Kabaka Pyramid’s The Kalling, Koffee’s Gifted, Protoje’s Third Time’s The Charm, Sean Paul’s Scorcha and Shaggy’s Come Fly Wid Mi are the albums nominated in the Best Reggae Album category at the upcoming 65th Annual Grammy Awards, to be held in 2023.
R&B singer John Legend made the announcement today (November 15) for the Recording Academy during the organization’s annual nominations live-stream event.
The number of albums up for consideration this year had taken a drastic dip to a total of 67, down from 125 last year.
This is the first nomination for Kabaka Pyramid, whose sophomore album The Kalling was released on September 30, the last day of the Recording Academy’s eligibility period for the 65th Annual Awards. The album was released via Ghetto Youths Int’l and Bebble Rock Music.
Gifted is Koffee’s follow-up to her Rapture EP, which took home the Award for Best Reggae Album in 2020 against, Julian Marley’s As I Am, Sly and Robbie & the Roots Radics’ The Final Battle: Sly & Robbie vs. Roots Radics, Steel Pulse’s Mass Manipulation, and Third World’s More Work To Be Done.
She was the youngest person to do so in the 37-year history of the category.
Protoje has now earned his second Grammy Award nomination for his sixth studio album, Third Time’s The Charm, which was released on September 23 via In.Digg.Nation Collection and RCA Records. His 2018 album A Matter of Time had been nominated.
Sean Paul has racked up his tenth Grammy nomination, his second in two years for Best Reggae Album after Live N Livin was nominated at the 2022 Awards. The No Lie deejay has one Best Reggae Album Grammy win for Dutty Rock.
Meanwhile, Shaggy has picked up his eighth Grammy Award nomination, two of which previously earned him the Award for Best Reggae Album, for Boombastic and 44/876 with Sting.
Last year, Virginia-based Reggae band SOJA (Soldiers of Jah Army) won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album with their album Beauty in the Silence. It was the first time a mostly white Reggae band had won the award. (Two members are Hispanic, one each from Venezuela and Puerto Rico).
It was also the third time a non-Jamaican person or group had won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album. British band Steel Pulse won in 1987 with their album Babylon The Bandit, followed by British singer Sting, who teamed up with Shaggy for 44/876 in 2018.
The GRAMMY Awards are voted on by the Recording Academy’s membership, which is comprised of music creators, including artists, producers, songwriters, and engineers.
The period of eligibility for the 65th Grammy Awards began on October 1, 2021, and ran up until September 30, 2022.
The first round of voting, which selected the nominees, was conducted between October 13 and October 23, with the shortlists whittled down ahead of today’s announcement.
Final round voting will now take place between December 14, 2022, and January 4, 2023.
The winners will be revealed at the awards ceremony, to be held at Los Angeles’ Crpto.com arena on February 5, 2023.
The show will be aired live on CBS and be available for streaming on Paramount+.