Spice Bags Six Reggae Month Music Awards Nominations
Queen of the Dancehall Spice is upbeat about her latest up-move, having copped six nominations in the Reggae Month Music Awards being staged by Irie FM, which has the distinction of being the first-ever radio station to play a song for the Grammy-nominated artist.
This year, Spice has the most nominations of the awards, including the Album of the Year Award, for her debut album 10. She also copped nominations for the Reggae Ambassador Award, Female Deejay of the Year, Best Dressed Female as well as the Best Collaboration of the Year Award and Song of the Year for her Go Down Deh collab with Shaggy and Sean Paul.
This is a new iteration of the awards, which was halted for more than a decade, before being re-launched on February 9 during Irie FM’s Wake Up Call and E-Buzz Programmes.
In a promo being aired on Irie FM, Spice paid homage to veteran radio disc jockey and producer Ainsworth ‘Big A’ Higgins, noting that the first time she heard her song on a radio, it was on his show.
“I want to elaborate that the first time I heard my song on the radio was from Big A on Irie FM. So to be on this musical journey with Irie FM, and to have six nominations this year on the Irie FM Music Awards, I am super grateful; I am humbled; I’m grateful,” the Cool It artist emphasized.
“It nuh get no betta dan dis. Dis is someting to talk about, yeh! Six nominations. Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate it,” she added.
Sean Paul. who copped five nominations, follows Spice who heads the list of nominees.
The two are among seven other artists vying for the Album of the Year award: Spice with her debut album 10 and Sean Paul’s Live N Livin. The other contenders for Album of the Year are Masicka with 438; Alkaline with Top Prize, Bugle’s Toxicity, and Etana’s Pamoja.
The presentation ceremony, which will be broadcast live, is set for March 1, where, according to Irie FM, 21 Jamaican entertainers will be awarded for their work covering the period January 1, 2021 to December 31 2021.
Among some of the other major categories are Deejay of the Year, Song of the Year and the Karl Young Listeners Choice Award named in honour of the late founder of Irie FM, in which listeners were given the opportunity to vote for their favourite artiste for 2021 via WhatsApp.
Nominees for the Young New Artiste of the years are: Skeng, Jahshii, Nation Boss, Yaksta and 10TIK.
Singer of the year female/singjay nominees are Shaneil Muir, Etana, Lila Iké, Shenseea and Koffee.
The other Reggae Ambassador Award nominees in addition to Spice are Koffee, Sean Paul, Shaggy, Sister Nancy and Beres Hammond.
The Male Deejay of the Year nominees are Intence, Masicka, Popcaan, Vybz Kartel, Alkaline and Skillibeng, while on the female side, in addition to Spice are Shenseea, Koffee, Shaneil Muir and Moyann.
The final voting for the Reggae Month IRIE FM Music Awards took place on Thursday February 10, in Kingston.
According to Irie FM, the nominations committee comprised industry professionals, and the polls took place “under the watchful eyes of the auditing firm, HLB Mair Russell”, which attended the more than two hour session where the voting took place in 19 categories.
After the count which was conducted by the auditors, the results were placed under “lock and key”, and “no one else knows who the winners are”, the Reggae radio station said.
The awards, which is being held in association with the Ministry of Entertainment, was first staged on Valentine’s Day, February 14, in 2006.
It was the brainchild of Big A, who had been a longstanding advocate for the awards and led the organising team for three years – 2006, 2007, and 2008.
Irie FM has the distinction of changing the music landscape in favour of Jamaican Reggae and Dancehall musicians, challenge the established Radio Jamaica (RJR) and government owned Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) whose formats were dominated by American Rhythm and Blues and became the number one radio station in Jamaica.
The station began test transmissions in July 1990 and officially went on air on August 1, 1990, playing traditional reggae with a bit of Dancehall music and a theme of “Reggae in the morning; Reggae in the evening; Reggae at night time”, amidst critics predicting that it would be impossible to sustain a 24-hour Reggae music station.
In an interview with South Florida Caribbean News in 2020 during the station’s 30th anniversary celebrations, Dr. Dennis Howard, one of Irie’s original broadcasters and the station’s first programmes manager, had recounted that not many people in the music fraternity did not have any faith in a Reggae radio station succeeding in Jamaica.
He said that when told that there would be a “Reggae station and we need your records and need you to give us your catalogues, some said it wouldn’t work”.
However, by the end of the year, the Ocho Rios-based radio station was fully embraced by artistes, producers and music administrators who benefited from steady rotation of their songs which were previously largely ignored by RJR and JBC, in favour of North American content.
Irie FM has been the launching pad for some of the Reggae and Dancehall’s biggest names including Sean Paul, Buju Banton and Sizzla.
Irie FM incorporated more Dancehall after Howard insisted that with the genre’s growing popularity among Jamaican youth, it made sense to begin giving airtime to artistes such as Shabba Ranks, Papa San, Tony Rebel, Tiger and Cutty Ranks and others.
Penthouse Record label’s Donovan Germain who later admitted that he was among those who doubted that an all-Reggae station would have a fighting chance in Jamaica, was among the numerous music producers whose productions benefited from extensive airplay on Irie FM, with his label being given a 15-minute weekly slot on Irie hosted by Big A.
“Irie FM really changed the radio landscape in Jamaica because you heard more local content,” Germaine had told SFLCN.