Mastercard, Crocs, Toyota, Tourism, Grammy Awards, 3 Album Reviews Make This #ReggaeFriday

Volume 1, Issue 12

Happy #ReggaeFriday on this early day in October. There's lots to highlight this week including the Latin Grammy award nominations and the updated list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time from Rolling Stone that includes eight reggae or reggaeton albums. It's incredible to see the growing list of brands finding their way to attach themselves to reggae or reggaeton artists. We cover a few new ones today. Finally, learn about the disastrous effect that the COVID-19 pandemic has created for tourism in the Caribbean and how the region is adapting or rebounding.

Reggaeton and Grammy. Unavoidable.

At last year’s Latin Grammy Awards, popular reggaeton and Latin trap musicians such as J Balvin, Bad Bunny and Ozuna were dismissed in the show’s top categories. This year, they dominate.

Balvin scored a whopping 13 nominations for the 2020 Latin Grammys, including two nominations for album of the year and two for record of the year. The reason for two nominations for album of the year is because he released his own Colores album within the same time period as Oasis which he did in collaboration with Bad Bunny. Songs and albums released between June 1, 2019 through May 31, 2020 were eligible for nomination.

The Latin Academy announced Tuesday that Bad Bunny and Ozuna are behind Balvin with nine and eight nominations, respectively. Fan favorite Rosalia received four nominations.

For record of the year, which also has 10 nominees, contenders include popular hip-hop-flavored Latin songs that have dominated the Latin music charts and earned hundreds of millions plays on streaming services, with some even reaching the billion-mark on YouTube, including Karol G and Nicki Minaj’s global hit “Tusa” and “China” by Anuel AA, Daddy Yankee, Karol G, Ozuna and Balvin. To be clear, both songs are up for record of the year.

“Over the last year, we continued engaging in discussions with our members to improve the awards process and actively encouraged diverse Latin music creators to join and participate,” Latin Academy President and CEO Gabriel Abaroa Jr. said in a statement, calling this year’s nominees “a group that reflects the constant evolution of Latin music.”

The Latin Academy must have felt the scorn and backlash from reggaeton fans over last year's dismissal. The 21st annual Latin Grammy Awards will air live on November 19 on Univision.

Koffee and Mastercard. Priceless.

Mastercard announced last week that it is partnering exclusively with Grammy winning reggae artiste, Koffee, as its official brand ambassador in Jamaica. Under this partnership, Koffee and Mastercard will build awareness about digital payments and educate consumers and merchants about the convenience, wide acceptance, and safety and security features of Mastercard electronic payments options.

Mikayla Simpson, better known as Koffee, is the first official Mastercard brand ambassador in the Caribbean market. Her 2019 EP Rapture won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards making Koffee the youngest person and only woman to be awarded in the Best Reggae Album category.

On the topic of "what have you done lately," Koffee has as made guest appearances on tracks coming from John Legend ("Don't Walk Away") and Protoje ("Switch It Up"). She released a couple of new singles that must be a lead in to a forthcoming sophomore album. In July, as a creative reply to the COVID-19 lockdown, she released "Lockdown" that has generated more than 22 million views on YouTube Music. In August she dropped a motivational anthem called "Pressure" in response to the Black Lives Matter movement which you can experience by clicking HERE or the image below:

A remix of "Pressure" featuring Buju Banton offers an excellent alternative.

Crocs and Bad Bunny. Genius.

The Puerto Rican reggaeton icon Bad Bunny released his collaboration with Crocs earlier this week, shortly after receiving nine Latin Grammy nominations. They were sold out in 16-minutes.

The Latin rapper’s signature, limited edition shoes feature Jibbitz charms inspired by his February “YHLQMDLG” album, which stands for “Yo Hago Lo Que Me Da La Gana” (“I Do What I Want” in Spanish.)

The charms also include the artist’s signature bunny logo, a fire emoji, a planet and stars. The shoes themselves, which come in white or green, hit shelves and went for $65. By late Tuesday afternoon, the lowest price at which the shoes could be purchased on the resale site StockX was $265. 

“I believe in being honest and not limiting myself, which is also something that represents Crocs, and this is the message that I always want to be sure to send to my fans,” Bad Bunny said in an official statement. “As a longtime fan, creating my own design for Crocs was really fun. I hope to inspire others to have fun in their own ways with the personal style that makes them happy. " Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny, has been known to rock Crocs in quarantine as well as on stage.

In May this year, Bad Bunny released Las Que No Iban a Salir (The Ones That Were Not Going Out). The 10-track album is the first compilation album by Puerto Rican rapper and singer. It was released without any previous announcement. It features guest appearances by Zion & Lennox, Yandel, Don Omar, Nicky Jam, Jhay Cortez, and Bad Bunny's current girlfriend Gabriela. The COVID-19 inspired "En Casita" featuring Gabriela is the lead single off of the album which you can experience by clicking HERE or the image above.

Photographers and Bob. Iconic.

In honor of Bob Marley's seventy-fifth birthday, this glorious oversize book collects more than 150 photographs that celebrate the life and influence of the forefather of reggae and one of the greatest musical and sociopolitical icons of twentieth-century pop culture.

Drawing exclusively on photos in the Marley family archives, the book mixes the iconic and the intimate, bringing together striking images of Marley as a performer onstage with unseen glimpses into his creative process in and out of the studio and his family life in Jamaica. Making the most of its oversize pages, the book is designed as a monument to his influence.

Focusing on the last decade of his life--the period of his greatest worldwide fame--and with excerpts from unpublished interviews and prophetic quotes alongside the images, this is a definitive portrait of one of the great artists of the twentieth century made by those who knew him best.

Marley and advertising. Omnipresent.

If you've been watching television recently, you surely could not have missed Bob Marley's songs as the music beds for recent Toyota and Sandals Resorts.

The automobile manufacturing giant Toyota selected Marley’s 1977 hit single “Three Little Birds” for their ‘Outsmart’ TV ad. The message is a positive one, as the commercial motivate individuals to choose a vehicle with assisted driving alert systems to limit the cause of an accident. Watch it HERE or click on the image below.

The Jamaican operated Sandals Resorts also used the “Three Little Birds” for their new ad campaign effort. The campaign urges its viewers to stop by a Sandals resort in order to “escape to paradise to bring your love back to life and to start feeling free again”. Bob's grandson Skip Marley sings this cover for the resort. Watch it HERE or click on the image below.

Koffee was tapped for a new Life Water (LIFEWTR) ad earlier this year.

Caribbean and tourism. Adapting.

Tourism has had a big but narrow economic impact. Big as in that it is the main economic sustenance for the region. Pre-pandemic it accounted for between 34 per cent and 48 per cent of GDP in The Bahamas, Barbados, and Jamaica. Aruba, Antigua & Barbuda, and The Bahamas are the three most tourist-dependent economies in the world. Fourteen of the 15 most tourism-dependent nations in the Americas are in the Caribbean.

According to the Caribbean Tourism Association, the region suffered a 60 percent decline in arrivals from January to June of this year, compared with 2019. However, post-Christmas bookings for the Caribbean are encouraging, with destinations seeing bookings of 40 percent to 70 percent occupancy, as of mid-September.

Destinations like the Dominican Republic, Aruba, the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), British Virgin Islands (BVI), and several other Caribbean destinations have already begun marketing efforts. Puerto Rico’s tourism sector remains focused on “future” visitation during the next two to four months, as the island’s COVID-19 numbers have increased in recent weeks.

The priority for Discover Puerto Rico, the official Destination Marketing Organization (DMO), is to position the Island as a premier travel destination of the future. Discover Puerto Rico is educating potential travelers on current restrictions and guidelines to protect the health and safety of residents and visitors, and generate future demand to accelerate the tourism industry’s economic recovery as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

Social media posts and other marketing messaging shared by Discover Puerto Rico, the island’s destination marketing organization (DMO), are strategically aimed at inspiring future visitation and earn “top-of-mind awareness” with travelers for Puerto Rico to be considered for trips later this year as tourism’s high season approaches. Calls-to-action including, “It’s Time to Plan,” and “It’s Time to Book,” guide consumers to make trip decisions looking to the months ahead.

"In the short term, the we must continue to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, by supporting individuals who have lost their incomes and protecting our productive assets so we can bounce back quickly," says Ms. Therese Turner Jones. "We need to have our hotels, restaurants, tour operators and attractions fully ready when visitors return."

Ms. Turner-Jones is Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) country representative for Jamaica and general manager Caribbean Country Group

For their part, Antigua and Barbuda tourism officials are cautiously optimistic that with arrivals steadily increasing each month since the destination’s reopening in June, that the moderate upward trend will continue into the traditionally busy tourism period.

The USVI official reopened to tourists on Sept. 19. Restaurants are allowed to return to limited in-house dining and service, but are prohibited from allowing patrons to congregate around bar counter areas and from serving alcohol at bar counters. In addition, all bars, nightclubs, and cabarets remain closed.

The BVI, on the other hand, will officially reopen on Dec. 1, 2020. The reopening will include an educational campaign for visitors on the government’s plan and safety measures that they must follow to enter the British territory. The “BVILove” campaign launch will kick off the celebration that will welcome tourists back to the BVI, which traditionally coincides with the arrival of high-travel season.

My beloved Belize re-opened yesterday (October 1). I mention Belize because when you are there, you feel as if you are on a remote Caribbean Island. Belize is actually a Central American country that is a part of the Association of Caribbean States and Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

The Caribbean has recently instituted a travel bubble comprising St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, and Barbados which makes it easier for eligible travellers to traverse these countries.

At the same time, Turner-Jones thinks, "we can begin working on a new kind of tourism, more attuned to the future and to the needs of our island economies."

A key to the future of tourism is making it a much richer experience than beach trips. According to a consumer research by Euromonitor in 2019, four out of five American visitors would be interested in culture-based tourism. Visitors want to learn and interact more with local communities. They are eager to try local foods and enjoy adventures that become stories they can tell friends upon their return. Getting more visitors in communities generates new revenue sources for local businesses, enhances culture, community identity and pride.

In Jamaica, eco and community tourism have been attractive to tourists, especially Europeans and Asians. There are also good prospects for sports tourism. The Caribbean has natural resources for nature-based as well as culture-based solutions — scuba diving in the reefs, shark diving in The Bahamas, exploring the rich biodiversity of the forests in Trinidad and Tobago, and the mountains and mangroves of Jamaica. Music fests such as Trinidad Carnival and Jamaica's Reggae Sumfest are attractive cultural events.

#ReggaeFriday Weekend Soundtrack

This week I cover three album releases from Ricky Martin, Spragga Benz and Sizzla. The release of the updated list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time from Rolling Stone reveals eight albums from the reggae or reggaeton music genres on the list.

Ricky Martin / Pausa ("Pause")

Quietly released in May, Pausa is the first studio release by Ricky Martin since his 2015 studio album. The EP features six songs, out of which, five are collaborations with Sting, Carla Morrison, Pedro Capó and Bad Bunny among others. Following its release, Pausa charted at number eight on the US Latin Pop Albums chart. It was promoted with two singles, "Cántalo", with Bad Bunny and Residente, and "Tiburones". To experience "Cántalo," click HERE or on the image below.

"Tiburones" became Martin's 49th entry on US Hot Latin Songs charts, making him the first and only artist in history to enter the chart in five different decades. Additionally, it became his 50th entry on the US Latin Pop Airplay chart. And finally, Pausa was just recognized with a Grammy Award nomination earlier this week.

The Pausa EP album is an companion to a forthcoming part two due to be released very soon.

More specifically, Martin announced in January 2020 the release of his eleventh studio album, initially titled Movimiento. The record was supposed to be inspired by Puerto Rico's recent history including Hurricane Maria in 2017, the 2019 political protests and the 2019-20 earthquakes. However, following the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, Martin started experiencing panic attacks, "I spent two weeks with a poker face so my family wouldn't be affected, but finally I was able to raise my head and say ‘eh, something very good has to come out of this, get creative.’ And I started making music and it was my medicine, honestly, because I really felt like I was gasping for air."

Subsequently, he contacted his label, Sony, and decided to split the album in two EPs, Pausa and Play. Martin described the former as more "chill" and "relaxed", while the latter will consist of more upbeat songs. Pausa was released on May 28, 2020, while Play was originally slated for a September release. 

I suspect that the record label executives are Sony Music- Latin are waiting for the excitement around Jennifer Lopez and Maluma on the paternal twins release of "Pa' Ti" and "Lonely" to die down. In case you missed it, click HERE or the image below to experience the two-in-one music video featuring Maluma and JLo directed by Jessy Terrero.

Ricky gets a pass on #ReggaeFriday given his frequent collaboration with the reggaeton elite in both performance (i.e., Maluma in "Vente Pa' Ca") and writing (i.e., Bad Bunny "Caro"). As a professional in advertising, it's so interesting and important to see how Latin music artists are leaning in to culture by demonstrating how LGBTQ+ lifestyles are inclusive, accepted and simply a part of mainstream life. These two music videos are great examples of that. Historically, Latin culture shunned LGBTQ+ lifestyles. By the way, "Vente Pa' Ca" has over 1.6 billion views on YouTube alone. Bunny's "Caro" has 241 million views. Experience "Vente Pa' Ca" also directed by Jessy Terrero) by clicking above or the image below.

My hope is for Ricky to migrate his way over to a reggae music collaboration in the future. I could see him collaborating with any of the Marleys (more so Damian or Skip), Koffee or Sean Paul. Ever hear Enrique Iglesias' version of "Bailando" with Sean Paul? It's fun.

Sizzla / Million Times

Miguel Orlando Collins, known by his stage name Sizzla Kalonji or Sizzla, is a Jamaican reggae artist that rides a thin line between the harder dancehall and softer roots styles of reggae music. A versatile singjay-style vocalist with a gruff, gravelly tone, he is capable of both rapid-fire chatting, powerful, melodic singing, and his best backing riddims are among the strongest in contemporary dancehall. Catch his performance at the recent Sumfest virtual concert by clicking HERE or on the image below.

Emerging in the latter half of the 90s he helped lead dancehall back to the musical and spiritual influence of roots reggae with heavily Rastafarian subject matter. He is one of the most commercially and critically successful contemporary reggae artists and is noted for his high number of releases. As of 2018 he has released 56 solo albums. Today, Sizzla drops his 12-track album Million Times on reggae music fans without any big name collaborations. No music videos are available at this moment, but the full album can be found HERE.

In full disclosure, in early 2000s Sizzla faced backlash due to the anti-gay lyrics in some of his recordings causing the cancellation of many international concert events. Kalonji Muzik issued a statement after the cancellations that he abides by the laws of every country that he performs in and is not trying to invoke or incite violence against anyone. He remains somewhat of an enigma to the public at large, rarely granting interviews and keeping his concert appearances to a minimum.

Spragga Benz / The Journey Chosen

Carlton Grant, better known as Spragga Benz, began his career in 1991 as a disc selector for the L.A. Benz sound system, and first tried his hand at toasting in 1992 on a dare from Buju Banton, who needed B-sides for some dubplates he was cutting for the sound system. Spragga has always come at you hard in a dancehall style kind of way.

Ten albums and multiple collaborations later-- that has included Ben E. King, Carly Simon, Wyclef Jean, KRS-One, and Foxy Brown as well as Lady Saw and Beenie Man-- Spragga releases The Journey Chosen this past Monday. The 11-track album continues with his trademark hard edge vocal style. But, this album features numerous collaborations with the reggae elite that includes Ky-mani Marley, Konshens, Wayne Wonder, Kranium, and Jahazeil-- son of Buju Banton-- that helps to make the album far more interesting and palatable to the casual reggae or dancehall listener. Experience Spragga's timely anthem "Take A Look" by clicking HERE or the image below.

The most emotional piece on the album is the closing track "Never Leave", as it is a tribute to Spragga's son Carlton Kymani Grant, affectionately called Carlyle, who was shot by Jamaican police on August 23rd, 2008. Feel his pain in "Never Leave" by clicking HERE or the image below.

Rolling Stone / 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

Last week, Rolling Stone updated its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It was originally published in 2003, with a slight update in 2012. Over the years, it’s been the most widely read — and argued over — feature in the history of the magazine. Scrolling through every album by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Michael & Janet Jackson, I found five reggae albums and three reggaeton albums to make the list.

• #48 Bob Marley, Legend
• #71 Bob Marley and the Wailers, Exodus
• #140 Bob Marley and the Wailers, Catch A Fire
• #174 Jimmy Cliff and various artists, The Harder They Come: Original Soundtrack
• #315 Rosalía, El Mal Querer
• #344 Toots and the Maytals, Funky Kingston
• #447 Bad Bunny, X 100pre
• #473 Daddy Yankee, Barrio Fino

Consider revisiting some of these classics-- or soon to be classics.

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My #ReggaeFriday posts are part of a self-created commitment (and a self-indulgence) that started in early June 2020 with the intention to expose, elevate, celebrate, and expand an appreciation of the people, culture and music of reggae and reggaeton-- a slice of Caribbean Culture.