Queen of Dancehall Spice was given the Keys to the Region of Florida on Friday during a ceremony at Fort Lauderdale Marriott Hotel North.

The entertainer posted highlights to her Instagram page, which included a live video of the presentation.

In her acceptance speech, the singer, whose given name is Grace Hamilton, thanked her family members, supporters, the various mayors responsible for the honour, as well as herself.

“First, I wanna greet the spirit of God, which is always the head of my life. Then, I wanna say a special thank you to my mother, Angella Hamilton, who raised me so that I could know how to work miracles. I watched her turn a pound of rice into five pounds to feed so many kids. My father, who is the reason why I’m in music…may his soul rest in peace — Anthony Hamilton, I love you so much. My family members who are here with me…Venise is not here, Fenise is not here, Donovan is not here, but I love my family so much. To my beautiful children, Nicholas and Nicholatoy, mommy has a place in her heart that is just unexplainable the love for you guys,” she said.

“I personally wanna thank myself for standing here tonight because it was because I never gave up why I’m here. It was through prayer, hard work, and consistency why I’m standing here surrounded by people who I never dreamt that I’d be standing amongst, because they told me that as a black woman this wasn’t possible. And so, I wanna thank myself for never giving up and for believing in myself… I am humbled…it gives me great pleasure…. I’m extremely, extremely so happy that I was chosen for this historical moment,” Spice added.

Spice, who was officially crowned as Queen of Dancehall at the 2022 staging of Reggae Sumfest, is also an advocate for women’s rights and empowerment.

She launched a campaign called Grace Hamilton Women’s Empowerment Foundation. The foundation seeks to empower women from all walks of life by providing them with resources, such as scholarships and mentorship opportunities.

Spice has, to date, released two full-length projects, 2021’s 10 and 2022’s Emancipated. Her hits include Jim Screechy, Wine and Go Down Deh and Fight Ova Man.