Today it finally happened, Buju Banton has won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album for his album “Before The Dawn” on Gargamel Music, Inc. Last year the nominaton for a Grammy Award for his 2009 album “Rasta Got Soul” didn’t make it to win. In previous years Buju’s albums “Too Bad” (2007), “Friends For Life” (2004) and “Inna Heights” (1999) also received Grammy nominations.

The nomination of Buju’s “Before The Dawn” album caused controversy last year. Gay right groups in the USA placed an ad in the Los Angeles’ Daily Variety magazine calling on the Grammy’s to denounce homophobia in music and any art “that promotes or celebrates violence against any group of people.” In a response to the advertisement, the Recording Academy said that it honors artists “regardless of politics” and that “artists of a variety of political or cultural perspectives have been nominated or featured on the telecast” and therefore saw no reason to delete “Before The Dawn” from the list of nominations. Hopefully Buju winning this year’s Grammy Award will finally stop the discussion about his lyrics from the past. Congratulations Buju! It is also good to have something to cheer about in these heavy times for Buju Banton. At least copping the Grammy will put Buju and his defense team a positive mood for Buju’s new trial which will start on Monday February 14th.