Renowned reggae musician, Blakk Rasta has shared his insights on the Grammy Awards’ move to Africa.
According to him, the awards are not coming to celebrate African music but rather to capitalize on it.
His comments come after the Grammy Awards announced its expansion into Africa with the launch of GRAMMY Africa.
This initiative aims to support African music creators through collaboration with local entities, educational resources, and advocacy for intellectual property rights.
It also promises to increase global recognition for African artists and to celebrate and integrate African music into the international music scene.
However, Blakk Rasta described the initiative as a “colonialist idea”.
“Bringing the Grammys to Africa is a colonialist idea, they’re only bringing it here to celebrate white people, they don’t know anything about music. When you look at all the music in the world, they were created by black people, from Samba music in Brazil down to Kalypso.
“They were all created by black people. All that white people did was create the instruments to embellish our music. But for the creation of music, Africans are the custodians of music. This all stems from the fact that white people have been taking credit for the things innovated by Africans.”
Blakk Rasta
The musician stated that the Grammy’s presence in Africa should not be seen as a favor and argued that Africa should take the opportunity to also showcase its rich musical heritage.
He called for a business-minded approach to the Grammy’s expansion, suggesting that African artists like King Paluta should demand fair compensation for their performances, equal to international stars like Beyonce.
“They are not coming to Africa to do us a favor, they have exhausted their white music. They are coming to tap into African music. Almost all our genres have gone extinct because of wickedness, but thanks to Afrobeat, we cannot be ignored anymore.
“So let’s not jubilate because the Grammys are coming to Africa, let’s also go in with a business mindset. It’s good because it would make our music go broader. Let’s profit from them as well.”
Blakk Rasta
GRAMMYS Will Lose its Value if Brought to Africa
Musician, King Paluta is of the view that bringing GRAMMYS to Africa will make the award scheme lose its value.
He believes that they should maintain it as it is for artists in Africa to fly out of their continent to receive the awards.
“They should keep the awards where it is because anything that the white man decides to bring to Africa loses its value. We want to fly out of our country to go and receive the awards. That is prestige and that is what we want.
“Also the big music executives will not be attending these award events if they are held in Africa so how do we benefit? I want to win the GRAMMY and catch the eyes of big music executives like Sony Music and if GRAMMYS is now in Africa, then how do I achieve that?”
King Paluta
The ‘Aseda’ crooner, King Paluta stated that any individual who criticizes him for honoring the invitation of Vice President Dr. Bawumia is “empty-headed”.
King Paluta was seen with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer during his three-day tour of the Ashanti Region singing his hit song, ‘Aseda’ which seems to be the favorite of the Vice President who doubles as the flagbearer of the governing NPP.
The rapper-turned-singer was criticized for engaging in politics considering the political climate in the country at the moment.
Speaking, King Paluta indicated that he does not see anything wrong with honoring the invitation of the country’s vice President.
“I heard a Presenter attacking me because I joined the Vice President on his campaign bus. I think he has a tank in his head to think that way. Even the said presenter feels disrespected when artists are invited and don’t show up how much more is the Vice President of the country who is an elderly man?
“I went there because the Vice President wanted to see me and if you have a problem with that it is your cup of tea. I drove there with my fuel so If he gives me something to fuel my car, is it a crime?”
King Paluta
