Kabaka Pyramid is a Grammy winner. The Kalling, his second album, took Best Reggae Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 5, 2023, with the announcement coming during the Premiere Ceremony at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

The album is in the JamaicansMusic library: press Play all above, open the The Kalling album page, or jump to the track-by-track player below. Read our release-day story for the full tracklist and credits.

It was an all-Jamaican category. The other nominees were Koffee’s Gifted, Protoje’s Third Time’s the Charm, Sean Paul’s Scorcha and Shaggy’s Com Fly Wid Mi, per the Recording Academy. The 2022 award went to the American band SOJA.

‘Rastafari live’

Kabaka accepted the award with his mother, Marcia Salmon, beside him. “Mi caan believe it. Rastafari live!” he said, according to the Jamaica Observer. “Just want to say thank you to the Academy, thank you to all the other nominees who represent Jamaica, who represent the Caribbean. Thank you to everybody supporting reggae music, conscious music. Much love to Damian Marley who produced the album. Stephen Marley, this one is for Jo Mersa Marley who we lost in December and Taiwo McKenzie.”

Jo Mersa Marley, Stephen’s son and Bob’s grandson, died in December 2022 at 31.

The record

Released on September 30, 2022 through Ghetto Youths International and Bebble Rock Music, The Kalling was largely produced by Damian “Jr Gong” Marley, with Sean “Young Pow” Diedrick co-producing seven of its 15 tracks, the Observer reports. It peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart in October and, according to the Gleaner, drew 4.7 million on-demand streams in the United States last year. Guests include Buju Banton, Stephen Marley, Protoje, Jesse Royal, Jemere Morgan, Tifa and Black Am I.

“Damian outdid himself on The Kalling. It is sonically cohesive. Every song has a different signature. It is an organic production. My band went into the studio and played some of the tracks,” Kabaka told the Sunday Gleaner ahead of the ceremony, describing the set as his “pandemic album.”

Born Keron Salmon, the Campion College old boy holds a degree in electronics and computer technology and came up through the Bebble Rock collective in Kingston. Marley also produced his 2018 debut Kontraband, and Kabaka has toured the United States with the Marleys and with Rebelution. Songs such as “Warrior,” “Well Done” and “Can’t Breathe” made his name at home before the album did abroad.

Listen and dig deeper

Sources: Jamaica Observer — “Kabaka’s Grammy comes ‘Kalling’” (Feb 5, 2023); Jamaica Gleaner — “Kabaka Pyramid wins Grammy for Best Reggae Album” (Feb 5, 2023); Recording Academy — Best Reggae Album, 65th Grammy Awards.

Editor’s note: This story is part of an archive backfill covering Jamaican music news from 2022 to 2026. It is dated to the events it reports.