Nigeria: Bankulli, DJ Spinall join Recording Academy

The artists confirmed the news on social media at the weekend, noting what a great career milestone this means for them.

"I have been invited to become a part of the new Recording Academy member class, I’m honoured to have an opportunity to celebrate, represent, and give back to the music and its creators," said Bankulli, whose credits include contributions to Watch the Throne, the joint album between Kanye West and Jay-Z, and 2019's The Lion King: The Gift by Beyoncé.

Spinall said: "I am humbled and privileged to be part of the elite table. Grateful joining the new class of Grammy Academy. I’m extremely honoured to represent, celebrate and give back to music and the creators." Spinall is the CEO of TheCAP Music, and currently has four albums to his credit. 

“The class was selected by a committee of industry peers based on exceptional contributions to the music industry,” the Recording Academy, which is responsible for selecting the winners at the annual Grammy Awards, said.

Meanwhile, Ghanaian DJ and producer Juls was also invited to join the academy, taking the representation of musicians and music professionals of African and African-American descent in the collective to 21%.

"The move has been lauded by many of the continent's industry watchers, many of whom have publicly congratulated the continent's latest additions to the Recording Academy as an important milestone for Afrobeats and African music in general.

"For now, they [the Grammys] just have the World category," Juls told Hitz FM this week. "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."