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Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album
Well supported
Recording Academy category that archives reggae's place in global award institutions.
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- archive
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- Well supported
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Debate & reception
How people argued about the music — praise, criticism and public debate. See all debate & reception →
debate
SOJA's 2022 Best Reggae Album Grammy and the question of who owns reggae
“reggae and dancehall could have been more recognized because oftentimes other genres take from our culture and we do not get that rating that we deserve”
At the 2022 Grammys, the American band SOJA won Best Reggae Album over five Jamaican nominees, reigniting a recurring argument about cultural ownership versus reggae's status as a global genre open to all. Critics called it an instance of outside acts profiting from a Black Jamaican art form while its originators go unrewarded; defenders pointed to reggae's deliberately international reach and the Academy's genre-not-nationality criteria. Nominee Spice publicly voiced the ownership grievance. The following year the award returned to a Jamaican act, Kabaka Pyramid ('The Kalling'), which some read as a corrective.
Stance: cultural appropriation and Jamaican ownership of reggae vs reggae as a borderless global genre judged on the music
debate
The Grammy Best Reggae Album category
A neutral framing of a recurring debate: the Grammy category is welcomed as global recognition and prestige, and criticised for lumping diverse Jamaican genres together and for questions over who and what best represents the music. No verdict. Sources: Jamaica Gleaner/Observer archives; DancehallMag; academic commentary.
Stance: global recognition & prestige vs lumping diverse genres & questions of representation
debate
Should dancehall and reggae share one category, or does the umbrella erase dancehall?
The Grammy Best Reggae Album category and, to critics, the UNESCO 'reggae' heritage framing both fold dancehall under a 'reggae' banner, prompting an ongoing argument in the Jamaican music press about whether dancehall deserves separate recognition. One side holds that dancehall is a distinct genre with its own economy, artists and aesthetics that gets flattened and under-rewarded when judged as 'reggae'; the other argues the shared roots and small market make a single umbrella practical and that splitting it would dilute Jamaica's collective clout. The dispute recurs each awards season and around the 2018 UNESCO inscription, which named reggae rather than dancehall.
Stance: dancehall as a distinct genre needing its own recognition vs a unifying reggae umbrella that maximises Jamaica's collective visibility