First Billboard effed up the Top 10 Rappers list by excluding Tupac and now this! How in the heck does a white, British soul singer whom everyone has forgotten about become “Reggae Artist of the Year”? What happened to let’s say Chronixx, Morgan Heritage, Jah Cure, Luciano, and if Billboard was hellbent on a a white artist there’s Alborosie! Need I continue? This is a sham, a travesty and a disgrace. I am so sick and tired of so-called mainstream music purveyors ignoring the foundation reggae artists and continuing to celebrate, promote and promulgate any white artist performing in any black genre of music.
Joss Stone is not known for being a reggae artist but biggups to her for following in Snoop Lion’s footsteps by embracing reggae music with her seventh album Water for Your Soul. The album, reportedly sold 29,000 copies making it the biggest-selling reggae album of 2015 and reigned for eight weeks at the top of Billboard’s weekly reggae albums chart. That being said, if this is Billboard’s sole criteria for selection, they need to change the criteria! For one thing, her album is not even really reggae. The album has been described as ‘incorporating elements of reggae and hip-hop’.
Billboard’s antics adds to the continuing insults to reggae artists. Earlier this year, MTV hosted its first reggae artist on “MTV Unplugged” and it was a white, German reggae artist named Gentleman. No disrespect, he’s talented but to select him as the first-ever reggae artist for this platform is absurd.
Billboard’s selection is a slap in the face to reggae lovers all over the world and solidifies to me that so-called “mainstream” media is out-of-touch and white-washed. Social media’s response is just as peppered (you know this wouldn’t go down without some noise!):
Wait. Stop. Hold the phone. Joss Stone is Billboard magazine’s Reggae Artist Of The Year…….? But……how?
— Olivia A. Cole (@RantingOwl) December 23, 2015
Hold up… Joss Stone has been named Reggae Artist of the Year by Billboard! REGGAE artist?! Wasn’t this guy was it? pic.twitter.com/zdud5xwpXC
— Elliot Gonzalez (@elliot_gonzalez) December 22, 2015
from the DailyBeast.com summed it up pretty well:
As Billboard accolades and awards shows highlight the whiteness of pop consumer tastes, music fans should take note and take stock of their biases. And recognize that those biases permeate every facet of how music is marketed and managed.
Billboard can announce whomever as the whatever of 2015—it doesn’t mean much in and of itself. But those numbers—those consistently troubling numbers—should give everyone pause. Black art does not need white approval or validation—it has been great and will always be great. But with so many white artists leveraging black culture for visibility and acclaim and so much contemporary black culture demanding to be heard; don’t be surprised if a few famous black faces stop agreeing to appear at shows where they are routinely sent home empty-handed. We are more than capable of celebrating ourselves.We’ve always thrown a better party anyway. ~
Drops the mic… #ICant
