"The Kalling" by Kabaka Pyramid
Okay so, I wasn't going to do this because I'd been declaring it to be the case from since I'd heard the album but, just in case you were curious, the single best Reggae album I heard in 2022 was definitely "The Kalling" by Kabaka Pyramid. Lyrically that album will probably go down as one of THE finest that I've ever heard and it would take a quite of bit of thought for me to go back to the year we had where it would NOT have been the best album. I bring it up because recently (yesterday as of this writing, tomorrow by the time you read it) the Grammy.... committee (whoever is in charge of awarding it) officially declared that they agreed with me and awarded it the 2023 award for Best Reggae Album. This came as a complete shock as The Grammy's tend to stick to more 'regular' artists when it comes to Reggae music and, the Pyramid's fellow nominees included the very popular likes of Sean Paul, Shaggy & Sting and Koffee, all of whom were previous winners of this same award. In fact, in our preview of the event, I actually stated, "....I feel he has the last chance of winning" .... so OBVIOUSLY he would win.
A very brief look back at the Grammy winners for Best Reggae Album shows that they've 'gotten it right' -- at least as far as I'm concerned -- maybe two or three times with albums from Beenie Man and Damian Marley, but I never would have expected them to actually choose Kabaka Pyramid with an album such as "The Kalling". Last year the winner was also a surprise as US Reggae band, SOJA, would take the honour and a few years back it went to Morgan Heritage, a group who had certainly paid their dues (and nominees that year also included the likes of Barrington Levy, Luciano, Rocky Dawuni and Jah Cure - making for an unusual year for the Reggae Grammy), so perhaps things are changing. Regardless, around here I like to think that we give credit for people for getting things right musically and, in 2022, Kabaka Pyramid got something RIGHT in a major way to the point where it has become impossible to ignore, even by The Grammy. "The Kalling" was THE BEST REGGAE ALBUM OF THE YEAR.
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