Sister Nancy demands respect. But if you’ve ever heard her biggest hit, “Bam Bam” — and you surely have — you knew that.

If you’ve gone to a reggae night at your favorite club, bought or listened to a retrospective of reggae dancehall’s classic cuts, checked out the movie “The Interview” or heard tracks from Kanye West’s “Life of Pablo” or Jay-Z’s “4:44,” you’ve heard “Bam Bam.”

Sister Nancy was just 19 when she recorded it in 1982, and her clear, strong voice — singing the improvised words of a striving woman who was pushing back against obstacles in her path — held irresistable appeal. It became a club staple, and has been sampled dozens of times.

As a performer, Sister Nancy never turned away from that spirit. As her music has enjoyed a revival, she has only grown in her ability to transmit that sense of perseverance.

To hear her live, be at Blue Note Hawaii Friday, when the dancehall vocalist, or “DJ,” as she would be called in Jamaica, appears with the Guidance Band.

IN “BAM Bam,” Nancy sings, “One thing Nancy see and understand / What make dem talk about me ambition. …”

The answer to any questions you might have about her inspiration are right there in the lyrics.

“It’s from creation,” she tells us, sure in her powers.

The song could be considered a flip side to “The Harder They Come,” Jimmy Cliff’s epic hit, communicating the drive of an artist who doesn’t want to hear the word “no.”

Born Ophlin Russell in 1962, she has lived in New Jersey since 1996. She moved to the states to attend college and live with her mother, and still lives in the home they shared until her mother’s death.

After college, she took a job at a bank, where she worked for 16 years.

She always made music, traveling back and forth between Jamaica and the U.S., staying in the struggle, but singing alone didn’t cover all the costs. She wasn’t receiving royalties from “Bam Bam,” even though it was being sampled right and left.

But in 2014, “The Interview” came out, starring Seth Rogan and James Franco as two journalists determined to assassinate Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. A pivotal scene in the movie, which also features the bare backside of the “dictator,” is tracked to “Bam Bam.”

Later that year, perhaps inspired by “The Interview,” Reebok released a commercial soundtracked to “Bam Bam.” This time, a woman disrobes after her workout, after turning on the tune. “Bam Bam” flew back to the top of the iTunes reggae chart soon after.

When Sister Nancy saw the Reebok spot, she decided it was time to take legal action, and reached an agreement giving her 50 percent of the royalties for “Bam Bam” and “One, Two,” reaching back 10 years.

She was paid for the use of “Bam Bam” in “The Interview,” by Reebok and later, by Kanye West and Jay-Z. And in 2016, she was able to retire from banking.

HER MUSIC has always been uplifting. It has meant much to listeners over 38 years. But it hasn’t reached everyone.

Before the Reebok commercial and her rise again on the reggae charts, she might have only booked three or four concerts in a year. Sometimes they were in far-flung places, including Hawaii; there was no big payout.

When Nancy first spoke to Jay-Z, he told her, “I thought you were dead.” But when he learned otherwise, he sought her out.

“‘I want you to be a part of what I’m doing,’ that’s what he said to me,” Nancy recalled. “I’ve come to lift you up.”

Jay-Z included Sister Nancy in the video shoot for “Bam,” traveling with her and Damian Marley to Jamaica for filming, and re-recording her vocal part, as she had always wished, in a Jamaica studio.

Since 2014, her relationship to the music has changed, she said.

“It’s like a reincarnation,” she marveled. “That’s how I see it right now. It’s like I started the whole thing again! It’s like I just did ‘Bam Bam’ again. … 36 years! That’s a long time.

“It’s good. Everything is good. The feeling is good. I love the feeling.”

WHAT HASN’T changed is her own approach, and her feeling for music.

“From the beginning, I always tried to carry myself in a totally different way,” she said. “You will not see me everywhere; I am not ever in the spotlight — I am a low-key woman.

“I’ve always been like this,” she said. “I haven’t changed. Sister Nancy’s always been respected, at all times. … Always.”

She has never doubted her own abilities.

Still a teenager, she heard herself, and knew that she had the right sound, spirit and imagination.

“I heard my voice and said, ‘It’s nice!’” she recalled.

“It just comes from me, you know?” she said, laughing. “I was born like this. Trust me. I was born to do this. “

“I was born in a religious family, who know the almighty. God-fearing. I was born in a family that knows music …. religious music, gospel music, reggae … talented people who feel music. We don’t pretend to do it.

“We don’t follow. We originate.”

To this day, she believes a spiritual force transmits through her voice.

“I never work and not be singing the gospel,” she said. “I can’t do it. It’s a part of me.

“Some people say eh Sister Nancy, she one Rastafari — and you know, I still do that, but we only serve one god. Your god is my god and my god is your god, it doesn’t matter.”

She credits that higher power for her good fortune, as well.

“God is good,” Sister Nancy said. “It changed for the best for me. I’d been struggling for so long.”