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It’s Grammy season, but this year the wildfires in Los Angeles have made a difference, as there will be no pre-Grammy parties from the major labels, and the focus is on “raising additional funds to support wildfire relief efforts and honouring the bravery and dedication of first responders”.
The 67th annual awards takes place on Sunday, February 2 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony will be broadcast on CBS and streamed on Paramount+.
As usual, the Best Reggae Album category takes centre stage here in reggaeland, with the big question being: Who will win the reggae Grammy? The nominees in the category are Bob Marley: One Love Music Inspired By The Film (Deluxe) Various Artistes; Vybz Kartel for Party With Me; The Wailers with Evolution; Shenseea’s Never Gets Late Here; and Collie Buddz with Take It Easy.
Last year, Bob Marley’s son, Julian, and Antaeus won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album for Colors of Royal. Will there be a Marley win back-to-back? There is no doubt that the film, which was officially released on Valentine’s Day last year, has a lot of muscle and has been attracting attention. The latest in a string of accolades is four nominations in the 2025 NAACP Image Awards. Bob Marley: One Love has been nominated in the following categories: Outstanding Motion Picture; Outstanding Ensemble (Cast); Outstanding Actress (Lashana Lynch); and Outstanding Actor (Kingsley Ben-Adir).
Music marketer and executive producer of the Tropical House Cruises to Jamaica album series, Sean ‘Contractor’ Edwards, is back this year to give The Gleaner his picks, and he believes that the Marley biopic is a serious contender.
“Picking the Grammy winner in the Best Reggae Album category is never an easy task because all nominees are worthy of a victory,” Contractor said, as a kind of disclaimer.
“However, my choices of the winner is among the Bob Marley: One Love Music Inspired By The Film, Vybz Kartel’s Party With Me, and Evolution by the Wailers,” he added.
BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE Music Inspired By The Film (Deluxe) Various Artistes
Edwards, who does not subscribe to the idea that once a Marley is a contender in the reggae Grammy race then winning is a given, clearly outlined the reasons for his choice.
“The success of the Bob Marley: One Love movie includes winning Best Movie at the BET Awards, grossing almost $200 million in revenue, securing nominations for the NAACP Image Award, becoming a top five all time in biopics, and even earning number one on Netflix. This makes this album palatable to Grammy voters,” stated Edwards, whose albums have made the Grammy consideration list on multiple occasions.
Focusing on the music itself, he pointed out that “the album features various artistes with a nice blend, including Skip Marley, WizKid and Shenseea paying tribute to Bob Marley”.
PARTY WITH ME
Vybz Kartel’s Party With Me was released in May 2024 while the deejay was still behind bars. The eight-track EP was his first release for 2024.
Kartel, Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St John were all released from prison on July 31, 2024. Their freedom came following a ruling by the Privy Council in England, to which the men had appealed, that a decision to retry the murder case or set the then convicts free should be made by the Jamaican court. The Court of Appeal decided not to retry the case, based on expense, the passage of time, and Vybz Kartel’s health issues.
“ Party With Me is Vybz Kartel’s first nomination. His recent Billboard magazine cover and the American music press covering his release from prison makes him appealing to the younger Grammy voters ... and his story is appealing,” Edwards stated.
Not only did Kartel dominate headlines post-release, but his momentum continued straight until the end of the year with the historic New Year’s Eve ‘Freedom Street’ concert at the National Arena in Kingston.
Internationally, he continued to grab headlines, with a December 30 piece in the New York Times titled, ‘After years in prison, a dancehall star returns to stage’.
EVOLUTION
“The Wailers are second-time nominees. In their first nomination in 2020 they lost to Koffee, who had the hit song Toast on her winning album, Rapture. This time around, with their album Evolution, they have Emilio Estafan again as executive producer. Evolution features reggae stalwarts Mykal Rose, Marcia Griffith and Gramps Morgan. The Wailers can also benefit from the Bob Marley mystique, and Americans have seen them on tour in 2024,” Edwards shared.
In an interview with The Gleaner shortly after the announcement of the nominees in the Reggae Grammy category, band leader Aston Barrett Jr, whose father, Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett, was the band leader for Bob Marley and the Wailers, said that he felt that he “made [his] father proud”.
“My father trusted me with the name, and we are still representing for high-quality music. This is a good look for Jamaica,” Aston Barrett Jr said.
English (US) ·