Vincentian dancehall artiste, Sita, booked for Jamaica’s Sting 2022

Vincentian entertainer ‘Sita D Lyrical Diva’ will on December 26 go down in history as the first artiste from St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) to perform at Sting.

The show’s website notes that Sting is the longest running stage show in Jamaica and is dubbed the greatest one night reggae and dancehall show on earth.

“The focus is on dancehall, and over the past 30 years a hardcore dancehall crowd has been the critical jury of who’s hot and who’s not,” the website said.

Sita, real name Vasita Caine, and also known as First Lady, told SEARCHLIGHT she is proud that she will be part of one of Jamaica’s most important festivals that has sparked the career of many Jamaican dancehall artistes who have received instant fame by winning lyrical clashes.

“It is a show that I have always wanted to be a part of and people use to say that I was crazy to think I could perform at Sting so when I got the booking I said, ‘Like I really crazy fuh true’…, Sita told SEARCHLIGHT in a recent interview.

Explaining how she got the booking, Sita said she met one of the promoters of the event, Junior ‘Heavy D’ Fraser, seven years ago and she messaged him on Instagram and they kept in contact. She said she received the booking through emcee-artiste manager ‘MC Nuffy’, one of the hosts of the event.

“He (Heavy D) said he rate me as an artiste,” Sita said while stressing she is relieved to finally get the Sting booking and she is not nervous at all.

A website on Sting notes that artistes are involved in a lyrical battle and the crowd decides who wins. When the crowd is dissatisfied with an artiste’s performance, it usually expresses this dissatisfaction by throwing bottles onto the stage.

“Throughout the 1990 and 2000s small fights and bottle throwing were simply part of the vibe until (how clever) bottles where replaced by plastic cups. In recent years the festival attracts a more international crowd and bigger sponsors,” the website added.

Sita said Sting is known for lyrical clashes so she is going with an open mind.

She said she does not have any specific opponent in mind and believes she can handle anybody who comes.

Her dream clash is to go up against incarcerated dancehall artiste Adijah “Vybz Kartel” Palmer. So while she cannot get to clash Kartel for obvious reasons, she will settle for any great male or female lyricist.

Sita notes she recently had a back and forth with an artiste called Phoenix Flame while another artiste named Suspense D Queen has thrown out a challenge.

Sita, who has been involved in music for the last 16 years has toured extensively. She has performed in places like Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, St Lucia, the United States (US) and Canada.

Her most popular song is “Your man is my man” which has amassed over 800,000 views on YouTube. Other songs include “Gun Talk (Sashae Diss)”, “No Tattoo”, “Left Overs” and “Insecure”.

“Sting is dubbed the biggest night for dancehall on earth and I feel if you are a dancehall artiste you should be included in Sting.

“This is a difficult audience because of the high standards of lyrical battles from artistes, so I wanted to be involved to see how the audience would react to me,” said the local artiste who added that the only clash she has ever had was with Soca artiste Alhaji “Alla-G” James a few years ago.

The Lyrical Diva, known for her hard hitting lyrics says she gets her Inspiration from everyday life.

She leaves for Jamaica this week and will be involved in stage rehearsals before the Boxing Day event.

Sting will be held at Plantation Cove, Priory, St Ann. There is also a paid live stream aspect of the event. Sita is scheduled to perform around 11 p.m.