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The Recording Academy is expected to announce on November 10, 2023 the nominees for the 2024 Grammy Awards including those in the Reggae Category. Jamaica’s Minister of Culture, Olivia Grange said among the songs submitted to the Academy for review is the 2023 Jamaica Festival Song album. This marks the third year that the festival song album has been considered for Grammy recognition, and is described as a source of pride for Jamaica.

 A Milestone for Jamaican Music

The festival song competition served as a platform for local artists to showcase their talents while celebrating Jamaica’s culture. Beyond its role in nurturing musical talent, the festival song has become a reflection of Jamaica’s diverse heritage, boundless energy, and strong sense of unity.

The Road to Grammy Nomination

The 2023 festival song album, titled ‘Jamaica Festival Song 2023 Competition,’ features tracks performed by finalists in the 2023 competition including the winning song “Best In the World” written and performed by Slashe. The other 2023 finalists featured on the album are Mento Tones, Av&nte, Lady Denna & The Whole Note Mento Band, Hot Rod, Shuga, N-Rich, Princess Black, Prince Fabulous, Eric Donaldson, and Exco Levi. The album, consisting of 11 tracks, is now available for streaming and download on various digital music platforms worldwide, including Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, and Spotify. Minister Grange expressed her optimism about the festival song album’s chances, citing the exceptional quality of the songs featured. 

Other Jamaican Songs Submitted for Grammy

Other  submissions in the ‘Best Reggae Album’ category include Valiant’s debut Mixtape 4:14, Pablo YG’s Bad Juve Mixtape, Beenie Man’s Simma, Charly Black’s No Excuses, I-Octane’s Dancehall Gift, Byron Messia’s No Love, and the compilation Rifle Riddim. This compilation includes nine songs featuring artists such as Dexta Daps (Missing Piece), Shane O (Click Click), Chronic Law (Gun Estate), Govana (Regular Day), Jah Vinci (Beast), RajahWild (Inna Mi Cup), Juggla (Irate), Kiprich (One), and IWaata (Trigger Play).

Photo – JCDC

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The documentary film “Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall” first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York to sold-out audiences in three showings in June 2023. Fans of Jamaican American and dancehall artist Shaggy were excited to see his name in the credits as its executive producer. The film follows the impact that Jamaican immigrants have had on the development of the dancehall genre in the United States.

“Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall” in the Netherlands

On October 22, 2023, the documentary was screened during ADE2023 at the Melkweg Cinema, a theater in Amsterdam in the Netherlands that is dedicated to showing music films. The Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is one of the most influential and educational gatherings for electronic music in the world and will offer over 1,000 events in 200 locations over five days and nights in Amsterdam. The event is co-sponsored by Jamrock, the top platform and party focused on reggae, dancehall, and soca in the Netherlands; Caribbean Creativity, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the Caribbean and cinema with Caribbean themes in the Netherlands and beyond; and Africadelic, a platform and festival based in the Netherlands to promote the cultural creativity, diversity, and activism of Africa. ADE2022 featured a panel discussion about how dancehall evolved in the Netherlands with representatives of the Dutch dancehall scene, including Kalibwoy, Steesko, and Danime.

Timely and Culturally Relevant

In addition to Shaggy, the documentary was co-produced by James Cole, Leo Matchett, and Mike Musante. It was released at a time when the Jamaican dancehall genre had experienced a decrease in sales and some of its top performers, including Beenie Man and Bounty Killer, were unable to travel. The producers note that the film features previously unseen archival footage that illustrates the journey the music took from Kingston to Brooklyn, as well as the power of music to unite people.

Jamaican Influences in New York

Written and directed by filmmaker Ben DiGiacomo and co-director Pierre “Dutty” Vannier, the film is an exploration of how dancehall emerged in the 1980s and 1990s when immigrants from Jamaica brought the vibe, music, and dance moves of their home country to New York City. The city then became the home of a significant movement in which dancehall rose up with hip-hop and spread throughout the US. It highlights acts like Supercat and depicts hip-hop’s critical role in dancehall development through collaborations with performers like Biggie Smalls. The documentary also features stories from the likes of Sean Paul, Ding Dong, DJ Kool Herc, Bobby Konders, and Miss Patt of iconic recording label VP Records, among others, as it follows the impact that dancehall made on the culture of New York City.

“Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall” in Chicago

The film will be shown at the Black Harvest Film Festival in Chicago, Illinois, on November 4 and 8, 2023. The film’s director, Ben DiGiacomo, and producer, Amy DiGiacomo, are scheduled to attend on November 4. The Black Harvest Film Festival is an event held every year in Chicago to showcase films that celebrate, explore, and share Black, African American, and African Diaspora experiences. The festival screens shorts and feature-length films and is held at the Siskell Film Center.

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American journalist Graham Bensinger has renewed the debate about the superior abilities of Jamaican athletes including the world’s fastest man alive, Usain Bolt. The journalist recently shared on Tik Tok a preview of an interview he did with Victor Conte, founder and president of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO), a California-based sports nutrition center. In the interview, Conte says he suspects that the athletic achievements of Usain Bolt and others on Jamaica’s Olympic track team can be traced to their use of illegal drugs.

What Conte Said

In the interview, dated 2017 on YouTube, Conte, who pled guilty to charges from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) of developing a banned steroid with the aid of bodybuilding chemist Patrick Arnold in 2005, is asked about the likelihood that Usain Bolt used illegal performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). He answered that he became suspicious of Bolt and the entire Jamaica Olympic team when their speed and race performance improved exponentially over a very short period. While he acknowledged Usain Bolt’s talent and admitted the sprinter probably could have broken the world record without using drugs, he also stated, “Any time you’re going from 9:79 seconds to 9:58 seconds, that’s a couple of meters here. It’s suspicious.” Conte said based his suspicions on analyses of Bolt’s races by  former Russian sprint coach Remi Korchemmy, whom he called a “very scientific guy.” Korchemmy pled guilty to his involvement in the BALCO scandal and received a lifetime ban from track and field for providing athletes with PEDs in 2003 and 2004.

Conte’s Suspicions Cover the Entire Jamaican Olympic Team

Conte also cast suspicions over the entire Jamaican Olympic team by comparing pre-Olympic performances with their improved, medal-winning times. As an example, he cited Shelly-Ann Fraser’s 2007 gold medal in particular. According to Conte, Fraser’s lifetime personal best time before the Olympics was 11:35 seconds, but she ran the distance at the Games in 10:78 seconds, which he said was five meters faster and “highly suspicious.” He went on to say, “To me, when you compound that with the Jamaicans who got gold, silver, and bronze and the female 100-meter leaders – When was the last time that one small country won all three medals? So that’s highly suspicious and then you look at the other aspects, and all these other athletes. It’s all suspicious. Not to target Asafa Powell or these other guys, but the former world record holder was from Jamaica, and all of a sudden, here’s these athletes that are just BAM!” He acknowledged Jamaica’s past athletic history by stating, “They’ve always had great athletes and great sprinters,” but then added, “But not this many.”

Conte Also Criticized the Drug Testing Regime in Jamaica

Conte’s interview comments also addressed the drug testing process in small, poorer nations that compete in the Olympics compared to that in wealthier countries. Conte stated that it is easier to do drug testing in “the specific Caribbean country” in which the testers “had people that worked in connection with security and the airport,” adding that by the time a tester’s name showed up on a manifest, or by the time they had finished renting a car, the athlete has gone down “a dirt path somewhere. He’s not there,” adding that someone at the airport tipped him off. He also called into question how Jamaica tested for drugs, describing the facility where samples were tested as “basically a little storage room” without appropriate equipment or testing environment.

Conte’s Comments Are Again Enraging Jamaicans

Jamaicans took to social media to express their outrage at Conte and his suspicions in response to the repost of his interview with Bensinger. Many posters noted that Usain Bolt was one of the most tested athletes in the history of Olympic sports. Other comments were similar to “Victor Conte you have started war, it cannot rub out” and “Victor Victor if you could only hear the collected SYM from all 14 parishes in Jamaica…” Some commenters called his statements “sour grapes” from the United States, while others took issue with his opinion that a small country like Jamaica was incapable of producing so many champions: “u lost me when u said how does one small country like Jamaica gets 1,2,3. that right there says a lot about you sir” and “Jamaica might be a small country, but we do big things the whole world knows about us” and “Get used to it… more coming…the future is very bright… take a look at the U20!!!” and “Oh boy! Somebody needs to let them know that Jamaicans are naturally talented in track and field. I wish they would test all these American athletes.” And finally, “Jamaica forever fast.”

Photo – Deposit Photos

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