Grammy predictions for final five in reggae category

First-round voting to choose the nominees for the 68th Grammy Awards comes to an end on Wednesday, October 15. A total of 73 albums are under consideration in the Best Reggae Album category. After tomorrow, that number will be whittled down to the five nominees in the category, and all nominations will be announced Friday, November 7.

For some reason, the complete list of the albums under consideration has been a closely guarded secret, however, Grammy watcher Sean ‘Contractor’ Edwards has been privvy to it, and, as he does every year, based on his experience and research, he has selected the albums that, in his opinion, are great contenders for the final five.

“Having seen the entire list of reggae albums in consideration, I have had to expand my list of strongest contenders for nomination. Dancehall strongest contenders lie among Vybz Kartel, Skillibeng, and Valiant,” Edwards, a music marketer and executive producer told The Gleaner.

He continued: “ Without a doubt, Vybz Kartel has made the biggest impact for a dancehall artiste in America over the last year. Skillibeng has been on a steady upward rise performing on major stages in the United States ... including with Nicki Minaj. He has also made it to mainstream radio in America with his collaboration Shake it to the Max with Moily and Shenseea. These factors make him a strong contender with his International EP.”

Edwards noted that Valiant, with his upcoming tour in the United States, shows that his Prove Them Wrong EP has made an impact. The album was featured in Billboard Magazine and also made Billboard’s Top 50 albums released this year.

REGGAE ALBUMS

In Edwards’s opinion, the strongest traditional one-drop reggae albums in the Grammy race this year come from Lila Ike, Mojo Morgan, and twice Grammy- nominated American-Samoan reggae singer and songwriter JBoog.

“ Lila Iké’s Treasure Self Love has been featured in mainstream American media publications, including Grammy.com, Billboard Magazine, and Rollingstone Magazine. Morgan Heritage presents Mojo Morgan with his solo album project Jamaica Love, which features Gramps Morgan, Popcaan, and Chronic Law has been featured in Newsweek, High Times Magazine, and Hot97 with Ebro. J Boog has released three albums that reached the top ten of the Billboard Reggae Albums chart, making the Grammy-nominated singer a strong contender this year,” Edwards stated.

Two of the legends in the music business, King Jammy and Niney the Observer, both have albums under consideration. Released November 29, 2024, King Jammy Unites the Nation with Dub, a dub album, is described as “a dub attack from King Jammy [with] versions galore from Jammy’s 21st century A team”. Renowned producer, Winston ‘Niney the Observer’ Holness, went into the studio and came out with a project — Niney the Observer — that sees him as the singer, producer, and executive producer. At 80 years old, the Blood and Fire singer is certainly one of the oldest reggae artistes to have his album on the Grammy consideration list.

The consideration list also includes Love for the Music, Fortunate Youth; Pieces of Me, 450; Nirvana, Jahmiel; Pool Party, Konshens; Gun Life, Keith & Tex; No Place Like Home, Jesse Royal; Hate Being Famous, Squash; Echoes of Her, Shaniel Muir; I sland Waves Vol. 2, Loud City and ZJ Sparks; Good Times, Charly Black; Time Is Now, Likkle Addi; Sherlock, Cham; Strength and Resilience, Lutan Fyah; Find Me Here, Sherwin Gardner; Blxxd & Fyah, Keznamdi; and Ding Dong, From Ding Dong to the World.

The AI-assisted album, which was submitted this year - Dem Can’t Stop My Joy (Raastafari on the Rise), Adrian Donsome Hanson and Forever Rootz Band - is up for consideration, but Edwards opined that “the reggae select committee might not be ready to nominate an AI project”.

“In 2024, the estate of Bob Marley was among a list of powerful music industry entities and persons who are pushing back against the irresponsible use of artificial intelligence which, they say, has the potential to be “catastrophic” and could “degrade the value of their work and prevent them from from being fairly compensated for it. Listed among the other signatories are Stevie Wonder, the estate of Frank Sinatra, Nicki Minaj, Jadakiss, Jon Bon Jovi, Camila Cabello, Zayn Malik, Jason Isbell, Katy Perry, Miranda Lambert, Noah Kahan, Imagine Dragons, Rosanne Cash, Arya Starr, Billie Eillish, Benny The Butcher, Hit-Boy, and Doechii,” Edwards stated.

He added that notably, the first Grammy nomination for an AI-assisted song was for The Beatles’ track Now and Then, which won the Grammy for Best Rock Performance.

The Product Eligibility Period for the 2026 Grammys is for recordings and works released between Saturday, August 31, 2024, and Saturday, August 30, 2025.

The Grammy Awards takes place on February 1, 2026, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com