KINGSTON, Jamaica — With Minister Marion Hall having dropped a bombshell announcement on Tuesday night alluding to the end of her ministry, some industry players are already welcoming the former Queen of Dancehall back to the space, among them popular producer Cordel ‘Skatta’ Burrell.

Arguing that Hall’s recent decision was imminent, Burrell, told OBSERVER ONLINE that he “saw this coming” as he believes Lady Saw has unfinished business in the dancehall.

“Lady Saw issues to me, the Church can’t fix. It has to be fixed by Lady Saw and it has to be fixed by her acknowledging her greatness and how strong she is and that the influence that she has on Jamaica and women is far greater than the Church,” Skatta said.

“The body of work that she has put in over the years, and what she has garnered, has propelled her to the top of this culture. She has a tremendous amount of respect and she has to come back to it (dancehall) and fulfil this quest that she set out on.

“I think she abandoned the journey because there are different levels to this industry. What she did was detour for a second because Lady Saw was searching and a part of that search was examining her spirituality,” he continued. “That’s what she did, she explored the Church. But the Church cannot hold the type of energy that Lady Saw has. She is way stronger than any religion. They couldn’t contain her. They failed her. The Church didn’t save Lady Saw, they failed Lady Saw.”

Pointing out that he has no ill-feelings towards the Church, Burrell shared that he believes Lady Saw made her leap of faith on emotions and now needs to find peace on her own.

“The Church is not really a path to anything but finding a certain amount of peace within yourself. The Church offers consolement for bereaved persons and it allows you to place your mind somewhere else, take your mind of your problems,” he said, indicating that Lady Saw was fighting some personal demons when she decided to turn to Christ.

“I think Lady Saw herself was having issues of her own and then being at J Capri’s funeral, she was in an emotional state. J Capri’s situation was just a lot for her to handle and she thought that she needed to make a drastic change. If you see such a young, talented, promising person die under such horrific circumstances, it can get overwhelming. Lady Saw made the biggest move because she wanted the biggest change at that time.”

“But Lady saw doesn’t even understand the power that she has within her and it cannot be wielded on any pulpit,” he stressed. “It has to be wielded back with her talent and where she started. She is a dancehall deejay/singer and she is able to channel whatever message she wants through music, not religion.”

The producer says while he does not believe the entertainer should revert to her raunchy, risqué dancehall demeanour, Lady Saw should be able to touch hearts and be the kind of musical role model she was called to be, without the Church.

“She could have stayed right there on the dancehall platform and sing message music and teach people to love each other, be respectful of each other, to just be kind and have empathy without the Church. I think Lady Saw is able to sing about love, she is able to sing about relationships, fashion, wealth; and she can package it any way she sees possible,” Skatta said. “She doesn’t have to be raunchy or slack and we are not asking for the same Lady Saw. What we are asking for is for this lady to come and fulfil her purpose and do what she’s good at or she will never be able to sleep and have a good night.”

In the meantime, the producer who is one of the organisers of Reggae Sumfest, is hopeful that Marion Hall’s decision will lead her to Catherine Hall for the show’s next staging. Pointing out that it would be “an epic return to the music scene” for the lady who is to date the only female dancehall act to close the internationally renowned show, Skatta asked for prayers for the speedy return of the Greatest Reggae Show on Earth.

Hall, who walked away from the dancehall stage in 2015 to take up preaching, has recently been engaged in a nasty exchange of words with several leading female artistes, among them the current Queen of Dancehall Spice and rising star Jada Kingdom.

Just last week, in response to backlash she has been receiving on the local music scene, Hall urged people to ‘come kiss out mi Bible’, warning naysayers that having found Christ, no one was going to pull her back to “that place of shame.”

But fast-forward a week and the entertainer has revealed that her detractors may have gotten the better of her as she has decided to “walk away from my calling, and will no longer be doing any preaching on any social media platform.”