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2023 Billboard Music Awards: The Complete Winners List

November 20, 2023 in Entertainment, Music

The 2023 Billboard Music Awards have rocked the lines and we are proud of Afrobeats for shining bright at the annual awards show!

The annual music awards show, presented by Marriott Bonvoy, aired Sunday via BBMAs. This year's show introduced nine new categories: top Hot 100 songwriter, top Hot 100 producer, top rock duo/group, top global K-pop artist, top K-pop tour, top K-pop album, top global K-pop song, top Afrobeats artist and top Afrobeats song.

Performers at the 2023 BBMAs included Mariah Carey, Tate McRae, David Guetta and Bebe Rexha, Stray Kids, Karol G, NewJeans, Peso Pluma and Morgan Wallen.

See below for the full list of 2023 BBMAs winners.

ARTIST AWARDS

Top Artist

  • Drake

  • Luke Combs

  • Morgan Wallen

  • SZA

  • Taylor Swift

 Top New Artist

  •  Bailey Zimmerman

  • Ice Spice

  •  Jelly Roll

  •  Peso Pluma

  •  WINNER: Zach Bryan

 Top Male Artist

  •  Drake

  • Luke Combs

  • Morgan Wallen

  • The Weeknd

  • Zach Bryan

Top Female Artist

  •  Beyoncé

  • Miley Cyrus

  • Olivia Rodrigo

  • SZA

  • Taylor Swift

 Top Duo/Group

  •  Eslabon Armado

  • Fifty Fifty

  •  Fuerza Regida

  •  Grupo Frontera

  • Metallica

 Top Billboard 200 Artist

  •  Drake

  • Luke Combs

  • Morgan Wall

  • SZA

  • Taylor Swift

 Top Hot 100 Artist

  •  Drake

  • Luke Combs

  • Morgan Wallen

  • SZA

  • Taylor Swift

 Top Hot 100 Songwriter (NEW)

  •  Ashley Gorley

  • Jack Antonoff

  • SZA

  • Taylor Swift

  • Zach Bryan

 Top Hot 100 Producer (NEW)

  • Jack Antonoff

  • WINNER: Joey Moi

  • Metro Boomin

  •  Taylor Swift 

  • Zach Bryan

Top Streaming Songs Artist

  •  Drake

  •  Morgan Wallen

  •  SZA

  •  Taylor Swift

  •  Zach Bryan

 Top Radio Songs Artist

  •  Miley Cyrus

  •  Morgan Wallen

  •  SZA

  •  Taylor Swift

  •  The Weeknd

Top Song Sales Artist

  •  Jason Aldean

  •  Miley Cyrus

  •  Morgan Wallen

  •  Oliver Anthony Music

  •  Taylor Swift

Top Billboard Global 200 Artist

  •  Bad Bunny

  •  Morgan Wallen

  •  SZA

  •  Taylor Swift

  •  The Weeknd

Top Billboard Global (Excl. U.S.) Artist

  •  Bad Bunny

  •  Ed Sheeran

  •  NewJeans

  •  Taylor Swift

  •  The Weeknd

Top R&B Artist

  • Beyoncé

  • Chris Brown

  •  Rihanna

  •  WINNER: SZA

  •  The Weeknd

 Top R&B Male Artist

  •  Chris Brown

  •  Miguel

  •  WINNER: The Weeknd

 Top R&B Female Artist

  • Beyoncé

  •  Rihanna

  •  WINNER: SZA

Top R&B Touring Artist

  • WINNER: Beyoncé

  •  Bruno Mars

  •  The Weeknd

Top Rap Artist

  • 21 Savage

  • WINNER: Drake

  • Lil Baby

  • Metro Boomin

  •  Travis Scott

Top Rap Male Artist

  • 21 Savage

  •  WINNER: Drake

  •  Travis Scott

Top Rap Female Artist

  •  Doja Cat

  •  Ice Spice

  • WINNER: Nicki Minaj

 Top Rap Touring Artist

  •  50 Cent

  •  WINNER: Drake

  •  Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa

 Top Country Artist

  • Bailey Zimmerman

  • Luke Combs

  • Morgan Wallen

  • Taylor Swift

  • Zach Bryan

Top Country Male Artist

  •  Luke Combs

  •  Morgan Wallen

  •  Zach Bryan

 Top Country Female Artist

  • Lainey Wilson

  • Megan Moroney

  • Taylor Swift

Top Country Duo/Group

  • Old Dominion

  • Parmalee

  • WINNER: Zac Brown Band

 Top Country Touring Artist

  •  George Strait

  •  Luke Combs

  •  Morgan Wallen

Top Rock Artist

  • Jelly Roll

  • Noah Kahan

  • Stephen Sanchez

  •  Steve Lacy

  •  WINNER: Zach Bryan

 Top Rock Duo/Group (NEW)

  • WINNER: Arctic Monkeys

  •  Foo Fighters

  •  Metallica

 Top Rock Touring Artist

  •  WINNER: Coldplay

  •  Depeche Mode

  •  Elton John

Top Latin Artist

  • WINNER: Bad Bunny

  •  Eslabon Armado

  •  Fuerza Regida

  •  Karol G

  •  Peso Pluma

 Top Latin Male Artist

  • WINNER: Bad Bunny

  •  Peso Pluma

  •  Rauw Alejandro

Top Latin Female Artist

  • WINNER: Karol G

  • ROSALÍA

  •  Shakira

 Top Latin Duo/Group

  •  Eslabon Armado

  •  Fuerza Regida

  •  Grupo Frontera

 Top Latin Touring Artist

  •  Daddy Yankee

  •  WINNER: Karol G

  •  RBD

 Top Global K-Pop Artist (NEW)

  •  Jimin

  • WINNER: NewJeans

  • Stray Kids

  • TOMORROW X TOGETHER

  •  TWICE

 Top K-Pop Touring Artist (NEW)

  • WINNER: BLACKPINK

  •  SUGA

  •  TWICE

 Top Afrobeats Artist (NEW)

  •  WINNER: Burna Boy

  •  Libianca

  •  Rema

  •  Tems

  •  Wizkid

Top Dance/Electronic Artist

  • WINNER: Beyoncé

  • Calvin Harris

  • David Guetta

  • Drake

  • Tiësto

Top Christian Artist

  • Brandon Lake

  • Elevation Worship

  • for KING & COUNTRY

  • WINNER: Lauren Daigle

  • Phil Wickham

Top Gospel Artist

  • CeCe Winans

  • Elevation Worship

  • WINNER: Kanye West

  • Kirk Franklin

  • Maverick City Music

 ALBUM AWARDS

Top Billboard 200 Album

  • Drake & 21 Savage, Her Loss

  • Metro Boomin, HEROES & VILLAINS

  • Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time

  • SZA, SOS

  • Taylor Swift, Midnights

Top Soundtrack
WINNER: Barbie: The Album

  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Music From and Inspired By ELVIS

  • Metro Boomin Presents Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Soundtrack From and Inspired by the Motion Picture)

  • Top Gun: Maverick

Top R&B Album

  • Beyoncé, RENAISSANCE

  • Brent Faiyaz, WASTELAND

  • Drake, Honestly, Nevermind

  • Steve Lacy, Gemini Rights

  • WINNER: SZA, SOS

Top Rap Album

  • WINNER: Drake & 21 Savage, Her Loss

  • Future, I Never Liked You

  • Lil Baby, It’s Only Me

  • Metro Boomin, HEROES & VILLAINS

  • Travis Scott, UTOPIA

Top Country Album

  • Luke Combs, Gettin’ Old

  • Luke Combs, Growin’ Up

  • Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time

  • Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)

  • Zach Bryan, American Heartbreak

Top Rock Album

  • HARDY, the mockingbird & THE CROW

  • Jelly Roll, Whitsitt Chapel

  • Noah Kahan, Stick Season

  • Steve Lacy, Gemini Rights

  • WINNER: Zach Bryan, American Heartbreak

Top Latin Album

  • WINNER: Bad Bunny, Un Verano Sin Ti

  • Eslabon Armado, DESVELADO

  • Ivan Cornejo, Dañado

  • Karol G, MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO

  • Peso Pluma, GÉNESIS

Top K-Pop Album (NEW)

  • Jimin, FACE

  • NewJeans, 2nd EP ‘Get Up’

  • Stray Kids, 5-STAR

  • TOMORROW X TOGETHER, The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION

  • TWICE, READY TO BE: 12th Mini Album

Top Dance/Electronic Album

  • WINNER: Beyoncé, RENAISSANCE

  • Drake, Honestly, Nevermind

  • ILLENIUM, ILLENIUM

  • Kim Petras, Feed the Beast

  • Tiësto, DRIVE

Top Christian Album

  • WINNER: Anne Wilson, My Jesus

  • Brandon Lake, House of Miracles

  • CAIN, Rise Up

  • Elevation Worship, LION

  • Lauren Daigle, Lauren Daigle

Top Gospel Album

  • Jonathan McReynolds, My Truth

  • WINNER: Maverick City Music x Kirk Franklin, Kingdom Book One

  • Tye Tribbett, All Things New

  • Whitney Houston, I Go to the Rock: The Gospel Music of Whitney Houston

  • Zacardi Cortez, Imprint (Live in Memphis)

 

SONG AWARDS

 Top Hot 100 Song

  • Metro Boomin, The Weeknd & 21 Savage, “Creepin’”

  • Miley Cyrus, “Flowers”

  • Morgan Wallen, “Last Night”

  • SZA, “Kill Bill”

  • Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero”

Top Streaming Song

  • Miley Cyrus, “Flowers”

  • Morgan Wallen, “Last Night”

  • SZA, “Kill Bill”

  • Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero”

  •  Zach Bryan, “Something in the Orange”

Top Radio Song

  • Metro Boomin, The Weeknd & 21 Savage, “Creepin’”

  • WINNER: Miley Cyrus, “Flowers”

  • Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down”

  • Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero”

  • The Weeknd & Ariana Grande “Die for You”

Top Selling Song

  • Jason Aldean, “Try That in a Small Town”

  • Jimin, ‘Like Crazy”

  • Miley Cyrus,“Flowers”

  • Oliver Anthony Music, “Rich Men North of Richmond”

  • Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero”

Top Collaboration

  • David Guetta & Bebe Rexha, “I’m Good (Blue)”

  • WINNER: Metro Boomin, The Weeknd & 21 Savage, “Creepin’”

  • Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down”

  • Sam Smith & Kim Petras, “Unholy”

  • The Weeknd & Ariana Grande, “Die for You”

Top Billboard Global 200 Song

  • WINNER: Miley Cyrus, “Flowers”

  • Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down”

  • SZA, “Kill Bill”

  • Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero”

  • The Weeknd & Ariana Grande, “Die for You”

Top Billboard Global (Excl. U.S.) Song

  • David Guetta & Bebe Rexha, “I’m Good (Blue)”

  •  Harry Styles, “As It Was”

  • WINNER: Miley Cyrus, “Flowers”

  • Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down”

  • The Weeknd & Ariana Grande, “Die for You”

Top R&B Song

  • Metro Boomin, The Weeknd & 21 Savage, “Creepin’”

  • Miguel, “Sure Thing”

  • The Weeknd & Ariana Grande, “Die for You”

  • WINNER: SZA, “Kill Bill”

  •  SZA, “Snooze”

Top Rap Song

  • Coi Leray, “Players”

  • WINNER: Drake & 21 Savage, “Rich Flex”

  • Gunna, “fukumean”

  • Lil Durk ft. J. Cole, “All My Life”

  • Toosii, “Favorite Song”

Top Country Song

  • Bailey Zimmerman, “Rock and a Hard Place”

  • Luke Combs, “Fast Car”

  • Morgan Wallen, “Last Night”

  • Morgan Wallen, “You Proof”

  • Zach Bryan, “Something in the Orange”

Top Rock Song

  •  Jelly Roll, “Need A Favor”

  •  Stephen Sanchez, “Until I Found You”

  • Steve Lacy, “Bad Habit”

  • Zach Bryan ft. Kacey Musgraves, “I Remember Everything”

  • WINNER: Zach Bryan, “Something in the Orange”

Top Latin Song

  •  WINNER: Eslabon Armado x Peso Pluma, “Ella Baila Sola”

  • Fuerza Regida x Grupo Frontera, “Bebe Dame”

  • Grupo Frontera x Bad Bunny, “un x100to”

  • Karol G & Shakira, “TQG”

  •  Yng Lvcas x Peso Pluma, “La Bebe”

Top Global K-Pop Song (NEW)

  •  Fifty Fifty, “Cupid”

  •  Jimin, “Like Crazy”

  • Jungkook ft. Latto, “Seven”

  • NewJeans, “Ditto”

  • NewJeans, “OMG”

Top Afrobeats Song (NEW)

  •  Ayra Starr, “Rush”

  •  Libianca, “People”

  •  Oxlade, “KU LO SA”

  •  WINNER: Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down”

  •  Victony, Rema, & Tempoe ft. Don Toliver, “Soweto”

Top Dance/Electronic Song

  • Bizarrap & Shakira, “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53”

  •  David Guetta, Anne-Marie & Coi Leray, “Baby Don’t Hurt Me”

  •  WINNER: David Guetta & Bebe Rexha, “I’m Good (Blue)”

  •  Elton John & Britney Spears, “Hold Me Closer”

  •  Tiësto ft. Tate McRae, “10:35”

Top Christian Song

  •  WINNER: Brandon Lake, “Gratitude”

  •  Chris Tomlin, “Holy Forever”

  •  for KING & COUNTRY with Jordin Sparks, “Love Me Like I Am”

  •  Lauren Daigle, “Thank God I Do”

  •  Phil Wickham, “This Is Our God

Top Gospel Song

  •  WINNER: CeCe Winans, “Goodness of God”

  •  Crowder & Dante Bowe ft. Maverick City Music, “God Really Loves Us”

  •  Elevation Worship ft. Chandler Moore & Tiffany Hudson, “More Than Able”

  •  Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin ft. Brandon Lake & Chandler Moore, “Fear is Not My Future”

  • Zacardi Cortez, “Lord Do It for Me (Live in Memphis)

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AITC - September 2026

Featured
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AITC September 2026 - What Will It Take For Us To Feed One Another - Aquakultre
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What Sugar and Indigo Remember
What Sugar and Indigo Remember

Sugar, indigo, family photographs and the Atlantic carry histories that are easy to overlook until someone asks us to look again.

At Dalhousie Art Gallery, curator francesca ekwuyasi brings together Stina Baudin, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Bushra Junaid and Christina Leslie for Burnt Sugar Blue, an exhibition examining colonialism, Black diasporic memory, family, spirituality and the histories embedded in everyday materials.

In What Sugar and Indigo Remember, Afros in tha City looks at how these artists turn materials and archives into something living, while Roger Mooking’s SoundBites continues the conversation from across the gallery.

The full feature and photo story will be released with the September digital issue and limited print edition.

Join the Afros in tha City newsletter to be the first to know when both editions become available.

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Roger Mooking Is Building Beyond the Algorithm
Roger Mooking Is Building Beyond the Algorithm

Roger Mooking is thinking beyond the algorithm.

With SoundBites, the Canadian multidisciplinary artist is responding to streaming culture, shrinking attention spans and the rise of AI by asking a different question: what happens when technology distributes the work, but does not define its value?

In conversation with Afros in tha City, Mooking talks about the state of the music industry, the value of slow creative practice and why the future of music may look a lot more like a campfire than a platform.

The full feature and photo story will be released with the September digital issue and limited print edition.

Join the Afros in tha City newsletter to be the first to know when both editions become available.

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Prismatic Is Thinking Beyond Representation
Prismatic Is Thinking Beyond Representation

Prismatic Arts Festival has spent nearly two decades creating space for Indigenous, Black and racialized artists. For Executive and Artistic Director Raeesa Lalani, the conversation now goes beyond visibility to sustainability, power and what artists need to build lasting careers.

In our September 2026 issue, Afros in tha City looks at the festival’s history, its place in Canada’s arts ecosystem and the artists shaping Prismatic 2026, including Walter Borden, Tara Taylor, Bageshree Vaze, Tania El Khoury and Dee Hernandez.

The full feature and photo story will be released with the September digital issue and limited print edition.

Join the Afros in tha City newsletter to be the first to know when both editions become available.

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Timeless: 100 Years of Oscar Peterson Extended at Studio Bell
Timeless: 100 Years of Oscar Peterson Extended at Studio Bell

The National Music Centre’s Timeless: 100 Years of Oscar Peterson has been extended at Studio Bell through January 3, 2027. Originally opened in July 2025 to commemorate the centenary of Peterson’s birth, the exhibition brings together instruments, archival materials, awards, personal artifacts, interviews and multimedia installations to tell the story of one of Canada’s most important musicians.

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Saul Williams Still Believes Art Has a Job to Do
Saul Williams Still Believes Art Has a Job to Do

With Leap Life and Songs My Mother Taught Me arriving eleven days apart, Saul Williams turns sound and page into one argument about art, memory and responsibility.

There is something almost unreasonable about the amount Saul Williams still expects from art. Nearly three decades into a career spanning poetry, music, theatre, film and literature, Williams has not arrived at the comfortable conclusion that art should simply entertain us. Within the span of eleven days this summer, he released two projects arguing that culture does much more than that.

His album Leap Life, released August 28 on Big Dada, moves through spoken word, hip-hop, jazz, ambient composition, African rhythmic traditions and improvisation. On September 8, Haymarket Books published Songs My Mother Taught Me: Why the Artist Must Take Sides, a political memoir tracing the people and experiences that shaped Williams’ understanding of art as power.

The full feature and photo story will be released with the September digital issue and limited print edition.

Join the Afros in tha City newsletter to be the first to know when both editions become available.

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Afros Picks: Three DJs Setting the Tone at MUSE N°001
Afros Picks: Three DJs Setting the Tone at MUSE N°001

Vancouver’s MUSE N°001 brings together four DJs with distinctly different approaches to the dance floor. RAEDIAMENDZ, SAANZ, DJ BOMBAE and DJ CHIP$ move through hip-hop, R&B, African electronic music, Afro House and open-format sounds, each bringing her own relationship to culture, rhythm and the room.

Created by creative director Drew Ragiste, MUSE is built around a bigger question: what happens when women are considered in the design of nightlife from the beginning?

In this month’s Afropicks, Afros in tha City meets the four selectors setting the tone for MUSE’s first night.

The full feature and photo story will be released with the September digital issue and limited print edition.

Join the Afros in tha City newsletter to be the first to know when both editions become available.

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This Is What Calgary Sounds Like Now
This Is What Calgary Sounds Like Now

Bijaan and Jaiden Riley arrive at the 2026 YYC Music Awards from very different corners of Calgary’s music community. Bijaan’s path runs from childhood rap sessions in northwest Calgary to two nominations for “Jungle,” while Riley enters with three nominations after a year shaped by rapid career growth, community and profound personal loss.

In conversation with Afros in tha City, both artists look beyond the awards to the friendships, mentors, family histories and years of work that made the nominations possible. From Bijaan’s third-culture story and long relationship with Calgary hip-hop to Riley’s rise through the city’s country and folk community, the feature offers a deeper look at what it actually takes to build a music career from here.

The full feature and photo story will be released with the September digital issue and limited print edition.

Join the Afros in tha City newsletter to be the first to know when both editions become available.

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Recovery Was Never Meant to Be Hidden
Fashion, Wellness
Recovery Was Never Meant to Be Hidden
Fashion, Wellness

For Suzzy Anibueze, Sober Runway is bigger than a fashion show. Built from her lived experience, work in addiction and mental-health services, and belief in recovery through community, the organization uses fashion to challenge the idea that surviving addiction should remain hidden.

In the September issue, Anibueze opens up about stigma, culture, family, recovery and the community she is working to build beyond the runway.

The full feature and photo story will be released with the September digital issue and limited print edition.

Join the Afros in tha City newsletter to be the first to know when both editions become available.

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Fashion, Wellness
The Road They Built and the Stars Who Found Their Way Home
Music
The Road They Built and the Stars Who Found Their Way Home
Music

There was a time when Kreesha Turner’s voice was everywhere. Her music filled Canadian radio, reached international audiences and made her one of the most recognizable artists to emerge from Western Canada. Then she stepped away.

Her return to Edmonton leads back to Music for Mavericks, the grassroots collective that helped prepare Kreesha, Mouraine and a generation of Alberta artists for the world. Twenty years later, they reflect on the music, sacrifice and community behind the movement, as well as the work Alberta still has left to do.

The full feature and photo story will be released with the September digital issue and limited print edition.

Join the Afros in tha City newsletter to be the first to know when both editions become available.

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Music
Afros in tha City - August 2026 - Adrian Younge
Identity, Music
Afros in tha City - August 2026 - Adrian Younge
Identity, Music

& Afro-Disco Makossa: The Dance Floor Record He’s Always Wanted to Spin & More.

Music never arrives without a history. It carries places, technologies, memories and the fingerprints of those who came before.

For our August cover story, Afros in tha City sits down with Adrian Younge to explore the sounds, relationships and creative philosophy behind Afro-Disco Makossa—a record born from his long-held desire to create music for the dance floor without surrendering the depth, musicianship or historical consciousness that defines his work.

Drawing from makossa, soul, funk and disco, the album does not treat these traditions as relics to be reproduced. Younge approaches them as living languages: sounds capable of holding their histories while continuing to move, transform and speak to the present. The result is music designed for movement, connection and deep listening—a record that looks backward only to understand where it might travel next.

But this conversation extends far beyond one album.

Younge reflects on the trust that can only be built through consistency, his enduring creative partnership with Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and the ecosystem they have created through Jazz Is Dead. Rather than positioning legendary musicians as figures frozen in the past, the platform invites living artists to continue creating, experimenting and adding new chapters to their own stories.

He also speaks about attending law school because he wanted to become what he calls “an educated artist”—someone equipped to understand contracts, intellectual property, ownership and the structures surrounding the work. His independence is not simply an aesthetic or an industry label. It is knowledge, preparation, discipline and the infrastructure required to protect a creative life.

That philosophy carries particular weight for an independent publication like ours. Building outside traditional systems requires more than vision. It requires learning how the machinery works, deciding what must remain yours and creating an ecosystem capable of supporting the work long after the excitement of an idea has passed.

Throughout the conversation, Younge retains the curiosity that first led him toward music. “We’re just bigger kids,” he says—a reminder that serious artistic practice does not require abandoning wonder. Growth can mean becoming more skilled, more informed and more intentional while remaining open enough to keep discovering.

This is a cover story about a dance-floor record, but it is also about something larger: how artists honour history without becoming trapped inside it, how independence is built rather than declared, and how curiosity keeps the conversation moving forward.

Adrian Younge covers the August issue of Afros in tha City.

Read “Afro-Disco Makossa: The Dance Floor Record He’s Always Wanted to Spin” at afrosinthacity.com and in our print publication.

Stories Shaping Culture.

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Identity, Music
Valerie June on the Practice of Joy
Music
Valerie June on the Practice of Joy
Music

A fifteen-minute festival interview with Valerie June begins with crossed schedules and a quiet moment of evaluation. Then the conversation finds its rhythm, becoming something much larger than an exchange about her latest album, Owls, Omens and Oracles.

In “The Practice of Joy,” Kimberley Dooshima Jev speaks with the Grammy-nominated artist about spirituality, independence and building a creative life that remains aligned with your values. June shares how meditation and affirmations become part of ordinary routines, why “small is powerful,” and how she measures the impact of her music through human connection rather than charts, algorithms or scale.

Their conversation also turns toward the ways Black women’s experiences are routinely flattened—and the freedom of creating new platforms instead of waiting for permission to belong. June’s declaration, “I’m keeping my joy because they would want me to,” transforms joy from a fleeting emotion into remembrance, responsibility and an inheritance carried forward.

What begins as an interview about music ultimately clarifies the values guiding Afros in tha City: community over scale, creation over permission and resonance over metrics. It is a reminder that joy is not escapism. It is a deliberate practice—and sometimes, an act of survival.

Read “The Practice of Joy” in full at Afros in tha City or in our print publication.

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Music
Lowkita - In Her Own Time
Music
Lowkita - In Her Own Time
Music

After nearly a decade between full-length projects, Lowkita returns with Why(Te) Tee—a deeply personal record shaped by motherhood, grief, burnout and the quiet confidence of an artist moving in her own time.

In “In Her Own Time,” Kimberley Dooshima Jev traces the Calgary-born, Vancouver-based artist’s years of rebuilding. Lowkita never stopped creating: she performed, produced, DJed, designed clothing and found new ways to sustain herself while raising her daughter and navigating profound personal loss.

The story also explores the meaning behind Why(Te) Tee. What began with the image of a white T-shirt as a symbol of starting over evolved into a larger meditation on purpose: the “Why” behind continuing, “TE” as a reminder that timing is everything, and the belief that every pause and setback has helped build the project’s foundation.

More than a comeback, Why(Te) Tee is an invitation to meet the person behind Lowkita’s bright, energetic presence. It captures an all-around artist who has learned that consistency does not require constant visibility—and that showing up, on your own terms, can be its own form of success.

Read “In Her Own Time” in full at Afros in tha City or in our print publication.

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Music
"There Has to Be a Festival"
"There Has to Be a Festival"

For Calgary ReggaeFest founder and producer Leo Cripps, success has never been measured by crowd size, celebrity headliners or rapid expansion. It rests on one enduring belief: “There has to be a festival.”

This feature traces more than two decades of quiet resilience—from financial setbacks and pandemic uncertainty to the 2024 cancellation of Sunny Soul Jam. Through it all, Calgary ReggaeFest has built its reputation by growing responsibly, remaining debt-free and honouring its commitments to every artist, vendor and partner.

Cripps also reflects on the festival’s new home at The Rise on St. Patrick’s Island, the generations of families who return each summer and a lineup that carries reggae’s history forward through legends and emerging artists alike.

At its heart, Calgary ReggaeFest is a story of stewardship: choosing sustainability over spectacle and ensuring reggae music and Caribbean culture continue to have a home in Calgary. After more than twenty years, its greatest achievement may be beautifully simple—it kept its promise.

Read the full story at Afros in tha City or in our print publication.

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The Blueprint of Reggae  - Leroy Sibbles Looks Back on Six Decades of Rhythm
Identity, Music
The Blueprint of Reggae - Leroy Sibbles Looks Back on Six Decades of Rhythm
Identity, Music

Few musicians are as inseparable from reggae’s foundations as Leroy Sibbles. As a pioneering bassist and arranger at Studio One and the legendary lead vocalist of The Heptones, he helped create the rhythms, basslines and vocal sound that continue to reverberate through contemporary music.

In “The Blueprint of Reggae,” Cara Eyre speaks with Sibbles about six decades of innovation, from late-night rehearsals in Trench Town and groundbreaking recording sessions with Clement “Coxsone” Dodd to hearing new generations sample and reinterpret the music he helped build.

The conversation also traces the personal journey that brought Sibbles to Canada in the 1970s, where he helped cultivate Toronto’s reggae scene and established a lasting connection to his adopted second home. Looking back, he measures his legacy through the musicians he inspired, the careers he strengthened and the joy his work continues to create.

At the heart of it all is a message of unity. Sibbles’ music has crossed oceans, bridged generations and brought millions together—and after six decades, his invitation remains beautifully simple: “We all sing together.”

Read “The Blueprint of Reggae” in full at Afros in tha City or in our print publication.

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Identity, Music

July 2026 - The Omnibus - Print July 2026 - The Omnibus - Print
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July 2026 - The Omnibus - Print
CA$50.00

The Summer Omnibus is our most ambitious issue yet. Bringing together seven months of journalism, photography, and storytelling, this special collector's edition celebrates Black arts, business, fashion, music, and community across Canada and the diaspora.

Featuring exclusive cover stories with Judith Demosthene, Funmi Osatuyi, Adrianne Williams, Nancy Nixon, Ayokunle Akinsebikan, Femi Jr., and more, this 70-page volume captures the people, ideas, and conversations shaping culture today.

Beautifully printed in limited quantities, the Summer Omnibus is designed to be collected, shared, and revisited long after publication.

Limited print copies available.


“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
— Nelson Mandela



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