Dancehall fans have a perverse relationship with America’s Grammy awards. We know that the Grammy voters are completely ignorant of our music, and we know that the Reggae award is marginalized and never presented on prime time television. We even know that the Reggaematic Forward! Awards (December 2003 Issue) is a far better gauge of what’s hot and what’s not. Yet our Grammy fascination persists.

What’s Shabba’s nickname? “The Grammy Kid,” based on his belated recognition by the Recording Academy. Want to really get under Bounty Killer’s skin? Remind him that arch-rival Beenie Man has a Grammy, and the Warlord doesn’t. Even Sizzla, who has made a career out of blazing an antiestablishment fire on Babylon, expressed disappointment that his classic Da Real Thing was not so much as nominated for a Grammy.

This year, Dancehall got more exposure than ever on the Grammy telecast, and to people who want to force the music ever deeper into the mainstream, this may be a good thing. No, the award/acceptance of the Reggae Grammy still wasn’t broadcast, but Dancehall somehow managed to elbow its way into other aspects of the show.

First, Dancehall artists broke out of the restrictive “Reggae” category for the first time. Sean Paul, who won this year’s Reggae Grammy (big surprise), was also nominated for Best New Artist and Best Rap Solo Performance. Forget for a moment that Sean Paul is neither a new artist nor a rapper. Sean’s triple nomination was apparently a big deal. Ska/Punk Band No Doubt won a Grammy for “Underneath It All,” which featured a verse from Dancehall queen Lady Saw. Again, forget that the award went to “No Doubt,” not “No Doubt, featuring Lady Saw.” Just to have this tangential relationship to a Grammy winner was hyped by the Dancehall community.

Second, No Doubt, in their acceptance speech, actually thanked Lady Saw! Imagine! Thanking a collaborator on an award-winning song! Lady Saw’s name – her name! – was actually mentioned on national television! Of course, if No Doubt really wanted to thank Saw, they could have brought her onstage with them. After all, Lady Saw was in attendance. But some people think we should be thankful for small mercies.

Third, and most significantly, a Dancehall artist actually performed onstage during the telecast. This, we will concede, is a big deal, since millions of people watch the program. However, the performer – Sean Paul – is already a household name in Foreign, thanks to his overexposure on BET and MTV. And the performance may have also made history as the worst performance by an artist – of any genre – in Grammy telecast history: Sean joined Pop legend Sting onstage halfway through Sting’s rendition of “Roxanne” and proceeded to set Dancehall back about 10 years. Paul butchered a couple verses of his own hit “I’m So In Love,” which he modified to fit the “Roxanne” theme. Atonal, off key and off beat, SP was simply out of his element. It didn’t help that Sting looked only grudging tolerant of Sean Paul’s intrusion, or that Sting’s band played a one-drop beat so slow and unrhythmical that only Mutabaruka or DYCR could have ridden it successfully.

“He Who Seeks Only Vanity/ With No Love For Humanity/ Shall Fade Away” – Junior Byles

Those looking for a truly historic Reggae performance should have been at Jamaica’s Port Kaiser Sports Club in St. Elizabeth on Saturday, January 17, 2004. (Or you should have purchased a DVD from Scrappy D and the DancehallReggae.com crew before they were busted for bootlegging). There, at Tony Rebel’s annual Rebel Salute, the great Junior Byles proved that he had not faded away, as so many had assumed over the years. Overcoming decades of debilitating mental illness and homelessness, Byles triumphantly took the stage and delivered one of the truly magical moments in Reggae history. After a few shaky moments at the beginning of his performance, the forgotten master eased into a wicked set of classics and was warmly embraced by a welcoming Rebel Salute crowd. The lesson, as usual, is in the contrasts: Lady Saw and Sean Paul grateful for a few lucrative scraps from the Grammy plate vs. Junior Byles’ unscripted moment of splendor.
Like dem always say: “Dance a yard, before you dance abroad.”

Bless.

Milo

milo@reggaematic.com