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Conscious Queen
Conscious Queen

Reggae is everything to me – Conscious Queen

What is it about Reggae music that has got Pink FM's Conscious Queen so hooked?

Since she started hosting reggae programme, Rasta Jet, six years ago, Conscious Queen has not missed even a day at work nor has she gone on leave and she explains that her passion for Reggae is the reason.

“I cannot survive without Reggae. I eat Reggae, drink Reggae. In fact, my life is not complete without Reggae. I can listen to Reggae music without food and I will be okay,” she told Showbiz in an interview recently.

The only girl of three children to her parents, Conscious Queen’s love for this genre of music which originated from Jamaica, started at an early age perhaps, because her family’s ardent love for it rubbed off on her.

It was only natural that when she came of age, she would do something around it. According to her, nothing could have prevented her from becoming a Reggae presenter but she faced some stigma at the beginning.

“Before I started, people used to tell me that ‘you are too beautiful to present Reggae’, ‘you are too nice to be moving with Rastas’ but I just told them that you don't need to be dirty to associate yourself with Rastas,” she said.

One thing Conscious Queen is not happy about is the negative stereotype that any serious lover of Reggae music smokes.

Although she does not smoke or does drugs, she believes people have that perception about her because of how she presents her show which has everything anyone needs to know about Reggae.

“Reggae has a lot of branches and I try to satisfy my listeners. I talk about weed, I play Root Reggae, Root Culture, Dancehall, Lovers Rock and explain lyrics of some of the Reggae songs to my listeners,” she said.

Conscious Queen also chastised her colleague Reggae presenters for giving too much prominence to Jamaican songs and neglecting their own.
Using herself as an example, she said she can play Ghanaian Reggae for two hours without featuring any foreign artiste.

So immersed is she in all things Reggae that she now speaks impeccable Patois. She said her Patois is so on point that even the Jamaicans wonder where she learnt it from. “Luciano (Reggae musician) was amazed during our conversation how I was able to flow like I was born and bred in Jamaica.”

Real name, Mary Kukua Blankson, said she does everything herself for her show. “I do everything by myself in the studio. I DJ, present and select my own songs,” she said.

The 27-year-old presenter was awarded the Best Reggae Show Host of the Year at the recently held Radio and Television Personality (RTP) Awards and she says she deserved it.

“My competitors applauded me for winning because they knew I deserved it after losing it to Blakk Rasta, FiiFi Selah and Root Eye in the previous years.

“With this award, I want to tell every lady to go for gold. I am the only female to have won Best Reggae Show Host of the Year and this should tell any lady that with determination she can make it,” she happily said.

Conscious Queen, who now hosts Pink FM’s mid-morning show, Mo Ne Adwuma, said she wants to keep her natural looks and has not used make-up for the past 15 years.

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