As September closed out the third quarter of the year, a lot of the biggest Caribbean music news revolved around the fallout of the 2025 Caribbean Music Awards. On Aug. 28, the region’s biggest stars convened at Brooklyn’s Kings Theater for the third annual Caribbean Music Awards, featuring performances by Lila Iké, Elephant Man, Lady Lava, Full Blown and Maureen. Shenseea, Romain Virgo, and Masicka were among the night’s biggest winners, and special honorees included Busta Rhymes, Sizzla and Carimi.
At the in-person ceremony, Kranium was announced as the victor of Caribbean R&B artist of the year, and even took the stage to accept his award in front of the packed theatre. Once the ceremony aired on BET (Sept. 12), Dexta Daps was named the winner, prompting a fiery exposé from Kranium on Instagram. According to a statement from Kranium’s manager, Pierre Bost, the Caribbean Music Awards team put Kranium on a three-way call with Dexta Daps to explain the mishap and allegedly ask the “Nobody Has to Know” singer to return the award in exchange for a Caribbean R&B song of the year honor, which does not currently exist at the awards show.
“We all know that it wasn’t a mistake — BET already contacted us to license the track for TV rights,” Bost stressed in a statement. “We obviously didn’t agree to this stupid and disrespectful option. As a result of this incredible situation, the Caribbean Music Award team removed Kranium completely from the BET TV show and gave the award to Dexta Daps.” On Instagram, Kranium wrote, “Y’all are one set a p—s and users !!! @caribmusicawards,” then sharing a now-expired Instagram Story of him throwing the trophy in the garbage. “@caribmusicawards garbage is on Tuesdays… a it this me done with the conversation.”
In a Sept. 16 statement clarifying the kerfuffle and the voting process, which no longer appears on their official Instagram page, the Caribbean Music Awards confirmed Dexta Daps was the clear winner, receiving 40.8% of the vote, and that “outdated documentation was mistakenly used in creating the winner cards.”
“We deeply regret all that has transpired, and we are implementing new safeguards to prevent future issues,” reads the statement’s close. “It is never our aim to divide, diminish or dishonor. We remain committed to amplifying and uplifting Caribbean music.”
Outside of that now-resolved spat, the past month in Caribbean music has been dominated by a plethora of social media trends, from the Bahamas-led “Bang!!!” dance trend to the viral remixes of Zuchu’s “Amada.”
Naturally, Billboard’s monthly Reggae/Dancehall Fresh Picks column will not cover every last track, but our Spotify playlist — which is linked below — will expand on the 10 highlighted songs. So, without any further ado:
