Nolan Baynes, has been in the music industry for a long time. His connection to Jamaica runs deep and rightfully so being from Guyana. At one point in his career he almost took RETV straight to MTV. That was until Tempo came along and usurped that idea.
Outside of Cable television he managed Nadine Sutherland for a time and co-managed Grammy winning R&B singer Tamia who is also of Guyanese descent, along with Broadway star Deborah Cox. He says those times taught him a lot.
He now works as an Entertainment Marketing Executive consulting with 300 Entertainment (Megan Thee Stallion, Young Thug, Gunna), and recently produced the Netflix film Bubba Wallace. He says there are no immediate plans to sign a reggae act.
His rise to power in the music industry was a matter of timing, heritage and a unique perspective on culture. Outside of the island Jamaica, Flatbush Brooklyn is the most populated Jamaican neighborhood per square mile and that was where he moved after migrating.
“I was born in Guyana”, he said with certainty as he sets the base for how he got into such powerful positions in the music industry.
“I moved to America when I was like 9/10 in the 80s. It was an interesting time because Hip Hop was being conceived at that time right, hip hop was just coming to power and of course dancehall was sorta parallel, the growth of dancehall was happening at the same time.”
“I was in a unique position growing up in Brooklyn and Flatbush.”
“Dancehall and reggae became normal for us, we would listen to Red Alert and KRS1 and then go to our bredrin house to mix chune,” he continued.
At the 64th annual Grammy awards reggae band SOJA walked away with the trophy for their album Beauty In The Silence. They are the first (mostly) all white band to win a Grammy for best reggae album. They are also the second non-Jamaican band to do so. The news of the win immediately drew battle lines in Jamaica and the reggae music community. Some say reggae belongs to Jamaica and only Jamaicans are entitled to its spoils. Others believe reggae is now global and open to other nations and groups of people. Nolan shares a unique perspective with simple solutions for reggae’s development and black music in general.
“I have mixed emotions, on one side Reggae is fulfilling its potential as a human music, a global music. It’s a spiritual music that should translate across color lines but in today’s world where black folks’ culture is being appropriated by the mainstream it’s difficult not to be upset. It’s a complex issue… and yet simple.”
The Grammy awards the best reggae album through a voting process each year since 1985. However over the years they have been accused of getting it wrong, not only with reggae music, but hip hop and other genres. There have been many boycotts and calls for a new type of award show that’s more reflective of black culture.
“We are literally begging to be recognized by a white controlled award show with a terrible history of being true to most black art forms. Hip Hop was victimized by the Grammys as well. So part of me believes we shouldn’t fucking care bout dem damn award. They don’t validate our art form but like I said it’s complicated. I want us to be more organized and less entitled. I want us to celebrate our own art form by nurturing it and helping it grow.”
Nolan’s pro-black s culture solution is to do for self and not expect others to do what we are not willing to do to protect and grow the culture. That requires hard work, he says.
He continued, “I want us to stop believing because we created it, someone will just do the right thing and mek sure we get the appropriate credit. It’s immature and unrealistic. I want us to work fucking hard at protecting, and cultivating it. Be more creative w/ the creative process and more disciplined and innovative on the business side. It’s like dropping a hundred dollar bill and expecting someone to return it because it was once yours.”
Several persons have come out in support of SOJA including Chronixx, grammy voter Cristy Barber, who indicated that it was her who helped them to get the win. Cristy also says that she is “shocked that everyone is shocked”.
“Reggae music is international music, it is the most powerful music in the world, it inspires everybody…I am a white girl, blonde hair blue eyes from the midwest in America. I am not Jamaican, I am a Grammy nominated producer.” She assuredly stated “Nobody had a problem when it happened to me” she said.
“When it comes to the Grammy process you need to start thinking about this if it matters to you when you start recording,” she continued.
The Recording Academy’s membership is open to creative or technical music professionals, such as singers, composers, producers, art directors, and engineers. Voting members must have been either producers, performers, or engineers on six or more tracks of a commercially released album or 12 or more digital tracks, a requirement that most of Jamaica’s music professionals of all ages, easily meet.
Prospective members are also required to provide two recommendations from their peers and must pay a $100 membership fee yearly.
Two time Grammy winner and dancehall superstar Shaggy has previously encouraged members of the local music fraternity to get involved in the voting process, to counteract allegedly unfair treatment from the Academy.
“We are emotional about it, as we should be, it’s part of our identity, born out of struggle and the need to reclaim our humanity, … certain people have the luxury of removing that level of emotions from the equation. They can argue that we don’t understand the voting process or don’t consider it when we make the music in the studio, frankly more times man ah try mek a song w/ hopes of prolonging survival… bottomline, white people or Grammy people will not sympathize with us. They created the system and it was not for us. Strategically, if the gold is to be accepted by them and their system we have to be better at working their system. If we choose not to, we can not be mad.”
“Maybe we should consider creating our own award shows”, he concludes.
