Spice And Etana Makes History In Grammy Awards Reggae Category
The Reggae Grammy nominations are out and while some names were expected to be on the list, one surprise face showed up and that is the Queen of Dancehall Spice, who was chosen as a possible recipient based on her album “10” released earlier this year on the entertainer’s birthday. Topping the great news off though is the fact that not only have one female been nominated in the Reggae category, but two have been selected as Etana was also chosen among the six nominees.
This monumental moment in music for Grace Hamilton also happens to be the first time in the history of the Awards Show that two females have been nominated for the top reggae Grammy Spot, at the same time. In 2019, Koffee won the award, with the EP “Rapture”, Otherwise, there have only been three other women who have gained Grammy nominations namely Rita Marley in 1991, Sister Carolin in 1996 and Etana in the year 2018.
While Spice appeared on the nominee list with “10” executively produced by Shaggy as her first studio album, Etana was selected for her album “Pamoja” which has a nice variety of features including Alborosie, Damian Marley, Stoneboy and the “Gaza nation” leader Vybz Kartel.
Other nominees for the Reggae category are Sean Paul with his “Live N Livin” album, having 22 featured artiste and produced by his own “Dutty Rock” record label, Jesse Royal with “Royal” that also features Vybz Kartel along with Runkus and Protoje. Gramps Morgan was also on the list with his “Positive Vibration” album, and SoJa a band out of California with an album called “Beauty in the Silence”.
The voting for the final round will kick off on December 6, 2021, and will go on to the 5th of January, 2022 whereafter, the awards ceremony will be held at the STAPLES Center, Los Angeles on January 31st of 2022.
It is certainly a good look for the culture and it seems like the changes made by the Grammy Awards body as it relates to the rules and regulations governing who can be nominated, and the ins and outs of the process of being chosen as a nominee might just have had a good ripple effect as we can see where history has been made with two women simultaneously being chosen in nomination, for the Reggae category.
Previously entertainers such as Popcaan, Drake and others voiced their distaste for the Grammy where the integrity of the voting process is concerned and as the changes could just be attributed to those voices, nonetheless, this moment sounds loudly in the history of Reggae.
