Kenyan Grammy Nominees and Winners

Last year, Soon-to-be Kenya’s former President, William Ruto, announced that the Kenyan government had paid 500 million Kenyan shillings to host the Grammy Awards in Kenya. However, neither the Kenyan government nor the Recording Academy, which organizes the Grammy Awards, has been able to provide proof of payment or a legal agreement to verify whether the Kenyan president’s statement has any validity.

Can you imagine what 500 million shillings could do for the Kenyan music industry?  Before the “500 million investment” by the Kenyan government to host the African Grammys in Kenya. Kenya has had several artists, producers, and songwriters either win or be nominated for the Grammys. In this article, we are going to highlight both the Kenyans who have won as well as those who have been nominated previously. The point of highlighting this is to prove the point that even without hosting the Grammys, Kenyan artists have been able to get themselves on the world stage without the government’s involvement but sheer talent.

Kenyan artists have made significant contributions to the Grammy Awards in recent years. In 2022, Naiboi and Wyre received a nomination for Best Reggae Album for their collaboration on Jamaican singer Etana’s album, Pamoja. The following year in 2023, Kenyan-born rapper and singer, Kaycyy Pluto was recognized for his role and guest appearance on Kanye West’s song Hurricane which won the Best Melodic Rap Performance.

The most notable Grammy year for Kenyan music was during the 2024 Grammy Awards when Kenyan band Sauti Sol as well as Bensoul took home a Grammy for their contribution to Burna Boy’s album Twice as Tall which won Best Global Music Album.

Another big win for Kenyan music happened when the Grammy’s recognized Kenyan music genre Genge making it eligible for nomination at the Grammys.

Kenyan music does not need government involvement to win Grammys. Kenyans were winning Grammys before and will continue to do so. We at Radio 254 want to see more Kenyans win Grammys and believe it is important that we highlight the artists who have paved the way up to this point as we look to the future. It would be sad for us to seek to host and win more Grammys without properly looking at and highlighting our journey as Kenya with the Grammys. We really must appreciate Bensoul, Naiboi, Sauti Sol, and Wyre for their contributions to Kenyan music and for representing Kenya at the biggest musical award ceremony in the world.

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