To be “young, gifted, and black”, Queen Africa says, is an affirmation of self and to the following technology that magnificence and energy emanate from beneath the floor. The veteran reggae singer, who was the recipient of the 2023 Reggae and Dancehall Music Entertainment Icon Award by the Young, Gifted & Black (YGB) Entrepreneurial Awards, is basking within the highlight and hopes that she will be able to use the eye to make a extra constructive affect.

Queen Ifrica and Trinidad and Tobago Carnival Road March winner Bunji Garlin have been named Hall of Fame Inductees on the awards in New York final month. She was solely capable of settle for the honour nearly in the course of the Black Tie Gala and Fundraiser occasion, however final Friday, Queen Ifrica was formally introduced with the award on the ROK Hotel in Kingston. She additionally obtained a US Congressional Proclamation from Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, a US Senate Resolution from Senator Kevin Parker, and a Mayoral Citation from New York City Mayor Eric L Adams. She instructed The Gleaner that it was “a humbling moment of [her] career”.

“This is my legacy. More than anything else, I think it’s about legacy and the fact that I’m being recognised by people who are impacted by my music and by what I do as a public figure. I’m humbled, moreso because it was done of their own accord. I’m just humbled these people saw my name and thought I was deserving of such honours,” Queen Ifrica mentioned.

For the previous yr, Queen Ifrica has been “recording and working with intention and purpose”. This time final yr, the Stephen Marley-produced album Celebrating Nina: A Reggae Tribute to Nina Simone was launched. Queen Ifrica was considered one of seven ladies who recorded renditions of the revolutionary songstress, who sang Young, Gifted and Black within the Seventies. Her rendition of Nina Simone’s Four Women was the primary single from the EP.

She has been actively selling her newest single, Proud, which has been getting resounding evaluations on streaming platforms and from the reggae and dancehall fraternity.

“I’m happy to have chosen now to put out a song like that and that it is doing well and people are tapping into it. Yeah, sure, people work on themselves and fight for themselves or what they believe in all the time, but there’s so much happening,” Queen Ifrica shared.

Known as a social activist, the singer-songwriter who has been celebrated for songs like Below The Waist, Lioness on the Rise, Daddy, and Tyad A Dah Sumn Yah, amongst others, which communicate in opposition to crime and violence, home and sexual abuse and advocates for assist for the much less lucky, is taking a look at doing extra to assist black youth.

“We have to be looking at how we can do, not just talk, and through music but really find, as we Rastas love to say, the “touchable” tasks that may deliver good impact to the lives of ladies and youngsters. I’m a part of discussions, which I’m hoping will present how extra discuss may be put into motion. Something is coming sooner or later as I proceed to commit myself to serving to the youth,” Queen Ifrica mentioned.

stephanie.lyew@gleanerjm.com