The BET Hip Hop awards was held this past weekend in Miami. I must admit, I did not watch it but I saw photos, like I am sure everyone else did as well. The one photo that really caught my eye was the photo of dancehall artist Spice and Keyshia Kaoir, who is a model, entrepreneur and Gucci Maine’s wife. It caught my eye because of beautiful they looked and just the fact that I knew they were a couple of fine ass island girls. Both Spice and Keyshia Kaoir are Jamaican born and raised. That picture just made this world as I see it, go from gigantic to miniscule. I realized that the world is not so big as we really think it is and that anyone can be anything. A little island girl can move from her little island and takeover whatever and whoever. Then I saw the video of Spice talking to Cardi B on the red carpet and Cardi B expressing how much she was a fan of spice since she was little and how she admired and looked up to her. It dawned on me, Cardi B was me and she was saying what I would be saying if I ever met Spice. I added Cardi B in this mix simply because she is an island girl as well. She was not born in the islands but she has Trinidadian roots and considers herself and island girl referring to the song “Island Girls” by Hood Celebrity that she is featured on. I have admired these three beautiful ladies separately for a while now. I found out about the at very different times in my life.
Spice was the first person I knew about seeing as though Spice and I go way back, in my head of course. Back then I was a little girl living in Jamaica and I heard the soundtrack of my life. It went something like this” Tell ah gal seh mi ah girl mi nuh fight ova man. From mi lickel bit ah jus so mi tan”. A a little girl myself, I knew from that moment that what I wasn’t going to do is fight over a man. I never did, so thank you Spice, I learned something valuable to keep for the rest of my life.
The second person I found out about was Cardi B. I think I found out later than everyone else because I only found out about her Instagram videos after watching Love and Hip Hop. The first song I ever heard of Cardi B was the remix for Jamaican artist Shaggy’s single “Boom Boom”. I heard it and thought wow? She sounds so natural, it doesn’t sound forced. I had already loved her from Love and Hip Hop but that song took it to the next level for me, like I wanted to be Cardi B’s best friend.
The last person I found out about was Keyshia Kaoir. I found out about her when she was being asked by Gucci Maine if she would marry him. It was probably one of the sweetest things I had ever seen a rapper do for his wife. I proceeded to search up on her and found out that she was that beautiful girl in that “Say Something” music video with Timberland and Drake. Continued to search some more to find out she moved from Jamaica in her late teens to Florida.
Fast forward to October 6th 2017 and I see all these women together on the BET Hip Hop awards. Spice and Keyshia were looking bad as ever. Cardi B was doing her thing on and off stage, as always. To summarize all this. I’ll simply say, island gyal run things! I’m proud every day to be an island girl, it’s something that makes me who I am. It’s something no island girl should ever be ashamed of and should flaunt around like a crown.
In this America full of so called “Bad Bitches” I’m glad I’m a Bad Gyal. There’s a difference, trust me
