Ahead of Sunday’s Grammys, industry players toast Koffee
… But look out for Third World, some say
ON SUNDAY, the 62nd annual Grammy Awards unfolds at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It will recognise the best recordings, compositions, and artistes of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2018, to August 31, 2019. Ever since the nominations in all 84 categories were announced on November 20, 2019, the reggae-loving world has been on edge.
This year, the spotlight is shining brightly on the nominations in the Reggae Album category for a particular reason. For the first time ever, there is a five-song EP in the mix, the debut from a 19-year-old sensation, who, Grammy whisperers say, has a great chance of creating history by being the first female to win a Reggae Grammy. However, music critics say many-time Grammy nominee Third World is also a strong contender.
In addition to Rapture, the EP by Koffee, and More Work To Be
Done, Third World, the other nominations are Mass Manipulation,
Steel Pulse; As I Am, Julian Marley; and The Final Battle: Sly and
Robbie vs Roots Radics by Sly & Robbie and Roots Radics. All the nominees, with the exception of Koffee, are either previous Grammy nominees, or actual Grammy winners.
In a recent interview with The
Gleaner, a few industry players weighed in on who they think will walk away with the coveted gong on Sunday, and shared why.
VOTING PANEL
Wayne ‘Native Wayne’ Jobson, a member of the Grammy committee, stated that at the end of the day, it’s just a matter of which artiste manages to reach the most voters. “There are 13,000 voting members for the Grammys. So the person usually wins who can reach the members and make them aware of the project and get them to like it. Because Koffee is the only one of the nominees with a major label deal, Sony, I think she will win. Her record is great, but so are the albums of the other nominees,” Jobson said.
Ace producer Tony Kelly says it’s hard to tell, especially since many persons in the industry have not signed up as Recording Academy members, so they are unable to participate in the process of choosing the winners. “So it’s left up to ‘whoever’ to decide what’s based on their personal, and probably limited, listening style and choice. They are all great albums, but me, personally, wouldn’t mind if Koffee wins it, because it would be good for the younger artistes and, more important, for the new generation of female artistes, such as Lila Ike, Khalia, Sevana, Jada Kingdom, Naomi Cowan, Jah9, Stalk Ashley, and a whole bunch of others. It would be a great win to share with all the females in the island,” Kelly shared.
Artiste manager and publicist Maxine Stowe is confident that Koffee will emerge the winner this year. Stowe told The Gleaner, “With the Grammy being voted on by peers in the industry, I think the success of Toast and her being a female artiste will intrigue the Grammy voters. Everyone of the other nominees are icons, with the Marley factor also in the mix. But I vote for fresh, female and successful.”
New Yorkbased founder of public relations firm Images LLC, Anthony Turner, has also named Koffee as the winner. “I think Koffee will win, and she is most deserving of the Grammy this year. Her song, Toast, racked up over 100 million views on YouTube and crossed over in markets and on radio stations that don’t typically play reggae. Toast was listed as a favourite of former US President Barack Obama in 2019, and his wife Michelle said it is one of the songs she does her exercise routine to. Third World’s album has some great tracks, and so too the album from Steel Pulse. But it’s Koffee hands down for me,” Turner said.
Producer Mikey Bennett, however, is toasting Third World. “I think Third World is going to win because from what I know of the Grammy thing, it is really about name recognition, whether through history or by the amount of advertising or promotion that the record company does. The album has not only Third World, it is produced by Jr Gong, so name recognition alone is really way up there. I wish I could say that it has to do with the quality of the album and all dem kinds of things, but I know enough about the politics of the situation to say that the vast majority of persons who have voted would have heard none of the albums.”
For veteran selector and media personality DJ Squeeze, Third World is his choice, and his reason was simple. “The work was put in. It’s not a popular song
competition.”