REGGAE singer Queen Ifrica said she will be taking up a challenge that American A-list actor Samuel L Jackson issued via social media recently. The result will be borne out in a Negro spirtual-flavoured single entitled Swing Low.

“During the recent Ice Bucket Challenge, Samuel L Jackson gave out a challenge to artistes around the world to sing a song about black people not being killed and abused anymore,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

“I saw it on YouTube and I am taking up the challenge,” she continued.

Queen Ifrica was speaking with the Observer at her 40th birthday party held at the Opa! Greek Restaurant and Sky Lounge on Old Hope Road in St Andrew, last Wednesday.

“I am supposed to be recording it in the studio on Friday. It’s about the struggle. ‘We ain’t gonna stop till people are free,’ was what Samuel Jackson sang as the chorus. What I did was to write the verses around that chorus. We’ll be sending a copy to him when it is completed,” she said.

Queen Ifrica, whose given name is Ventrice Morgan, said she will be working on the project with respected producer Clive Hunt.

The singer said she was elated to reach her 40th. However, she was also in a reflective mood as this wasn’t the case for many of the island’s children.

“At 40, I’m begininng all over again. To live to 40 is like reaching a 100 years old because of what is happening in our reality. In 2015, before January ended, there were

15 deaths and most of them were our kids. So it’s a very trying time we’re living in. So I’m… I am humbled to live to see 40,” she said.

A large gathering attended the singer’s celebration party and included several members of the entertainment fraternity: King of the Dancehall Beenie Man, his female counterpart Lady Saw, top-flight deejay Bounty Killer, singjay Mr Vegas, singers Tinga Stewart, Nadine Sutherland, No-Maddz’s Sheldon Shepherd, Danni-I and producers Donovan Germain and Clive Hunt.

Also sharing in the festivities were Peter Bunting, minister of national security; Angella Brown-Brown and Councillor Venesha Phillips.

— Brian Bonitto