On Tuesday, November 15th, the Recording Academy announced the nominations for the 65th Annual Grammy Awards to be held on February 5, 2023. Past winners took the stage one at a time to read out the list of nominees across various categories. Tuning in live from his home in Miami, Reggae artist Kabaka Pyramid learned of his Grammy nomination.
The Journey
Born Keron Salmon, Kabaka Pyramid has been pegged as the “next-up” in the Reggae revival, alongside luminaries Protoje and Chronixx, by fans and critics alike. When the nominations were released, Kabaka had been huddled in front of his laptop for hours until R&B superstar John Legend read out the nominees for Best Reggae Album. “My album was the first to be called,” he explains. “I waited for them to say all of the nominees, and then mi let out the first kind of shouting and excitement. Right after that me start get pon the phone and call mi team, my mother, and my father.”
Kabaka has kept a tight circle around him. His team mostly consists of the same friends from high school with which he experimented with remixes and established a sound system. His parents were always supportive. “My father is a man who invested in my artistry from I was very young,” he shares. Kabaka’s father would afford him whatever he needed to mature his sound. “My mother still attends all my shows,” he smiles.
The Spirit of Collaboration
The ethos of collaboration runs through his now Grammy-nominated album, The Kalling (pronounced Calling). All but two tracks feature a collaboration, and the entire production was spearheaded by Reggae/Dancehall icon, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley. The Kalling is their latest collaboration, having established a fruitful partnership on Kabaka’s earlier work, Kontraband. “It’s just a great vibe working with such a talented producer and songwriter. Him just elevate the whole level of the music,” Kabaka reasons. “If I write something and bring it to the studio, him a go pick it apart and make a suggestion that a go just elevate the whole song.”
The Kalling is unabashedly Kabaka, effortlessly bouncing between generations of Hip Hop and conscious Roots Reggae. The opening track Mystic Man, which features a sample of the vocals and rhythm of the Peter Tosh song of the same name, is the perfect introduction to Kabaka. “Gong flipped the rhythm in this hip hop style – chop it up, rearrange it,” he says. “It has this Jamaican Hip Hop vibe about it, while still paying homage to the roots of Reggae music.”
His Inspiration
To hear it from the man himself, his style developed out of necessity. “I started out having to experiment with rapping, because I didn’t know how to sing,” he shares. “You have to know how to stay on key, how to hold a note, to do Reggae music or even Dancehall.” Pyramid’s noted influences are diverse. He lists Rap legends the Wu-Tang Clan, Talib Kweli, and Nas, alongside Dancehall icons such as Beenie Man, Sean Paul, and Spragga Benz.
Of course, there’s Jr. Gong. “Gong set the blueprint on how to combine Reggae, Hip Hop, and Dancehall,” he declares. Red, Gold, and Green is the standout single from the album, as Kabaka and Jr. Gong trade verses like a classic Hip Hop cipher, but over a Reggae beat.
On the prospect of winning, Kabaka laughs. “Me nah really pree it from a confidence perspective. It would be nice to win it, but just being in the category, being nominated, is good enough for me.” He continues, “As long as people love my album, any one of us can win it – it’s a win for Jamaica.” As to whether he’ll make it to the show himself, he smiles, “Everybody a go cuss me if I don’t go, so look like I have to. My parents ah mek plans already… It’d be nice to go on the red carpet and see what that’s like.”
