Dancehall artiste Kranium hurled a Caribbean Music Awards (CMA) trophy into the trash, and slammed the organisers for what he deemed blatant “disrespect”.
The Nobody Has to Know hitmaker had walked the stage on August 28 in New York, beaming, as he accepted the Caribbean R&B Artiste of the Year trophy.
But days later, Kranium says the organisers pulled a shocking move by rescinding his award, saying Dexta Daps was the winner. The official CMA winners list, posted on Instagram on September 12, confirmed Dexta Daps as the Caribbean Dancehall R&B Artiste of the Year.
On Monday, Kranium took to Instagram with a photo and a scathing caption:
“Caribbean Music Award y’all are one set a [expletive] and users !!! @caribmusicawards.”
Fans and followers were quick to weigh in, with reactions ranging from anger to disbelief.
The CMA, aired on BET, is meant to celebrate Caribbean music and culture. But for Kranium, the night became a nightmare. He said he felt “humiliated” and “disrespected” by the way the organisers handled the situation.
Pierre Bost, Kranium’s manager since 2013, recounted the chaos behind the scenes.
“The award took place on August 28 in NYC. Kranium attended the ceremony to perform Higher Life and, being nominated in five categories, he was one of the most nominated artistes this year,” Bost said.
Those categories are: Male Dancehall Artiste of the Year; Caribbean R&B Artiste of the Year; Dancehall Song of the Year ( Higher Life featuring Chronic Law); Dancehall Collaboration of the Year ( Higher Life featuring Chronic Law); Reggae Dancehall Video of the Year ( Higher Life featuring Chronic Law).
“On the night, Kranium delivered a stellar performance and won Caribbean R&B Artiste of the Year. He collected his award on stage in front of everyone at the packed Brooklyn venue,” Bost added.
But the celebration quickly turned sour. Days after the event, the CMA called Kranium to announce a “mistake” – the award supposedly belonged to Dexta Daps.
“They gave him some nonsense arguments to explain the situation. We all know it wasn’t a mistake – BET had already contacted us to license the track for TV rights. Then the Caribbean Music Awards team offered to take the award back and give it to Dexta Daps, promising Kranium a ‘Best Caribbean R&B Song of the Year’ trophy … a category that doesn’t even exist, where he wasn’t nominated … and they also wanted to remove him from the BET show collecting his award,” Bost said.
Kranium and his team rejected the proposal outright, calling it “stupid and disrespectful”. Ultimately, he was removed from the televised ceremony, and the award went to Dexta Daps.
In a six-minute video, Kranium vented his frustration, calling the incident the “biggest disrespect” of his career. On Tuesday, he took his anger one step further, showing the world him tossing the award into a garbage bin with the caption:
“Garbage is on Tuesday. A it this … me done wid the conversation.”
Attempts to reach CMA organisers were unsuccessful. The @caribmusicawards Instagram account issued a statement apologising for the mix-up, blaming an outdated document used to produce winner cards. The organisers insisted Dexta Daps was the rightful winner, though Kranium’s streaming numbers were considered. They added that this could have given Kranium an edge and said a Caribbean R&B Song of the Year category will debut next year.
According to CMA, all parties were informed of the error before the broadcast, but Kranium’s management declined the proposed resolution.
“We have documented communication with Kranium’s management. On September 22nd, they requested Kranium’s likeness and performance be removed from the show and declined to accept the newly proposed category award,” the statement said.
