Kranium Tosses Caribbean Music Award Trophy Into The Trash

Key Takeaways:

• Kranium publicly rejected his Caribbean Music Award after being told it was given to him by mistake.
• The organizers admitted to a “human error” and offered a slightly different award, which Kranium declined.
• The fallout has raised questions about artist recognition and accountability.

Jamaican reggae and dancehall singer Kranium has a beef with the Caribbean Music Awards. According to the “Nobody Has to Know” artist, he was unceremoniously told that he was given an award in error, and he has since responded by throwing the physical award — which he was asked to return — into the trash.

At the CMAs, taped in New York City on Aug. 28, Kranium accepted the Caribbean R&B Artist of the Year award on stage. Per the Atlantic Records signee, he was told several days later that the actual winner in the category was Dexta Daps. It’s worth noting the show didn’t air on BET until Sept. 12.

Taking to social media, a frustrated Kranium told his side of the struggle. “I [have] never been this disrespected in my whole entire life … [in the way that] the Caribbean Music Awards did to me,” he said in a video posted to Instagram on Tuesday (Sept. 16). He also shared an IG Story where he threw the physical award into a garbage can.

He then proceeded to explain why he could never forgive the CMAs, citing reasons that included not asking for an award — or even knowing that he was going to be a recipient of an award — when they asked him to perform at the show. “All I do in this business is mind my business,” Kranium added. “[I don’t] follow clout. [I don’t] follow hype.”

If you’ve ever been cursed out by a West Indian, let’s just say after listening to Kranium go in on the CMAs, there’s no doubt that he was born in Jamaica. The organizers issued a lengthy statement on Wednesday (Sept. 17) after they got wind of the artist taking to social media to express his ire.

“We apologize publicly, as we’ve done privately, to all parties involved for our error during the Aug. 28 taping of the Caribbean Music Awards,” read the statement attributed to The Caribbean Music Awards Team. “While we had discussions about this issue with Kranium’s management before the show’s airing, we have noticed recent statements online and believe that our supporters deserve more clarity on the matter.”

The statement goes on to chalk up the mistaken award to “human error,” noting that Dexta Daps got 40.8% of the fan vote while Kranium got 12.6%. It also noted that the latter did receive more streams for his music. So as a solution, adding a Caribbean R&B Song of the Year category was presented as an option, which Kranium rejected.

The reggae star’s manager, Pierre Bost, told DancehallMag, “Kranium attended the [CMAs] to perform ‘Higher Life’ and because he was nominated in five categories (one of the [artists with] the most nominations this year). Kranium delivered a great performance as usual and won Caribbean R&B Artist of the Year. He collected his award on stage in front of all the industry people present in the packed Brooklyn venue.”

Bost confirmed that the CMAs did offer up a different award, adding, “We all know that it wasn’t a mistake — BET already contacted us to license the track for TV rights. We obviously didn’t agree to this stupid and disrespectful option.”

It looks like both sides may have to agree to disagree.