UWI Professor Says Winning A Grammy Award Still A Huge Deal To Jamaican Musicians

Professor Donna P. Hope says a Grammy Award remains the world’s most prestigious accolade for Jamaican musicians, despite sentiments being expressed by some members of the music industry that it ought to be disregarded.  

Hope, who is a lecturer in Culture, Gender, and Society at the University of the West Indies, pointed out that even a nomination is deemed a huge accomplishment, as it demonstrates to the world that an artist’s music is quality.  

“Well, it’s like in the NBA, you have to get a ring (championship ring awarded to winners of the NBA finals) no matter how rich you are, no matter or how many contracts you have signed.  It’s like people who are in track and field/athletics; you have to at least become an Olympic finalist in someway…,” Hope told Television Jamaica’s The Entertainment Report during an interview.

“It is important.  It is one of the markers of success, even a Grammy nomination… this is something that is important on the biography of the profile of an artiste.  And Jamaicans over the world see the Grammy Awards as critical in the understanding of the success of an artiste or of a genre,” she added.

Hope continued: “It does have value, even though we might say well, it’s not Jamaican; it’s other people.  It has value for people to understand how successful you are and how important it is for people to know how important your music has become in the world.”

In weighing in on this year’s Best Reggae Album Grammy nominations, Professor Hope, described the selections as “safe.”  

This year, the Best Reggae Album nominees are Kabaka Pyramid’s with his Damian “Junior Gong” Marley-produced The Kalling, Koffee with Gifted, Protoje with Third Time’s The Charm, Sean Paul’s Scorcha and Shaggy’s Come Fly Wid Mi, which covers 10 tracks from Frank Sinatra, one of the biggest names in the history of American music.

“We have five nominees; four of them have already done the Grammy thing… so for me it’s a very safe kind of selection,” she told veteran entertainment journalist Anthony Miller.

Professor Hope, who is the author of a series of books on Reggae and Dancehall, is regarded as an authority on Reggae and Dancehall. 

Her books include Reggaestories: Jamaican Musical Legends and Cultural Legacies; Reggae from Yaad: Traditional and Emerging Themes in Jamaican Popular Music; International Reggae: Current and Future Trends in Jamaican Popular Music; Man Vibes: Masculinities in the Jamaican Dancehall and Inna di Dancehall: Popular Culture and the Politics of Identity in Jamaica. 

When asked by Miller, who was likely to win, Professor Hope pointed out that, the prestigious award could go to the established artists, (Shaggy or Sean Paul), or the lone female, Koffee, but that it would prove to be favorable for Jamaican music if newcomer Kabaka Pyramid or second-time nominee Protoje came out victorious.  

“People who have a name that people recognize.  People who have a sound that people on that Grammy NARAS voting team recognise.  It is also a lot about the sound of what they deem to be Jamaican music, Reggae, Dancehall and so maybe a little Ska.  And so that is going to be what makes the final cut,” she opined.

The final round of voting for the 65th Annual Grammy Awards will be held between Wednesday, December 14, 2022, and Wednesday, January 4, 2023, before the grand awards ceremony on February 5, 2023, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. 

Earlier this year, Virginia-based Reggae band SOJA (Soldiers of Jah Army) had copped the Award for Best Reggae Album, for their album Beauty in the Silence, which had seen widescale outrage being expressed by many Jamaicans and African Americans that a mainly-white band had come out ahead of Jamaicans Spice, Sean Paul, Gramps Morgan, Etana, and Jesse Royal.