Morgan Heritage or Third World: Did Koffee thank wrong group in Grammy acceptance speech?
Koffee created history today by becoming the first Jamaican female to win the Grammy award for the Best Reggae Album for her 2019 EP, Rapture.
Clad in a sleek black-and-white tux, the
19-year-old ran to the stage at the Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony at the
Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles this afternoon to collect the prestigious
industry award.
Her first word was naturally the buzz word
that hooked so many people to her breakout song, Toast.
“Blessings, everyone thank you so much,” Koffee said in her acceptance speech. “I’d first like to thank all the producers and everyone who helped to make Rapture what it is today. I’d like to pay my respects to Julian Marley, Steel Pulse, Sly and Robbie and Morgan Heritage for all the input they’ve made in the reggae industry and in the music. I’ve learnt a lot from them and from other older people in the industry and that’s why I’m here, that’s what brought us all here so I just want to say this one is for all of us, this one is for reggae, this one is for Jamaica. Thank you very much, blessings!”
Her speech received a resounding round of applause, but it cannot go unnoticed that she perhaps made an error in the excitement of the moment, thanking Morgan Heritage, who is not nominated, when she perhaps meant to thank arguably her biggest contender, Third World.
The reggae fusion group was nominated for
the Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley-produced album, More Work to be Done, and other nominees included British-based
group Steel Pulse with Mass Manipulation,
Julian Marley with As I Am and production-duo
Sly and Robbie and Roots Radics with The
Final Battle: Sly & Robbie vs Roots Radics.
Despite the blunder, congratulations are in
order for the young star who is the first female to win the award, after having
other female acts like Etana, Judy Mowatt, Rita Marley and Sister Carol cop
nominations in previous years.
Last year’s winner was the collaborative
effort of Shaggy and Sting on 44/876.
Rapture, a five-track genre-bending project, includes the title track, Toast, Throne, Ragamuffin and Blazin featuring Jane Macgizmo.
