2024 Reggae Grammy ‘a two-man race’ but Spear will win – pundit
FOR THE 66th Grammy Award, five albums, namely Born For Greatness (Buju Banton); Simma (Beenie Man); Cali Roots Riddim 2023 (Collie Buddz); No Destroyer (Burning Spear); and Colors of Royal (Julian Marley and Antaeus) are vying for the coveted gong in the Best Reggae Album category.
Already pundits are predicting who will win, but very few are bold enough to make their choices heard. However, numbered in that select category of those “whoofa back broad” is music industry member, marketer and producer, Sean ‘Contractor’ Edwards. His top three picks are Burning Spear, Julian Marley and Buju Banton, in that specific order, but he firmly believes that the winner is evident.
“I really think it’s a two-man race with Burning Spear and Julian Marley,” Edwards said bluntly. He added quickly, “But Burning Spear in my opinion will win.”
Elder statesman of reggae music, Burning Spear, has already won two Grammy Awards in the category – at the 42nd Grammy Awards in 2000 for Calling Rastafari, and in 2009 for Jah is Real. Spear has been nominated in the Best Reggae Album category 13 times. No Destroyer is his first release in 15 years and his first since his last Grammy win.
Edwards did not hesitate to say why he is gunning for Spear.
“Not only is his album well produced, it is fully roots reggae and dynamic. With Burning Spear’s 50 years in reggae music, the Grammy committee would be looking to honour him, .... at 78 years old ... as a living legend, especially knowing he took more than a decade long hiatus from touring and releasing new studio albums,” the music marketer said.
Burning Spear shared his delight about No Destroyer during a Grammy.com Living Legends interview last September with Pat Meschino. Living Legends is described as “a series that spotlights icons in music who are still going strong today”.
“I think people will enjoy this album, I am saying things I never say before. The people, the fans, will find something to hold on to, to take them places or to certain situations. The album shows you where you are coming from, your tribulations, the distance you are travelling. When I listen back to it, I didn’t quite know I was putting out all that energy, sending out lyrics not only connecting musically but connecting to all the people,” Spear is quoted in the interview.
Born Winston Rodney in St Ann, on March 1, 1945, his bio states that as a young man he was deeply influenced by the views of Marcus Mosiah Garvey, and the themes of pan-Africanism and self-determination resounded firmly with him. In 1969, Bob Marley, who was also from St Ann, advised Rodney to approach the Studio One label. Originally, Burning Spear was the name of Rodney’s two-man group, which also included bass singer Rupert Willington. It was named after a military award given by Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of an independent Kenya. The duo auditioned for Dodd in 1969 which led to the release of their debut single, Door Peep.
A fiercely independent artiste, who has has traversed the challenging road of being contracted to big companies, Spear – who retired in 2016, but returned to the music scene in 2021 – made the decision to put out his own music through his own Burning Productions.
It has often been said that once a Marley is in the Grammy race for Best Reggae Album, he or she always wins. But Julian has proven this theory wrong on two occasions. Julian has been nominated twice in the Best Reggae Album category; however, he has not yet won an award, unlike his brothers Ziggy, Stephen and Damian.
His main collaborator on Colors of Royal is producer Alexx Antaeus (Earth Wind and Fire, Rolling Stones, Jah Vinci, Yaksta), with NotNice, Mr Sonic, Sean Alaric and Prince Productions also securing production credits.
Colors of Royal comes with eight songs, two of which are remixes of previously released tracks, Roll and The Tide is High, a rework of the John Holt classic of the same name. Edwards described the album as “sonically appealing”.
“Julian’s album has the new one drop reggae sound ... not the traditional one drop sound like Burning Spear. It’s reggae infused with other genres and it is highly appealing. It’s the kinda reggae like what Protoje does,” Edwards said.
When quizzed about the possible effect that the highly anticipated, soon-to-be-released, Paramount Pictures Marley biopic could have on the Grammy race for the son of Bob, Edwards contemplated for a while.
“The movie Bob Marley: One Love does increase the presence of the Marley Brand globally and increases Julian’s Marley’s chances, but not enough to beat Burning Spear,” he stated.
Mark Anthony Myrie, better known as Buju Banton, has so far received eight Grammy nominations. In 2011, Buju’s album, Before the Dawn, won the reggae Grammy.
Beenie Man has four Grammy nominations under his belt; he has won once. In 2001 he took home the gong for the album, Art and Life, while signed to Virgin Records.
This marks the first Grammy nomination for Bermudian reggae artiste, Collie Buddz.
The 66th Grammy Awards, which is marketed as “music’s biggest night”, unfolds on Sunday, February 4 and will air live from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.