The Sound City MVPs held last Saturday at the Eko convention centre,Lagos.Walk with me through the categories.
Best New MVP
FireBoy DML ( NG )
JoeBoy ( NG )
Marioo ( TZ )
Rema (NG) – Winner
Simmy ( SA)
Wendy Shay ( GH )
This was always going to be between Fireboy,Joeboy and Rema.Fireboy had one of the best albums of 2019.If you take that into consideration along with that the MVPs could choose to follow in the footsteps of the headies by refusing to award the best for no other imaginable reason than that they had been rewarded by their rivals and didn't want to appear to be playing 'catch up', Fireboy stood a real chance of clinching this.It turned out Rema's.The MVP award along with the headies' Next Rated effectively makes him the undisputed Best new kid on the block.What this also means is that he has come as far as Dumebi can carry him,the real work starts now.
Best Collaboration
Blow My Mind – Davido [ NG ]
Daz How Star Do – Skiibii [ NG ]
Gugulethu – Prince Kaybee [SA] – Winner
Jama – DJ Mic Smith [ GH]
Killin' Dem – Burna Boy [ NG ]
Inama – Diamond PlatNumz [ TZ ]
This had to be Burna boy's Killin' Dem, no 2 ways about it.And even if these songs were to be ranked according to the impact they made, Skiibii's Daz How Star Do and Davido's Blow My Mind would have to win this category before any other song on this list.
Best Pop
Innos B [ CG ]
Nandy [ TZ ]
JoeBoy [NG] – Winner
Otile Brown [ KE]
Kizz Daniel [ NG ]
Teni [ NG ]
Mayorkun [ NG ]
Rayvanny [ TZ ]
Naira Marley [ NG ]
First, Naira Marley is not a pop artiste and shouldn't at all be on this list.Marley is a street hop artiste that would have to fall under hip hop when broadly categorized.Nonetheless having him here automatically means he had to win this ahead of Joeboy and every other name on that list because he had the best year.Secondly, it is very obvious Fireboy was left out of this list to reward Joeboy.At this point in the night,it was clear Soundcity would try as much as possible to please everyone.Last year,all foreign artistes that attended the show won their categories ahead of worthier nominees and this year, it wanted to spread the love round.Fireboy would go on to be rewarded in another category and Burna boy's Killin' Dem too.
Best Hip Hop
BlaqBonez ( NG )
Falz ( NG )
KHALIGRAPH Jones (KE) – Winner
Kwesta ( SA)
Medikal ( GH)
Shinski ( KE)
Sarkodie ( GH )
Reminisce ( NG )
Ricky Rick ( SA)
Zakwe ( SA)
Falz deservedly, but what in God's name is Reminisce doing here?.They were mischevious enough to leave Naira Marley out of this category where he belongs and place him in Best Pop but there are still a plethora of rap artistes that had a better year than Reminisce in Nigeria.
Kaligraph has consistently kept it real over the years but with all due respect, this was made easy for him.M.anifest should have gotten in there from Ghana ahead of Sarkodie and Medikal.This has to be the worst category of the night.
Best Duo
Black Motion ( SA)
Diamond ( SA)
DopeNation (GH) – Winner
Ethic ( KE )
Show Dem Camp ( NG )
Toofan ( TG )
Most people thought this was going to be Toofan's but it went to Ghana's Dope Nation.Well, congrats.
African Producer of the Year
Cracker ( NG)
Prince Kaybee ( SA)
Jay Synth ( NG )
Kel P ( NG )
MOG ( GH )
Ozedikus ( NG)
Pheelz ( NG )
Rexxie (NG) – Winner
S2Kizzy ( TZ )
Nigeria; Lagos precisely, is the entertainment capital of Africa and the foreign producers on this list would have to have made at least 2 smash hits in the mould of Mafikizolo's Khona or ODG Fuse's Azonto to stand a real chance.That having been said, Kel P has barely scratched the surface since Burna boy's Killin' Dem and Ozedikus' sole claim to top tier status is still Rema's Dumebi.This was between Pheelz and Rexxie with an eye out for Cracker Mallo who has gone on to produce quite a number of decent songs since Fireboy's Jealous.
Rexxie deserved this award more than anyone on this list and i am glad he got it.He is starting to get the recognition he truly deserves.He produced Zlatan's Zanku,Naira Marley's Soapy and Chinko Ekun's Able God among others.The quality of his beats are just unbelievable.Rexxie Pon the Beat has been the unseen force behind street hop in the last two years.
Best Female MVP
Betty G ( ETH)
Daphne ( CMR )
Nandy ( TZ )
Sho Madjozi ( SA)
Teni (NG) – Winner
Tiwa Savage ( NG )
Yemi Alade ( NG )
If you had any doubts as to Sound City's intention to spread the love,they were erased here.It is just not possible for Teni to beat Tiwa Savage to Female MVP.Asides the 49-99 single,Tiwa gave a fabulous account of herself on Beyonce's Lion King album with Keys To The Kingdom and rocked more high profile shows; some of them with Wizkid alongside.Even if Sound City wanted everyone happy then at least it should have been smarter on how it went about things.How can Teni win the category for best female artiste and miss out on a spot for African Artiste of the Year while Tiwa Savage and Yemi Alade who lost out to her here both got nominated?.Its totally indefensible.
Best Male MVP
Burna Boy (NG) – Winner
Davido ( NG )
Diamond Platnumz ( TZ )
King Promise ( GH)
Sjava ( SA)
Wizkid ( NG )
Zlatan ( NG)
Burna boy had to win this.The only reason anyone would be sceptical about Don Guorgon taking this home was the MVPs' newly cultivated propensity to please everyone.You couldn't safely say this wasn't going to be Wizkid or Zlatan.
African DJ of the Year
DJ Creme De La Creme ( KE )
DJ Kaywise ( NG )
DJ Neptune ( NG)
DJ Spinall (NG) – Winner
DJ Vyrusky ( GH )
DJ Zinhle ( SA)
DJ Neptune won this award last year when it should have gone to DJ Spinall and it was nice to see him get it this time around.
Digital Artiste of the Year
Cassper Nyovest [ SA]
Davido [NG] – Winner
Diamond Platnumz [ TZ ]
Kizz Daniel [ NG ]
Mr Eazi [ NG ]
Yemi Alade [ NG ]
Wizkid [ NG ]
There couldn't possibly be a worthier recipient than Davido.The Blow My Mind video with Chris Brown notched up a record-setting 2 million Youtube views in 24 hours.Davido it should also be noted holds the record for the most viewed video by a nigerian artiste with Fall now having surpassed 100 million views.
Listeners’ Choice
Baby – JoeBoy ( NG )
Dumebi – Rema ( NG)
Fetch your Life – Prince Kaybee ( SA)
Jealous – Fireboy DML (NG) – Winner
Jama – DJ Mic Smith ( GH)
Kainama – Harmonize ( TZ )
Killin Dem – BurnaBoy ( NG )
Kpo K3K3 – StoneBwoy ( GH )
Oil & Gas – Olamide ( NG )
Fireboy was omitted from the Best Pop category to provide a smooth path for Joeboy and he was compensated with this.I have always said that Listeners' and Viewers' choice are categories kept by these awards to hand to who they please and in this instance,it came in handy to help compensate a man denied what was rightfully his.
As an addendum, that Wizkid wasn't nominated for these categories tells you just how bad a year he had.Considering Sound City's big heartedness this year,he should have gotten one at the very least.
Viewers’ Choice
49-99 – Tiwa Savage ( NG )
Able God – Chinko Ekun ( NG )
Banomoya – Prince Kaybee ( SA)
My Level – Shatta Wale ( GH )
On The Low – Burna Boy ( NG )
Soapy – Naira Marley (NG) – Winner
Tetema – Rayvanny ( TZ )
Zanku (Legwork) – Zlatan ( NG)
Marley was wrongly placed in Best Pop (a category which he should have won regardless) and left out of Best Hip hop where he truly belonged.It made sense to compensate him with this award; his very first.First among many needless to say as he is all but guaranteed at least the Street Hop category at the headies later in the year.Soapy was colossal.
Video of the Year
49-99 – Tiwa Savage by Meji Alabi (NG) – Winner
Dangote – Burna Boy by Clarence Peters ( NG )
Jericho – Simi by Adasa Cookey ( NG )
Ngwa – Blick Bassy by Tebego Malope ( SA)
Ohema – Kuami Eugene by Rex ( GH )
On the basis of quality, the closest thing to Tiwa's 49-99 was South African, Blick Bassy's Ngwa.There is really nothing that hasn't already been said about the breath-taking 49-99 video.Mad costuming one of them.Meji Alabi deserved this 100%.
Song of the Year
Jealous – FireBoy DML ( NG)
Killin' Dem – Burna Boy (NG) – Winner
Malwhede – King Monada ( SA)
Soapy – Naira Marley ( NG )
Tetema – Rayvanny ( TZ )
Zanku (Legwork) – Zlatan ( NG)
Baby – JoeBoy ( NG )
Case – Teni ( NG )
Dumebi – Rema ( NG)
Fetch Your Life – Prince Kaybee ( SA)
Jama – DJ Mic Smith( GH )
Killin' Dem was denied an obvious win in Best Collaboration and this redressed that but it came as a price; merit.Burna boy had a better year than any African artiste no doubt but was Killin' Dem a bigger song than Dumebi and Soapy?.If that is debatable then certainly not with Teni's Case in the picture.There is no way in the world Killin' Dem was as huge as Case.Well like i said, the MVPs wanted to keep everyone happy and having been sacrificed in what appeared a bid to give the brand a universal appeal by rewarding the South Africans, Killin' Dem had to fit in some where.It didn't deserve this.
African Artiste Of The Year
Burna Boy (NG) – Winner
Davido ( NG )
Diamond Platnumz ( TZ )
Shatta Wale ( GH)
ShoMadjozi ( SA)
Tiwa Savage ( NG )
Wizkid ( NG )
Yemi Alade ( NG )
Sound City would have created some serious problems for itself if it denied Burna boy this award.He may not have had the biggest songs but there is no way anyone would deny Burna boy artiste of the year and sleep in peace.Just not possible.
A lot of people had been rooting for the MVPs over the last few years to overtake the headies as Nigeria's number one music award show and i'm pretty sure this edition must have left them gutted.From DJs playing the wrong songs for artistes coming on stage to a hype man that irritated fans more than he excited them.The 2020 Sound City MVP Awards was disappointing.
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