If it wasn’t going to be Ten City, at least Black Coffee will take the prize.
In a milestone for South African electronic music, Black Coffee’s Subconsciously won the 2022 award for Best Dance/Electronic Album at last night’s Grammy Awards.
The album went up against records by Major Lazer, Illenium, Marshmello and Sylvan Esso, but most notably Chicago house legends Ten City, whose 2021 album Judgement marked the first nomination for one of house music’s foundational groups.
Black Coffee thanked God and David Guetta (in that order) in his televised acceptance speech, clipped here:
It was a humbling speech, from what I’ve always found is a pretty humble artist. 5 Mag published what we think might have been the first cover story on Black Coffee for a publication outside of South Africa back in 2010. The interview was conducted just ahead of his debut at Chicago’s Boom Boom Room, which 5 Mag’s Czarina Mirani captured on video here:
I think some of his personality — and a mindset which has always thought of his own story as being part of a greater story, particularly the story of African artists — comes through in that piece.
Other awards last night went to Rufus du Sol for “Best Dance/Electronic Recording” and Mike Shinoda for best remix, who beat out most notably Booker T, whose remix of “Back To Life” for Soul II Soul was our obvious favorite in the category.
