By Claudia Gardner:
Dancehall’s Queen of the Pack, Patra, is the most successful superstar to emerge from the parish of Westmoreland and is one of the most revered artistes out of Jamaica, whether male or female.
Born on November 22, 1972, the gold-selling Jamaican beauty was christened Dorothy Smith and, like many of her Dancehall and Reggae compatriots, grew up singing in the church.
Patra was one of the most popular Dancehall/Reggae artistes in the world, in the late 1980s up to the mid-1990s. In fact, she was Dancehall’s first female international superstar, who after leaving Westmoreland for Kingston got a record deal in a year with Sony/Epic which was “looking for the female version of Shabba Ranks”, according to Patra.
She exploded internationally at age 19 and at the height of her career did a slew of collaborations with artistes such as Shabba Ranks, Mad Cobra, Richie Stephens and Yo-Yo, while rubbing shoulders with the likes of Tu Pac and her compatriot, Shaggy.
Patra was the artiste who took the Jamaican dance form known as wining or bubbling to the world. She was also the artiste who took the Butterfly dance to the stage and popularized the jeans batty rider (booty shorts).
A very charismatic performer, Patra’s lyrics in which she focused on “bigging up” the men about their sexual prowess and their good bodies, earned her a massive male following. Upfront at any Patra concert would be a throng of men, gazing at the superstar watching with bated breath for her to “wine-up” for their viewing pleasure.
Patra released her debut album Queen Of The Pack in 1993, for Epic Records, which was certified-gold in December 1994 having sold more than 500,000 copies. Queen of the Pack featured songs such as Worker Man, and Romantic Call (feat. Yo Yo) and the lead single Queen of the Pack, all three of which hit the top ten on music networks.
She followed up with her second studio album Scent of Attraction in 1995, which included the remake of Grace Jones’ Pull Up to The Bumper, which was a huge international hit; Scent of Attraction with Aaron Hall as well a Hot Stuff, a collab with Salt-n-Pepa.
Always repping her African roots and culture, Patra is hailed worldwide for making the wearing of box braids popular. As a result, her iconic trademark braided hairstyle has, overtime been named Patra braids. The name Patra, is a shortened version of the name Cleopatra, and, as the Dip and Fall back artiste explained in a 2019 Gleaner interview, was given to by a cousin, who likened her to the Egyptian queen Cleopatra.
Here are 12 songs from Patra, some naughty, some nice:
- Worker Man – Worker Man reached number 53 on the Hot 100, the Top 20 on the R&B chart and number one on the U.S. Dance chart.
- Queen of the Pack
- Dip and Fall Back
- Body Slam (featuring Richie Stephens)
- Pull up to the bumper – In 1995, Patra released her single “Pull Up to the Bumper” which was a remake of the Grace Jones song and peaked at number 60 on the Hot 100, number 21 on the R&B n 15 on the Dance chart.
- Romantic Call (featuring Yo-Yo) – peaked at number 55 on the US charts an number 21 on the Dance Chart.
- Think About it (with Lyn Collins). This song which was released in 1993, peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Rap Singles chart.
- Mek me hot
- Goin to the chapel
- Deep Inside
- Family Affair (with Shabba Ranks) This song hit number 84 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1994.
- Banana – This Mento-infused song is another from Patra’s Scent of Attraction album
