Jamaican dancehall artist Shenseea. 25, has received the 2021 Music of Black Origin (MOBO) Award in the category of Best Reggae Act. With her win, Shenseea becomes the first female artist to receive the Reggae Award since it was first presented in 1996.
The dancehall star was presented with the award at a ceremony at the Coventry Building Society Arena in London on December 5, 2021. The ceremony featured the first live show since 2017. Upon winning the award, Shenseea took to Instagram to share her excitement with her 4.7 million followers, writing, “I won a MOBO Award (fire emoji) @moboawards Thank you to all who voted.” Her win was also announced on the official Instagram page of MOBO, where the post read, “Huge congratulations on @shenseea for winning BEST REGGAE ACT…”
Shenseea received the Best Reggae Act title over a field of competitors that included Lila Ike, Popcaan, Sean Paul, Skillibeng, and Spice. The 2021 MOBO Best Reggae Act nomination was the second one awarded to Spice, while Sean Paul, who congratulated Shenseea in a comment on her Instagram page, was the winner of the award six times: 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2012, and 2013. Two-time winner Popcaan won in 2015 and 2016, with 2021 being his seventh nomination in that category. Buju Banton was the winner in 2020.
Kanya King launched the MOBO Awards in 1996 in celebration of the wide variety of talent of Black origin who were making music in the United Kingdom. A MOBO award is presented in honor of artistic and technical achievements for British and global talent in reggae, R&B and soul, hip hop, grime, jazz, gospel, and Afrobeats.
Shenseea was born Chinsea Lee in 1996 in Manchester, Jamaica. When she was 19, she decided to pursue a professional singing career in dancehall. In 2015, she performed on a Reggae Sumfest side stage, and in 2017, she had moved up to the main stage. She has toured with Vybz Kartel and attracted multiple sponsorship deals with major firms like Telecom, Firm Flow, and Boom. Among her numerous awards are the Young Hot and Hype Artiste title in 2016 and the Youth View Awards; Break Out Celebrity of 2016, and Collaboration of the Year for the song “Loodi” with Vybz Kartel. She has also freestyled as a rapper and joined Sean Paul for the single “Rolling” in 2017. She featured on the 2018 Christina Aguilera album “Liberation” on the song “Right Moves.” Most recently, she collaborated with Kanye West on his “Donda” album, which earned her a nomination for her first Grammy in the Album of the Year category for 2022.
Shenseea plans to release her debut album early in 2022 on the Rich Immigrants label of Rvssian. This is a joint venture with Interscope Records.
Photo – Shenseea Instagram
