Who will make the cut?
With 65 albums submitted for the Best Reggae Album category of the 66th Grammy Awards, only five will make the final cut.
There have been cases in which six titles have been nominated, but only if there is a tie in the votes.
The nominations for the 66th Grammy Awards are scheduled to be announced on Friday, November 10. The Best Reggae Album category (formerly known as Best Reggae Recording) was introduced in 1985, with Black Uhuru’s Anthem winning the first award.
Predictions for nominees in the Reggae category are as follows:
* Simma – Beenie Man (MD Entertainment)
* Born for Greatness – Buju Banton (Gargamel Music/Roc Nation)
* Celebration – Common Kings (Mensch House Records)
* Destiny – Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and Bob Riddim
* No Destroyer – Burning Spear (Burning Spear Music)
Beenie Man won the award in 2001 for the Virgin Records debut Art & Life. He secured two previous nominations with 1999’s Many Moods of Moses and The Doctor (2000).
Simma is his first full-length project in seven years.
Buju Banton, the winner in 2011 with Before The Dawn, is known by Grammy voters, which resulted in him receiving a total of six nominations to date.
Born For Greatness, the follow-up to his 2021-nominated Upside Down 2020, was released in September and has major label backing from Roc Nation.
Reggae/rock band Common Kings from Orange County, California, were nominated in 2018 for Lost in Paradise. One of the top-selling reggae acts in America, the group has consistently charted on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart, and tours frequently to sold-out venues stateside.
Celebration, their most recent effort, released in August, has 12 tracks including collaborations with Kabaka Pyramid (the 2023 winner for Best Reggae Album), Demarco, and Royal Blu.
The late dubmaster Lee “Scratch” Perry won the Best Reggae Album award in 2003 for Jamaican E.T. He was nominated on three other occasions, and his most recent project, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry & Bob Riddim – Destiny, could earn him a fifth nomination.
The often-nominated journeyman reggae artiste Burning Spear has received a total of 12 nominations to date, winning in 2000 for Rastafari Calling and again in 2009 for Jah is Real.
No Destroyer, released in August, bears 12 songs and appears on his Burning Spear Music label.
Other albums that may earn a spot among the final list of nominees include Sly & Robbie & The Team Taxi – Shakespeare The Bassman, Colours of Royal by Julian Marley and Antaeus, I Give You Love by Mykal Rose (he sang lead on the Black Uhuru Grammy-winning Anthem album), and quite possibly No Love by Byron Messia.
The Queen of Reggae Marcia Griffiths is a strong contender for a nomination for Golden. However, with a few previously released tracks included in this set, a nomination may not be in her favour.
