Dancehall artist Masicka announced on Sunday that his first album on Def Jam Records will be released in October. In June, the Tyrant artist said the forthcoming album album will be better than the critically acclaimed “438.”
“Same thing weh we always a come with good music, we have a studio full a music. In truth we have an album, a finish project, done and complete, the fans them can look out for that. I can tell you she its far better than ‘438’ and this a sum weh the fans them can look out for,” he stated.
The yet to be named upcoming album missed the eligibility period for the 2024 GRAMMYs as per Academy rules which will only consider albums released between Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 15, 2023. The submission deadline for online entries was August 31, 2023.
The album will however be eligible for the “Best Reggae Album” category submissions at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards.
Masicka’s 438, released December 3, 2021 was overlooked by voters for the 2023 Grammy awards.
The Portmore native’s independent project was the most streamed album by a male dancehall artist in the U.S. that was released over the 12 month period 2021-2022 according to data provided to World Music Views by Billboard sales tracker Luminate.
‘438’ earned 32,600 equivalent album units (SEA,TEA) in the US within a year. Of that sum, pure album sales in the US were 1,200 (together equaling total on-demand streams (audio + video) over its lifetime of 48.8 million).
The 16-track debut project was released through Genasyde/1Syde Records features collaborations with Stefflon Don, Popcaan, Dexta Daps and Sean Paul.
Upon its release 438 moved 5,164 equivalent album units from sales and streaming in the United States during its first three weeks in December 2021.
This included 2,864 units (733 copies) sold during the first week of release. His first week total consumption also included 400 in song sales, 2,781,700 from on-demand audio streams, and 123,400 from on-demand video streams according to WMV’s Luminate correspondence.
438 debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart and spent a total of 7 weeks on the chart, an achievement surpassed only by top streaming artists Shenseea and Koffee (30 weeks), among recent albums by Jamaicans.
The album has streamed in the top 10 on the Jamaica Apple music chart everyday since its release and is currently No. 1 on the chart following his performance at Streets Festival in Kingston on Saturday where he was joined on stage by Popcaan, Tarrus Riley and more.
