Tifa on Perseverance, Dancehall, and Why She Can’t Be Cancelled [Interview]

Words by LargeUp Crew
Photos by Martei Korley

Tifa has been a factor in dancehall since emerging under the umbrella of Ward 21 as part of the trio called TNT aka Badda Badda Gals, bringing an unapologetic sense of self to the genre from day one. An artist who critics like to count out, but who always seems to bounce right back, she’s in the conversation once more with “Can’t Cancel Me,” an uplifting dancehall hymnal in the vein of songs like Mr. Vegas’ “I Am Blessed” and Elephant Man’s “Too Bad Mind” which recently topped the iTunes reggae chart after inspiring a wave of viral TikToks. LargeUp caught up with Tifa on a sunny autumn afternoon in Coney Island, Brooklyn, for a photo shoot and a breezy conversation about her introduction to dancehall and the inspirations behind her latest hit.

LargeUp: What are your earliest memories of dancehall? 

Tifa: My earliest memories would be seeing my mom and my aunties get dressed to go to dancehall parties, and then subsequently seeing them on the dancehall videotapes, [laughs] partying in the dancehall. And being in my uncle’s record store when they would play the latest records in his record shop. And just being downtown at my grandmother’s restaurant and bar. That was like the hub, Downtown Kingston. Just seeing people come to the bar and seeing the round robins… that would be my earliest memories of dancehall.

LU: How did you end up recording your first record?

Tifa: So I recorded my first track [when] I was probably ten years old but, at that time, I used to perform in the performing arts company, Ashe. Most people don’t know that I’m formally trained in singing, dancing and acting. I recorded my first track with the group. But, as Tifa, it would probably be when I was leaving high school or just started college. My boyfriend at the time was like, “What are you doing? You know you have such a great voice and you can sing and you can deejay.” So he took me to a makeshift studio and I recorded a track. The track ended up by Big Ship (Studio), and then to another cousin of mine, and then to Suku from Ward 21, and the rest is history

LU: Is dancehall still fun?

Tifa: Yes, dancehall is still fun. I think we’re coming out of that whole deep, dark trap era and we’re coming back into having fun. Especially with the resurgence of the five kings — you know Buju, Beenie, Bounty, Ele, Kartel. People remember that time when they used to have a blast, when their music was at the forefront, and I think that’s why we’re having a resurgence of great dancehall and fun dancehall and better songs right now. People are reminded by them and others that dancehall is greatness, that dancehall was always fun. I think the fun in dancehall is coming back. I mean that’s why the ’90s and 2000s parties are ram. ‘Cause people wanna have fun. Yeah, it’s getting back to that place where we used to just have a blast.

LU: How did “Can’t Cancel Me” come about?

Tifa: “Can’t Cancel Me” came about because Richard from Digital One wanted me to do a quote-unquote dancehall song, back in the space. I had dropped “I Want A Man,” which was a slower, reggae-type song, and he was just like “Listen, people love when you sing but we need back a dancehall [track]. People want back a ‘Crawny Gal,’ people want back a ‘Move Your Body,’ people want back a ‘Spell It Out.’ And I was like “Sure, no problem.”

I wrote two songs—a party song, and another. I was like, ‘Tifa, dancehall don’t stop at your body parts, dancehall is not about pum pum and buddy alone, or flossing in the party.’ I wanted something to appeal to the masses. I wanted something that was going to touch everyone, and I dug deep into myself and I remember[ed] I was in New York and they were playing an old mixtape in a vehicle that I was traveling in, and I heard Marvia Providence, “Hear My Cry Oh Lord,” and I heard Elephant Man “You’re Too Badmind,” I heard Vegas “I Am Blessed.” And I’m like, “Yo, this is what I need. I need something like this for 2025. Something that will motivate and uplift the people.” I kept hearing in my head, “You can’t conquer me,” and I’m like, doesn’t someone have a song that says, “You can’t conquer me?”

I searched and Pastor Ryan Mark, a good friend of mine, has a song called “Can’t Cancel Me” that was on his album. But his version is a slower reggae-type track. So I took it, revamped it, and I changed most of the words. I turned it into a dancehall song and then I called him. I’m like “Ryan, can I sing over your song in dancehall, and he’s like, mmmm… I’d have to hear it first.” I’m like, “I’m way ahead of you,” and I sang it for him and sent him the words and then we changed one or two words that he wasn’t comfortable with and that’s how “Can’t Cancel Me” came about. It was me wanting to do something bigger than matey, wifey, body parts, skin out! I wanted to do something that would transcend and appeal to the masses, both men and women, white, Black, Indian. Everybody can sing this song. I wanted something that could appeal to everybody [but] that was dancehall [and] that could take us back on the map, internationally.

LU: Were you surprised by the immediate response, and the fact that it took traction so fast? 

Tifa: Yes. This song is probably the fastest-breaking song that I’ve ever had in the ten, fifteen years that I’ve been doing music. I’ve never seen anything like this. When somebody says “overnight success,” this is definitely one of those. I still can’t believe that this song has only been out a month now and it’s creating the ruckus that it’s creating. I think it took off because it was something that everybody could relate to, something almost everybody was going through. Everybody feels that, at some point, life is trying to cancel them. People are trying to cancel them. Sickness is trying to cancel dem. Everybody has that feeling, you know what I mean, and if God or universe—or whatever people pray to—decides that, “Listen, you won’t be canceled,” then you can’t be canceled. Everybody just wants that upliftment and I also think that it broke because on TikTok it took off, and they were just like random people, thousands and thousands of people, that were singing to the song, making videos to this song. So, in addition to the type of song that it was, quick thinking, and me just in my element going to the beach, singing on the beach by myself, singing to people and people gravitating to the lyrics and the words and what was happening and regurgitating it, doing it themselves in their own videos. I think that’s why it took off. And the beat is basically a remake of the 1991 Fever Pitch riddim, so big up to Digital One—Richard Roach—for that. How he swung the beats, and the different phrases on how he mixed the beats, different instruments he put in the beat, how he revamped it, where it’s not only dancehall, I think that makes it even more infectious.

LU: What is it about Tifa that makes you uncancellable? 

Tifa: I don’t give up. I might bend, but I never break. I never ever ever ever ever ever ever give up. I think that’s something that was instilled in me by my mom. I walk a little differently, and I have a bone disease. And she was like, “You could do anything you wanna do. You wanna ride a bike? I’m gonna buy you a bike. You wanna sing, I’m gonna put you in the choir. You wanna dance? I’m gonna let you join the dance group. You wanna act? I’m gonna send you to acting lessons.” She was just a champion for me. I’m her only child, and she was adamant that I was gonna be something and be somebody. I remember I started high school in a wheelchair because I had done the third set of major surgeries on my legs and, at that time, Jamaica wasn’t necessarily wheelchair accessible. But I had to start high school. Her daughter had to start high school so my mother built the ramps, just so I could wheel to my classes. That’s the kind of mom I had, and I think that has been passed onto me. I just believe I can overcome anything. I believe that every lock have a key and every tight can pull, and I just need to figure it out. I think that’s what makes me, you know, a champion and that’s what makes me uncancellable.