Back 2 Da Future Music recognised 95 reggae-dancehall trailblazers at the Excellence In Music Ceremony at Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston on 15 September 2026. Session players, producers, engineers and sample credits got plaques and certificates that usually stay in the liner notes.
Howard Campbell reported the night for the Jamaica Observer on 20 September. The London-based company, run by Kennedy Mensah, used to call the event the Grammy Certificate Ceremony. This year it again worked with the British Phonographic Industry and The Royalty Network Inc.
Among those named: Ansel Collins (BPI silver for Pressure Drop / Toots and the Maytals); Noel Davy (certificates for Damian Marley’s Grammy-winning Welcome to Jamrock and Julian Marley nominations); Neville Hinds (gold for Paul Simon’s Negotiations And Love Songs, which includes Mother And Child Reunion). Posthumous recognition went to Dalton Browne, Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson and Gregory Isaacs, with family collecting discs and certificates.
On the dancehall side, Flourgon took platinum for Miley Cyrus’s We Can’t Stop sampling We Run Things; Agent Sasco got platinum for a turn on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly plus Grammy certificates; Aidonia received platinum for Fi Di Jockey sampled on will.i.am and Cody Wise’s It’s My Birthday; Richie Stephens left with five Grammy certificates and three BPI discs, including platinum for Rihanna’s Work sampling his Sail Away rhythm. Delly Ranx, Dean Fraser, Glen Washington, Chester Walker, Roland McDermott, Brian Gold and Victan “Teetimus” Edmund were also among the night’s winners.
Mensah told the Observer the most satisfying part was “apprecilovtion” for people who had never been celebrated like this before.
What this means. Kingston finally put a room around credits that usually live on a disc sleeve. The plaques do not rewrite the charts, but they make the session and sample chain visible in Jamaica, not only in London or Los Angeles paperwork.
What to do. If you book, programme, or write about Jamaican music, keep the contributor list next to the hit name. When a plaque photo circulates, credit the player or producer in the caption — not only the star who fronted the record.
Last fact-checked 21 September 2026.
