪
[Sister Nancy] My mother call me Nancy
since the day I was born.
It's just me, Sister Nancy.
♪
[Sister Nancy] In the later days of my career,
they changed from Sister to Muma
'cause I'm like mother to a lot of people.
♪
[Sister Nancy] You know, I curse a lot.
If I don't curse, they say, "Auntie Nancy's sick,"
I need to go to the doctor.
[speaking Jamaican Patois]
With the cover, that have cover?
You bloodclot idiot.
[Sister Nancy] I'm always like that.
You know, open about, I'm cursing everybody out.
So if you come here, and, and I'm just cool.
There's something wrong with her.
You don't have to know me to come here.
It doesn't matter. You're welcome.
♪
[Sister Nancy] You see how big the pot is that I cook in,
I do it every day.
♪
Anybody wan soup?
♪
[Sister Nancy] And when you ah give and share,
you don't, you don't look for nothing in return.
[speaking Jamaican Patois]
[Sister Nancy] I'm just a person who love to give.
I love to give people. That's me.
I love to give.
♪
[Sister Nancy] My mother migrated here to America,
trying to make a better life for us.
♪
[Sister Nancy] So that's what America do for me still.
♪
[Sister Nancy] I'm not a person who used to get up
in the morning snow, drive to work.
I never usually do it in Jamaica.
And I come here, and I have to do that
because I had my daughter.
♪
[laughing]
[Sister Nancy] And I had to take care of Shandy
'cause I need the best for her.
♪
[Sister Nancy] My daughter is very special to me.
And I call her Shandy.
[Shandy] I was born in Jamaica,
and we lived at 5 Thurwood Avenue, Kingston 6,
until I was eight years old.
[Sister Nancy] My daughter is my life.
She makes me want to live for her and me.
I'm a single parent, so I know I had to fight for her.
You know, the same when my mother do the best for me,
I do the best for her, and even more, you know.
♪
[Sister Nancy] I have to do things to make
my daughter life much easier and better for her.
[Shandy] Mama's like a mixture of like sugar and pepper.
She's spicy. She'll cuss you out in a minute,
but then turn back around and like, you know.
And you, you just can't...
It took me a while to even learn that.
She glow with the sun.
[laughs]
She glows.
[Sister Nancy] I don't have no problem with Shandy, none.
No, because she know I knock her out.
[Shandy laughs] Yes.
[both laughing]
[laughing]
Yeah.
[Sister Nancy] It's almost there, but it's not there.
It's getting tender.
[Sister Nancy] I wanted her to have everything
that I never have.
So I'll go the extra mile.
♪
[Sister Nancy] I used to work in the bank.
I did it for 16 years.
My job was in the fraud department.
You would answer phone regularly.
I say, "Operation, this is Nancy. Can I help you?"
Just like that? - Just like that.
[both laughing]
Most people don't know that you're actually a professional.
Oh yes, I'm an accountant. I work at the bank 14 years,
and I love it, and I'm proud of it,
and I'm not gonna leave it.
Wish you were my accountant. [laughs]
Nope.
I'll rob you.
[both laugh]
I'm kidding.
[both laugh]
Yeah, she worked at the bank during the week,
the weekdays, Monday to Friday,
and on the weekends she would go travel to do shows.
And if she had like a vacation,
she took the vacation off and did shows.
[Sister Nancy singing]
[Sister Nancy] I would leave work on a Friday evening.
I'll take the day off. I'll tell some lies.
Something wrong to my finger, something wrong with me,
or something wrong with my daughter.
God forbid, I'm sorry, somethig wrong with my mother.
I will tell them some lies,
and I will travel from here to Israel.
[airplane landing]
[Sister Nancy] I travel from here to Italy,
just for the weekend.
[Sister Nancy singing]
[Sister Nancy] And I come back in Monday,
and I will change my clothes in the airport, in my car,
and I drive back to work.
I perform every week. I do it all the time.
It never bothered me.
Miss Supervisor, she's very smart.
She would call me and she'd say,
"Nancy, I see you on the computer.
I see you and your 'Bam Bam,' I see you."
I said, "What you talking about?"
[all laughing]
♪
[Matty] She was working at the bank,
so to get her to come to Europ,
I needed to know what would be her holiday time.
We could bring her once a year.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Matty.
That's, that's my agent that is in France.
He's the one who work for me over there,
who plays music for me.
He's one of the best to heal up yourself, Matty.
Legal Shot sound.
[both laugh]
You see it? You see, you see it?
Ey!
Now it's like a mother and son relation.
I mean, I always say she's my, she's my second mom.
Lucky. I know I'm lucky to work with this incredible lady.
And now it's almost 20 years now.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Blessed love, it is the original Sister Nancy,
the original Muma, alongside the original great selecta,
with Legal Shot, Matty Ross.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Is this the main gate?
[Driver] I'm not sure. "Please..."
[Sister Nancy] " Please have your ID ready."
[Driver] That's what I thought, man.
Here she comes!
[Matty] Hello.
♪
I'm here with Sister Nancy's party,
so I'm coming in with them right now.
Hi, Sam, how are you?
You good? - Yes, I'm fine, thank you.
[speaking Jamaican Patois]
Legal Shot!
[Matty] So nice to see how people are excited
to see Nancy every time.
Can be the young generation,
the foundation artist.
The power of this person,
and every time we come to a festival
is just making me know that I'm so lucky.
I'm so lucky to be part of thi.
Hello, how are you? [laughs]
[Man] Not bad, how are you?
♪
She's at the dinner.
♪
Alright!
♪
[Sister Nancy] I need to inject love with my people
when I perform.
Working with people, you have...
You have to have a vibes with people.
You have to have a feelings with people.
You have to see that people are interested.
♪
[Fan] Oh, Nancy! It's Sister Nancy.
Oh my God. [Nancy chuckles]
Come, come. Never forget you, you know?
Yes? - Briggadier sistah?
Yes.
My god, mi know you from when you ah young girl,
you know. - Mi still young.
Mi know say you still young.
[laughs]
[Sister Nancy] When you're going on stage to perform,
it's your responsibility to make the audience
be engulfed in what you're doing.
♪
[Sister Nancy] I pray and ask the creator to help me
to connect with these people,
and help them to connect with me also.
[audience cheering]
[Announcer] Alright, London, how you doing, Citysplash?
[audience cheers]
[Announcer] The legend, Sister Nancy, is here.
Are you ready, people?
[audience cheers]
Sister!
♪
Original.
You know the truth, you know the recall,
you know all about it.
I don't have to tell anything about it
'cause you know everything about it,
but I say it was used, it has been abused,
but it has never been refused.
Everybody wants a piece of this.
Run that, Matty!
♪
♪ Originality ♪
♪
♪ One thing bout Nancy me can't understand ♪
♪ One ting Nancy me cyaan understand ♪
♪ Wha' mek dem a talk 'bout me ambition ♪
♪ Seh, wha' mek dem a talk 'bout me ambition ♪
♪ 'Ca me seh some a dem a ask me whey me get it from ♪
♪ A dem a ask me whey me get it from ♪
♪ A true dem nuh know it's from creation ♪
♪ Bam Bam ♪
♪ Ey, what a Bam Bam ♪
♪ Bam Bam dilla ♪
[audience singing] Bam Bam!
♪ Bam Bam dilla ♪
[audience singing] Bam Bam!
♪ 'Ey what a Bam Bam ♪
♪ Seh what a Bam Bam ♪
♪ This woman ♪
♪ Neva trouble no one ♪
♪ Say I'm a lady, I'm not a man ♪
♪ And MC is my ambition ♪
I love you, London!
[audience cheering]
[Young Guru] The coke is so pure that you could cut it
a million different ways and it's still good.
You know, that's how pure that track is.
And that's why it's been used so many times.
It's probably the most sampled reggae track in hip hop.
The most masterful usage in the beginning
was Main Source.
Really made this track just stand out for us
on 'Just Hangin' Out.'
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh! ♪
♪ It's like that, y'all That, y'all! ♪
♪ To the left, y'all That y'all! ♪
♪ To the right, y'all That, y'all ♪
♪ To the left, y'all That y'all! ♪
♪ Hey, yo, and let's go! ♪
♪
[Large Professor] Main Source consisted of a group
of brothers, DJ K-Cut and Sir Scratch;
originated in Toronto.
Myself, I came up in Harlem, Queens.
We descended to New York City,
where we grew up and went to school.
[K-Cut] That's when the whole thing with hip hop began.
And it was just like, oh wow, we need to get into this
because this was something new, something interesting.
♪
[Pete Rock] Kool Herc discovers the break beats.
[Large Professor] And at that time, hip hop was becoming
very sample heavy.
We were getting our education and learning
about using the hip hop tradition of using records,
putting little pieces and bits in our music.
[K-Cut] I mean, hip hop was just like the movement.
Growing up, that's what we were into,
DJing and scratching up my mom's turntables.
We were like a bunch of record nerds,
you know what I mean, that love music.
'Bam Bam' was like a record that was playing
in the community.
One day, I was like, "Mom, I really want this record."
So my mom one day drove out to,
I think it was Brooklyn, New York.
And that's when I was able to get that record.
When we actually got to a position
where we were actual recording artists,
it was just like, we gotta use that.
That's like a, something that just crazy.
Nobody's doing that.
♪ I'm Just Hanging Out ♪ by Main Source
♪
So there came a time in the song,
it was like, "I go over K-Cut's block,
'cause rockers is what he blends."
♪ I go over K-Cut's block ♪
♪ 'Cause rockers is what he blends ♪
And that's when the Sister Nancy song comes in,
'Bam Bam.'
♪
♪ Bam bam ♪
♪ Bam bam dilla ♪
♪ Bam bam ♪
♪ Bam bam dilla ♪
♪ Check it ♪
♪ And I like to hang out ♪
♪ And hustle with my friends ♪
♪
[Ringo Smith] Main Source was the first
to use Sister Nancy's voice in a hip hop record.
Guaranteed number one.
There's no argument with that.
Main Source, number one.
I knew that. I knew that for sure.
And I knew we were gonna be the first one.
Oh, yeah. Nah, we were definitely the first guys
to sample 'Bam Bam' in the, in the track, definitely.
♪
[Sir Scratch] To be a part of that company,
it's a real blessing and honour.
We were just fortunate, and I, I guess,
in our own abilities, smart enough to realize
this is something.
This is something fire.
[Ringo Smith] I think after Main Source using 'Bam Bam'
in 'Just Hangin' Out',
they started a whole revolution
of everybody else sampling the record.
I'm just being honest because you didn't hear
anybody else doing it.
She's a pinnacle inside of hip hop.
♪
[K-Cut] For her to have so much influences on people,
to sample it 180 times, is so incredible.
For us being the first to introduce that
to a different perspective of people,
that opened the floodgates for people to say,
"Yo, mm-hmm, I need to use that sample too.
I need to use that sample."
♪
[Pete Rock] Everyone used it uniquely different,
including myself.
The song I used it in is called 'The Basement,'
and it's on the 'Mecca and the Soul Brother' album.
♪
[Pete Rock] I had this sample growing of a baseline.
You know, I just started humming the Nancy record
to my head, and I was like saying to myself like,
"You know, that kind of works, in my head.
Let's see."
And then boom. Magic.
♪ From the basement, straight from the basement ♪
♪ I'm telling you now, kid ♪
♪
Oh!
Oh, that's cool.
Ah!
Ooh.
[Janelle] When the DJs come through,
they always like wanna know what we have.
And I remember one DJ really freaking out
when he saw that we had the Sister Nancy,
the 'One, Two' vinyl,
which, it's hard to find, but I have it.
[traffic sounds]
[Janelle] I had moved to New York,
and I was studying music and theatre,
and [laughs], I had a fake ID.
And I went into a club with some of my friends from school,
and I heard 'Bam Bam.'
I had never heard the song, and I loved it.
I was like, "Who is this little girl?"
I thought it was a little girl singing the song.
And I was like, "Ooh, okay, who is this child?"
And then I went down a rabbit hole,
and I started looking up who Sister Nancy was,
what she was about, where she was from.
And I've been in love ever since.
♪ Bam Bam ♪ by Sister Nancy
♪
[DJ Gravy] 'Belly' was just that flick at that time
that had like the biggest rappers starring in it.
And it was like, a one long music video.
[Angela] Like if you have to say 'Belly,'
what song do you think of?
It's 'Bam Bam.' It's a gangster song.
'Cause it's kind of like, okay, you know, test me if you want.
I'm chill, but test me if you want.
It's Bam Bam.
[Bam Bam playing faintly]
[DJ Gravy] And you see this lady they call Chiquita,
walking in slow motion.
[Bam Bam playing faintly]
They put it right at that part of the plot
where you're like, oh, it's about to go down.
She's gonna kill the the Don.
And it's 'Bah-nah.'
If you didn't know that song already,
you knew it after you saw 'Belly.'
That movie deserves a lot of the credit
for bringing her into the mainstream.
Like through that urban lane,
through that hip hop lane.
[Sister Nancy] I left work and I came home.
I was here relaxing in bed, but my daughter was in here
watching the television, and se saw the movie, 'Belly.'
[Bam Bam playing faintly]
[Shandy] And I heard the song on there.
I'm like, "Mommy, Mommy, look, 'Bam Bam' is on 'Belly.'"
[Sister Nancy] She said, "Mommy, that's, that's,
but that's, that's 'Bam Bam.'"
The fact that she was unaware
was what was like, oh, why wouldn't you know?
It's your song?
Mommy, your song is in this,
your song is in that, your song is in that.
[Sister Nancy] I never even know say 'Bam Bam' exist
because from me do 'Bam Bam,'
I never hear it in Jamaica.
Never heard it in Jamaica. None at all.
When I come here, I know say 'Bam Bam' is a big tune.
Mi nuh know nothing 'bout it, and the producer,
mi couldn't get in contact with him.
♪
[Angela] But even with Sister Nancy,
I know she didn't even know how successful that song was.
She didn't realize that the song was that big,
and she also didn't know she should have been
getting money from it.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Winston Riley, he had the copyright
and everything. The tune was written and done by him.
♪
[phone beeping]
[Sister Nancy] I called him. I spoke to him,
and he, he told me that him have this bulk of money
fi give me from 'Belly' and tings.
And I said, "Alright, mi need it!"
And he told me to meet him at Moody's Record
on White Plains Road. And I sat there for 12 hours.
He never come.
So I didn't get nothing for it.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Them time, didn't even nah think about no money.
You don't sign no contract.
I never get no pay for do anything at all.
The producers, they've been there before me.
Me young.
[Young Guru] So in Jamaica, it was tradition,
it was normal that that producr would then own the music,
not thinking that this music is going to last forever,
and our great grandchildren can eat off this music.
♪
Their children will never get publishing,
and they have to pretty much try to sue
to say that, "I was on this record."
♪
My name is Jahasama Riley, and I am the head
of Winston Riley's estate,
which also includes Techniques Records.
♪
[Jahasama] The only thing about running the estate
that still has me is that because I think about my dad
almost every day.
I don't really speak about it a lot
because it does still get me emotional.
♪
There was three attempts made on his life,
and on the last attempt, that's, that's the one that,
you know, took him out.
♪
[Jahasama] I remember when we got a call that, you know,
my dad was actually shot.
♪
[Jahasama] The guy stood over him with the gun,
and shot him in his head.
♪
And this was at his home,
his home, in the morning.
♪
[Patricia] Just about a year prior to that,
he had been stabbed.
♪
[Patricia] His store was firebombed on Orange Street
a few years prior to that.
♪
No one has been identified as being responsible
for these crimes, and there's never been any,
anything said to be the motivation for such crimes.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Violence is always in Jamaica.
I've been seeing this since I was a child.
Nobody get charged for it.
Nothing came out of it. It's just, just end there.
Winston Riley is a, a good man,
is a great man because he help me out.
But after he died,
I have to fight for what is rightfully mine.
[Bam Bam playing on commercial]
[Narrator] Reebok Skyscape,
so comfortable, you'll forget you have them on.
♪
Is that a Reebok commercial on TV?
Reebok commercial that's playing over and over again.
I would be like, "Mommy, you need to get a real lawyer,
like someone who can actually look up this stuff
and tell you, 'No, we have to do something about this.'"
♪
[Sister Nancy] I seek some legal advice
from a couple of attorneys
to see if I can get some compensation.
Thirty-two years, and I've never collected a cent.
So I told them that I just need 50%
of what everything now, and looking forward,
and plus whatever they owe me in that thirty-two years.
♪
[Kurt] I got a call and I say, 'Hey, this is Kurt Riley,
Winston's son.'
And they just went off on me.
"Talk to my lawyer!"
♪
Spoke to the lawyer,
and you know, was saying, "Boy, you know, Sister Nancy."
So I said, "Hey.
I'm not here to quarrel.
This piece of cheese is here,
and I don't believe she has gotten a good payday."
I told her, I told him say, "Oh, let's the Nancy have it,
let's give it to her."
♪
[Sister Nancy] So they gave me 10 years back
for the whole album.
Plus Mr. Riley have 50, and I, and I also have 50%.
And I'm just grateful, that's all.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Kriss Kross sample it, Rihanna sample it.
Kanye West sample it. It was, it's, it's been...
[Interviewer] Beyonce too?
Beyonce sample on, when she do live performances.
♪
[Interviewer] It's widely sampled.
[Sister Nancy] It's the most sample tune,
but it's been in sample so much, so much times.
But that's good for me.
[Interviewer] Yeah, financially.
[Sister Nancy] Yes, it is.
Because the cheques keep rolling in.
Yes, yes, it is, yes. And I, and I love that.
♪
[Angela] It's in commercials,
it's in movies, it's in TV shows.
Just imagine, if she would've known this
like 30 years ago, where things could be for her.
And unfortunately, she was only able to get the last 10 years.
So even the full amount that was due to her,
she didn't get.
♪
[DJ Gravy] She's actually, you know, a real hero
in the sense that she went and fought for her royalties
on the 'One, Two' album.
She was awarded her 50 % of the record,
and that is, you know, historical.
♪
[DJ Gravy] We saw her momentum growing,
her brand growing, her name.
♪
You know, her bank job was always coming up.
It was kind of in conflict with shows
that were being offered to us.
"Oh, I have to work."
"Why are you working at this bank?"
♪
[Sister Nancy] My supervisor,
I know she was gonna fire me too
'cause she was getting tired of me.
She said all the time, "Nancy, every weekend
there's something wrong with you!"
[laughs]
Oh holy, there was terrible.
♪
[Sister Nancy] I quit work in the bank.
You know, I can stay home,
I don't have to do anything.
I stay home and, and just live off the royalties of my songs.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Me stop working is the best thing
I've ever done.
I've never been so relaxed, never been so comfortable.
♪
[Sister Nancy] This peace of mind.
You know, never have the ability or the privilege
of doing stuff that I can do now.
♪
[Tony Rebel] We just wanna wish Sister Nancy
all the best in life.
Yes, just be seen in this new now.
You know, it's it's the new world.
Be my voice, be my ears,
be my everything tonight for me and Matty.
Make people enjoy me, and I enjoy them.
The merciful heir, King Selassie, Ras Tafari.
♪
[Pete Rock] Very happy for her.
She deserves it more than anybody.
It's unfortunate that that happened to her,
but I'm, I'm, I'm just glad it turned around.
[Announcer] One more time. Are you ready to welcome
the original Sister Nancy?!
[audience cheering]
[Renee] Not many people in their career
can say they struck a chord.
It's magical when that happens.
When I look at Sister Nancy, I see the fight in her.
[Matty] She's more than just an artist.
She represent a lot for all the young female crowd,
the young generation.
It's always crazy to see that the first row
is full of young women that identified with Nancy
because she's got this power.
♪ Ram Dance Daughter ♪ by Sister Nancy
♪ She boom ♪ [audience singing] Boom!
♪ She boom, boom, boom, boom, boom ♪
♪ Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom ♪
♪ Boom, boom, when I say boom, you say Mama ♪
[audience singing] Oh!
♪ When I say boom, you say Mama ♪
[audience singing] Oh!
♪ When I say boom, you say Mama ♪
[audience singing] Boom!
♪ When I say boom, you say boom ♪
[audience singing] Boom!
♪ Ya ram dance daughter ♪
♪
♪ Sister Nancy a the ram dance daughter ♪
♪ She a the ram dance ♪
♪ The ram dance ♪
♪ She boom ♪ [audience singing] Boom!
♪ When I say boom, you say boom ♪
[audience singing] Boom!
Original.
[audience cheering]
[Announcer] From New York,
Ebro in the Morning on Hot 97 .
It's Ebro in the Morning.
Laura Styles, wrestling shirt Rosenberg,
and Sister Nancy, Miss Bam Bam.
Bam Bam.
Now what a Bam Bam.
Now we got... Nancy, before we get in,
you have some t-shirts... [Sister Nancy] Yes.
... And things. We're gonna be making sure
that people could get their hands on,
'cause you are the original.
[Sister Nancy] I am.
And the T's.
[DJ Gravy] That clip from 'Ebro in the Morning' really resonated
with people, you know. It got views,
it got people talking about Sister Nancy.
After the show aired,
I got a call from Roc Nation
saying Jay-Z is doing a video production in Jamaica,
and he'd like Sister Nancy to be in it.
You know, "Can you arrange that?"
Nancy was like, "Gravy, what does Jay-Z want with me?"
I said, "Nancy, I don't know, but let's go and you know,
talk to him."
♪
[Young Guru] We were making 4:44.
We were on Jay all the time.
Like, don't forget about this beat.
Don't forget about this beat.
We have to do this beat.
We gotta do the 'Bam Bam' beat.
When we completed the track,
we go to Jamaica to shoot the video.
I'd never been to Tuff Gong Studios.
And then when we were there,
they said, "Oh, Sister Nancy's gonna come by."
[DJ Gravy] Once we arrived at Tuff Gong,
Jay-Z and Damian are inside, just got right into, you know,
a very natural conversation.
They were just filming in the studio,
and they wanted to get B-roll for the video.
So I just started playing music,
but just straight outta my laptop.
Just went through sort of a history of reggae music.
Everybody was vibing and understanding
this history of music.
And then it was put up a microphone,
and she's gonna voice over this rhythm.
And I recorded her--
♪ Nancy write the crispest lyrics ♪
♪ And when you hear dem ya sound like a crispy biscuit ♪
♪ You come ina de place so me seh well well slick ♪
♪ Seh Bam Bam ♪
♪ Seh what a Bam Bam ♪
♪ In a Bam Bam dilla ♪
♪ Me say Bam Bam Bam Bam ♪
♪ Bam Bam Bam Bam ♪
♪ What a Bam Bam ♪
Jay-Z was filming it on his iPhone.
And he said at the end, he goes,
"I'm gonna send this to my wife."
♪
[Young Guru] I'm not the biggest person
that gets intimidated by stars,
but when Sister Nancy came, it was a big thing.
[DJ Gravy] Jay-Z definitely had questions
that he wanted to ask Nancy.
He goes, "What's the crispy biscuit?"
He kept talking about how timeless the song is.
He told Nancy that she's a huge artist,
and she said, "I am?"
And he said, "Oh, you're humble too. I like that."
This is freestyling Bam Bam, just like that.
I didn't write it.
[Jay-Z] "Man, that must feel good, like,
to make something so timeless."
[Sister Nancy] Of course.
To see him put Nancy on the pedestal that he did
was just surreal to me. I think to her too.
[Sister Nancy] He took the time out to find me,
and take me with him to Jamaic,
and take me the studio with hi.
Let me be a part of his work.
And he told me, he said I had to find,
he said he thought I was dead.
He didn't even know that I was alive.
♪
[Sister Nancy] And he said, that I can't believe so much people
sampled this tune, and never get you in person.
He sought me out.
Yeah, and I appreciate that.
[DJ Gravy] The power of mainstream media,
and shouts to Ebro and Hot 97.
They really helped get her story out there
in a way that resonated with people,
including Jay-Z and Beyoncé.
It's definitely a turning point in Nancy's career, I think.
♪
[chatter]
[Sister Nancy] I know my music make people feel good
'cause I've, I've heard it many times.
It's mostly young people.
Sometime I really ask them how them know about me
because my music is much older than them.
♪
[Sister Nancy] I always have a nice time with my people.
[chatter]
[Herbie Miller] Recently there has been a lot of attention
being paid to 'Bam Bam,' Sister Nancy's version.
And that's good to see.
♪
[Herbie] Today, in order to celebrate Sister Nancy,
the rhythm track must not be sidelined
as a huge part of the success of the song.
♪
In this, Chinna Smith, Fully Fullwood,
Santa Davis, Tony Chin,
and Ansel Collins.
♪
[K-Cut] With Stylog--
[Producer] Stalag.
[K-Cut] Styleg--
[Producer] Stalag.
[K-Cut] Styleg.
Sta-lag.
[Producer] 17. I know--
It goes sta-la-lag, and sty-leg.
Sta-la-leg.
St-st-st-st-st. [laughs] Staleg 17.
Rhythm.
[all laugh]
One of the best rhythms ever created,
Stalag rhythm is just, is genius.
When you say classic, that might not even be
a strong enough word.
It's just, just legendary rhythm.
♪
[Sister Nancy] The version that they made, the Stalag 17
is from 1974.
I think it's the greatest rhythm in the dancehall.
I know ah the greatest history that dancehall
ever make, Stagalag. And that's the truth.
♪
[Sister Nancy] These are the men who play the original Stagalag.
♪
[Man] Now hold on, where's bredrin?
Me can't work with this set up the way it--
Hi, sis.
[Sister Nancy] When I did 'Bam Bam,' I was 20.
These men, they look so great.
♪
Greetings.
[Sister Nancy] I really feel joy just in the same room with the.
[chatter]
[Sister Nancy] You come in, just wan feel the energy ah dem,
you see mi?
It's just great, great energy.
And and I did, I, I felt them.
I really felt them.
Let's run the mic.
♪
♪ What a Bam Bam ♪
♪
♪ Sey what a Bam Bam ♪
♪
Level, level pon di mic.
♪
♪ Sweet voice ♪
♪ Make the mic trot ♪
♪ Muma Nancy, she have a sweet voice ♪
♪ Engineer, make the mic trot ♪
♪ Sister Nancy, she have a nice voice ♪
♪ Level ♪
♪ Level pon di mic ♪
♪
[Sister Nancy] They haven't seen themselves for over 20 years
together in the same studio.
Like you revert something.
♪
Magic, magic.
What happening is magic.
♪ You know from mi head, straight down to mi toe ♪
♪ Until Ey ♪
[Sister Nancy freestyles]
♪ Nancy a number 1 ♪
♪ Bam Bam dilla ♪
♪ Sey Bam Bam Bam ♪
♪ Original. Stagalag ♪
♪ Sey Bam Bam dilly-dilly- dilly-dilly-Bam ♪
[Sister Nancy] All of these great men,
they're not getting anything.
They did so wonderful job, and dem nuh get nothing.
♪
The musician, true.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Back in the days, most of us artists,
original foundation DJs like myself,
just want your voice to be heard.
I want the people to know Sister Nancy's here,
and she's coming.
Look out for her, support me.
♪ What a dance up ♪
♪ Sey Bam Bam ♪
♪ Sey dilly-dilly-dilla Bam ♪
♪ Sey Bam, a Nancy is number 1 ♪
♪ Original Stagalag ♪
♪ Ey! ♪
[Herbie] Musicians go in the studio, feel a vibe.
Somebody might come up with a look.
And it's not like abroad,
where you have a composer and an arranger.
In Jamaica, you just go in the studio,
hold a vibe, and something comes out.
♪
[Herbie] You find a lot of money is out there for people to make.
And at that point, you see a lot of people scrambling
to see whose song it is, who must be credited,
who must get paid, and so on.
It gets big, and then hear, "Oh, I played the bass on that."
"But is I who play the piano."
"I help the artist with the lyrics."
And we get in this big mix up that we are still having
to try and decipher.
Ansel told him that he gave him that punchline,
"Bum bum, bum, buma bum bum bum bum."
Ansel told him that him give him that,
and he ah say, "Ansel never give him that."
I plays a lot of songs
that I don't get credit for.
None of us get credit for that.
And all the while people come and talk 'bout them,
give this and dem give that because of the money.
It pisses me off.
I don't want do that again.
I just want life to live, and play my music until I die.
So when I hear those thing,
I don't want in a argument with nobody.
I don't want no glory.
I just want to live until I die, playing music.
So I'm gone.
[Herbie] Many of the producers who kept the artists in the dark
should be ashamed of themself having done that.
So she's as much of victim as are the band members,
among everybody else.
Ansel.
[Kurt] The original 'Stalag.'
To be honest, I don't quite remember.
It was done, it was produced,
but I was not physically there
because I was not allowed to be there
because mommy not having it.
♪
[Sister Nancy] Westbury Music, they have the license
for the 'One, Two' album.
The Westbury Music is responsible
for Techniques catalogs, and they're based in England.
London, England.
♪
[John Handle] Shall I give you an update?
[Matty] Yeah. [Sister Nancy] Of course.
[John] Right. So yeah, lots to catch up on.
This is the year where things are gonna start happening.
The priority is preparing for the 40th anniversary
vinyl release. [Sister Nancy] Mm-hmm.
You know, the publishing rights are all very well managed,
all good, no issues there.
But the masters, no one's done anything with.
I'm sorry, what is the masters?
The recordings.
The, like the actual voice that I voiced?
No the actual, the, the record,
the recording of 'Bam Bam' that you did.
When I went to the studio that day?
Yeah, that recording on that album.
[Sister Nancy] That's a master?
Yes, that's a master recording. [Sister Nancy] So where it is?
[inhales sharply]
[Matty] The Riley's should have it.
[Sister Nancy] Of course.
[John] I have no idea.
No idea.
One of the reasons nothing has happened
with the recordings is because nobody knows
where the tapes are.
That's terrible.
They exist somewhere. Someone's got them, absolutely.
[Sister Nancy] Someone has to have it.
Of course someone will have to have it.
But yeah, I can't answer that.
We've got, I've got a few bits here.
Interesting.
Tapes.
Original tapes. - Original tapes.
'Stagalag.'
Bloodclot. What?
Okay.
How you mean? [laughs]
What's that?
That's original tapes for the reel to reel.
Really? Mek me listen.
That's incredible.
Dat a weh mi a talk bout.
Dat a Mr. Riley a found di something.
There?
This is a big piece of history.
Neil, how you doing?
Okay, bit of a random request.
Have you got the facility to play
a two and a quarter inch tape?
[Neil - on phone] Two and a quarter inch?
[John] Two and a quarter.
Just wanna see what it is. I think it's 'Stalag.'
I think I've got 'Stalag.'
Can I put you on hold for a second?
Hold on, Neil.
So you are gonna see Mad Professor tomorrow?
[Sister Nancy] Yes.
He's got a two inch tape machine.
[train passing]
[tape machine whirring]
♪
All right, so we gotta go there.
This is the original tape.
Let's go from the top, and play what seems to be
the original four tracks.
♪ Stalag 17 ♪
♪
[Kurt] The original musicians,
I am aware of, they're asking who did this,
and who did that.
I know somewhere along the line,
some wrong was probably done.
♪
[Herbie] I know I've heard some musicians say,
"If we go to the master tape."
Most of the times, that's lost.
If you find, it is difficult to getting
the crisp information from it.
♪
The track sheet is accurate to what's on the tape.
It doesn't say any names,
so I can't tell.
Track four, it says guitar.
[guitar playing]
Most of these instruments, they don't say who's playing.
It's only the vocals.
They might say like this, this is bass,
but it doesn't say, doesn't say any, any musician.
The musicians could know, but they may argue,
they may have different opinions.
It's not the Sister Nancy 'Bam Bam' tape.
♪
[Producer] So we're looking for the master.
Do you know where the master i?
We've been looking for the master.
I'm also looking for the master. [laughs]
Rumour is the master is still in Jamaica,
but I don't have it.
If it was lost in a fire, then it might have been
at the record store.
♪
[Jahasama] There was also some kept at his house.
So it, it's not, it wasn't somewhere specific
like a warehouse where he would keep all these masters.
Somebody know that that's gold,
and they're gonna hold onto their gold.
♪
[John] In a way it kind of fits the 'Bam Bam' story
a little bit for me as well.
You know, it's, it will be resolved.
It's been massive. - Yeah.
It's been troublesome. It's been nothing.
Now it's massive again.
Again.
It's been all over the place, but it's,
we're gonna ha-- we're gonna hit a point
where everything is reset.
Reset. It has to be.
And that's gonna be quite exciting.
It has to be.
What I'm excited about next is,
I think the potential for you to collaborate if you wanted to.
It has to be my style. It has to be my original style.
I'm not gonna switch for nothing.
♪ The French 75 ♪ by Janelle Monae ft. Sister Nancy
♪ Original ♪
♪ When you see me ♪
♪ Ribbit ♪
♪ Some come call me DNT ♪
♪ Some call me Nancy ♪
♪ And I ah Sister Nancy with the lyrics my name ♪
♪ Mi ah di only woman DJ with degree ♪
♪ Only woman DJ with degree ♪
[Janelle] For Sister Nancy, I wanted to honour her.
I wanted to pay homage to her,
and give her an opportunity to shine light
on where she is now.
So, I will never forget, like when she returned my call,
I was like, oh my god.
I was on the phone just like, Sister Nancy is here.
This is somebody that doesn't,
she doesn't do a lot of collaborations.
When you hear her, you're just like,
who the fuck is that?
[sirens wailing in the distance]
Rastafari, nuff love and respect.
Tonight a di Bam Bam Night, with Sister Nancy
and Soul Syndicate.
You hold that Rhyme.
Rastafi, nuff love and respect.
Alright. Ouch.
All right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you right.
[George] It's gonna be kind of a historic night for her too,
and for us playing, you know?
Because I've never played with her before.
I'm feeling real good. I'm feeling real positive.
I'm just ready to explode, you know?
Alright!
♪
[horns blowing]
[Glenn] We're the horn section for Soul Syndicate.
It's the first time they've ever gotten to play
with Sister Nancy, and it's,
I'm honoured to be a part of that.
It's history in the making for sure.
Totally. Ditto. Yeah, it's gonna be great.
[chatter]
What I would say to Sister Nancy
about her legendary status is to remember her power.
Re-channel that within yourself,
and you become brand new. Simple as that.
I'm done.
Yeah!
I'm sending pictures to my husband,
and my daughter.
I always send pictures to them when I, when I dress up,
you know, sometime.
Yeah.
This look like Nancy. This is Nancy.
This how Nancy is getting old with age,
and beautiful.
Yeah, at 61, I'm glowing, it's wonderful.
♪ You're beautiful ♪
[laughs]
♪
[chatter]
[Fan 1] I love Sister Nancy, I don't know.
I, I love the music. I love her essence,
you know, strong Black woman
and she's just, she is awesome.
She, she is the bomb. I don't know.
She, she's everything, you know.
And, uh, I, I just love all her, all her music.
Yeah. 'Transport Connection.' My favorite. Yeah.
I like when she talks about just men questioning her,
and like society at large.
I can identify with her as an emcee as well.
She inspires me to just keep pushing,
and like believe in yourself so much
that you force others to.
♪
[Large Professor] Man, hip hop, praises, Queen Sister Nancy.
Like she's the one.
You know, her flowers are being given to her now.
See her doing shows all around the world,
it's such a beautiful thing.
I'm on my way.
I'm going to do what I do best,
other from being a mother and a wife.
♪
Yeah, what I do best.
♪
[Renee] You know, when I think of 'Bam Bam,'
and when I think of song writing,
there's gotta be something in that song
that ties us all together.
♪
To the point that no matter who it is,
and no matter what generation it is,
when they hear it,
they believe that it was written just for them.
♪
[Renee] And that's what Sister Nancy did with that record.
♪
[DJ Red Alert] Sister Nancy, 40 years.
It's all about integrity, desire, determination.
That's what make you have 40 years.
That's what make you have Sister Nancy.
♪
[audience cheering]
Hello!
♪
[Sister Nancy] At 60 years old, you know, I'm telling you,
it's like I just started.
It is like, I just started my career.
I just started, I'm telling yo.
[audience cheering]
[Announcer] She just got what was coming to her,
her reward, and her flowers.
Tonight, the legend,
and the first dancehall female DJ,
Sister Nancy!
[audience cheers]
♪ Bam Bam ♪ by Sister Nancy
♪
♪ 'Ey so me seh one ting Nancy cyaan understand ♪
♪ One ting Nancy cyaan understand ♪
♪ Wah mek dem want talk bout mi ambition ♪
♪ Seh wah mek dem want talk bout mi ambition ♪
I was introduced to the Queen Muma Nancy,
who paved the way so I and I can come stand pon stage
and spit the lyrics without no fear.
No fear. - You set the trend
as a matriach inna music,