Sister Nancy Caused a Bam Bam
May 4, 2026
The track I used for this [motion-photos] clip is a remix of iconic Jamaican dancehall DJ and singer, Sister Nancy’s famous 1982 track, ‘Bam Bam’.
The original track [featured in ‘Dopamine Den’], which history tells shook the Jamaican musiczens up, holds the dubious record of being the most sampled reggae track of all time.
The original track [featured in ‘Dopamine Den’], which history tells shook the Jamaican musiczens up, holds the dubious record of being the most sampled reggae track of all time.
However, Sister Nancy’s version echoed Toots and The Maytals’ 1966 song “Bam Bam“, for which they are credited as copyright holders and THEY have never been paid for any of it. As unfair as that is, I feel Sister Nancy’s version is the pure fire one but sadly she was the one who got burned.
Sister Nancy’s voice, track and attitude have been used many times to make money for others but Sister Nancy didn’t receive payment for her version of ‘Bam Bam’ for 35 years, and deserves all the royalties.
EXCERPTS:
by Alice Kemp-Habib, March 22, 2021. Financial Times [yes, I am as surprised as you are about this].
“Bam Bam” is said to be the most sampled reggae song of all time, but is itself a reinterpretation of two classic Jamaican tunes. First, it borrows lyrics from a Toots and the Maytals track of the same name, released in 1966. This is a testament to the continuous dialogue that exists within Jamaican music (in fact, Sister Nancy was inspired when she heard her friend and collaborator Yellowman recording his own version of “Bam Bam”).
Second, her signature high-pitched freestyling sails atop the “Stalag riddim” that featured on Ansell Collins’s track “Stalag 17”,which lends the track its iconic horns and bassline, and has been used by artists from Buju Banton to US rapper Too $hort.
Steeped in reverb, she speak-sings about her God-given talent for MC-ing and her career goals as one of few women deejays in the genre. The meaning of the phrase “What a bam bam” is slippery: Sister Nancy uses it to mean something along the lines of “What a ruckus.”
Sister Nancy [born Ophlin Russell] finally owns her publishing rights, thanks to her daughter who saw Reebok’s Skyscape 2014 commercial. The star of that Reebok commercial was 2014’s highest paid supermodel Miranda Kerr, who is now married to a billionaire.
Watch Sister Nancy talk about it here.
by Kevin EG Perry. March 13th, 2018. NME Magazine.
“Sister Nancy saw little reward from the song’s success. Contractually cut out from receiving any royalties, she left music behind and moved to New Jersey where she took a job in a bank. It was only in the last four years, after the song enjoyed another resurgence, that she was finally able to get her hands on some of her backdated royalties and return to playing live“
3. Official Audiohere.
“Sister Nancy’s timeless dancehall reggae classic “Bam Bam”, debuted on 1982 on her album, “One, Two” and the Greensleeves Records release, “The Yellow, The Purple & The Nancy. Featured countless times in everything from Columbia Pictures “The Interview” to Reebok’s Skyscape commercial, ‘Bam Bam’ has truly stood the test of time. An international symbol of dancehall’s “Golden Era“.
Performed Friday 20 June 2025 & Saturday 21 June 2025 at Red Rattler Theatre, Sydney.
“Deceived for decades and denied the royalties that were rightfully hers, Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story follows the musician as she travels to Jamaica, London, Toronto, New York and Atlanta, between sold-out shows, to reclaim the rights to what is rightfully hers. With support from Janelle Monae, Young Guru, Pete Rock and more, Sister Nancy confronts the music industry in a fight for equality of women and women of colour and their artistry.”
The slideshow features screenshots of questions I asked the search engine AI-bot. The topic is self-explanatory.
PS. Of course you know that May is STAR WARS DAY month, but May also just may-d a sudden appearance, like hello? Wasn’t it just March…. anyway, we ran out of wanting to do something for it time, hence the discovery of photos and their motion pictures from 2020, which still matches our energy in 2026.
But the Force is more with us now. And we’re causing a bam bam.
PubLog: Dopamine Den features Sister Nancy’s OG Bam Bam