Juls: We'll fight for more African categories at the Grammys

13 Jul 2020 - 20:24

Juls, the British-Ghanaian DJ and producer who recently became a member of Grammy oversight body the Recording Academy, has said that he intends to fight for more categories for African artists at music's biggest awards.

Juls wants to see Grammy categories that reflect the diversity of African music.

The musician, who believes that his extensive catalogue and work ethic secured him the invitation to the academy, spoke to Accra-based Hitz FM on 13 July.

"For now, they [the Grammys] just have the World category. The aim is to fight for more categories. So, we want to fight for an African category, we want to fight for an Afrobeats category, we want to fight for all those things so that there can be some distinction."

Juls said world music was too broad and lumping various genres under one category was inaccurate, especially since African music alone was "massive".

Asked what Ghanaian artists could do to earn Grammy nods, the musician said: "It's not about just putting out a dope project." Citing Burna Boy's African Giant, Juls said that for the album to be considered for nomination, the Nigerian took the necessary steps, including overhauling his brand, packaging the right message, and marketing the project extensively.

"Putting out an album is one thing, but you need to have the right team behind you," Juls said. "You need to have the message in there, and you need to have your PR, marketing and branding on lock. And you need to be very active: you need to travel, you need to have people in the room shouting your name. If you don't have all these things, your music is really just going to be heard by people who are just hardcore fans, which is fine, but if you're looking to expand and be greater, then you need to work a bit harder."

Juls hopes to impart the knowledge he will gain at his new post to musicians and other stakeholders back home in Ghana.

Elsewhere, in Nigeria, DJ Spinall and renowned musician and A&R executive Bankulli have also joined the 2020 class of the Recording Academy, raising representation of musicians and music professionals of African or African-American descent at the organisation to 21%.