A couple of days ago, the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards 2014 nominees, were announced. As usual, it has created lots of debate in the public over some of the nominations. Some of the artistes are in very weird categories, some songs look very old etc etc.
I am beginning to believe that Charter House actually thrives on these controversies because each year, they make the very same mistake and this year as stated above is no different.
I will take the nominees per category and try to analyze who deserves to be there and who or which song is totally out of place in the category. To be fair, I tried to get the requirement per category but I haven’t been able to get it. Its not on the official Ghana Music Awards website so I will analyse the categories based on logical definition of the category.
1. Artiste of the Year:
-Castro
-Kwabena Kwabena
-Sonnie Badu
-Shatta Wale
-Sarkodie
-Samini
-Guru
This category looks very light to me. There is no real competition. I believe people are going to vote more on favoritism than the real deal as to who did well in the year under review.
Sonnie Badu, Shatta Wale and Sarkodie actually deserve the nominations, it’s obvious they did a lot of work in the year, from concerts to new materials, they made their presence felt.
I have an issue with Guru is in this category. Guru may have released songs that got the whole country dancing and as a matter of fact created a new slang “Boys Abr3″ which has even gone political, but I don’t think Guru did enough in the year as per shows and presence, to deserve an artiste of the year nomination.
Samini I feel doesn’t also deserve an artiste of the year nomination. In the year under review, what has Samini done??? Yes he has released an album, and released many non-commercial singles. He latter got a lot of hype following his beef with Shatta Wale but does that deserve an artiste of the year nomination??? for me it’s a no.
Castro came unto the fray after his Odo Pa song. Apart from airplay, he did nothing else. He didn’t rock any major show to get himself a nomination like this.
Kwabena Kwabena, adult music, thats virtually it. He released an album which for me didn’t go down like his previous albums, he got a hit out of Adult Music and that actually mad him very popular once again. But for artiste of the year, I keep asking myself, what did he do????
2. New Artiste of the year
-Joey B
-Kumi Guitar
-Akwaboah
Akwaboah: Though he’s been on the scene for a while, he just released his debut album at the latter part of last year. He definitely deserves the new artiste nomination which from the competition, he should pick it with ease.
Joey B‘s nomination is quite tricky cos he’s been on the scene for a while now. His popular tune Strawberry Ginger, was released way back. He was also on D-Blacks “Vera” tune which was released in 2012. He doesn’t have an album yet so I’m wondering what qualified him in this category. Is it the fact that he released his own tune?? or he got a hit single, Tonga????
Kumi Guitar I’m still wondering where the organisers got this guy from because there’s nothing on him on the internet and anywhere. Radio presenters, DJ’s and all who matter in the music industry are oblivious of this guy. What material qualified him for that nomination?? Yes he has a song with Guru but the point is, why is everyone asking who he is?? It’s because he is not known. Then we should also award underground artistes cos they also have materials out. Come again Charter House.
3. Highlife artiste of the year:
-Bisa Kdei
-Castro
-Kwabena Kwabena
There’s not much to say in relation to this category because there’s not much competition in the system with regards to that genre. Hiplife and Hiphop has dominated our scene and lately a lot of the artistes have also branched into Afropop. This leaves the room for very few so I’m not surprised they got only three artistes for this category.
Bisa Kdei after his “Azonto Ghost” breakthrough, was able to branch into mainstream music from the sound track background. He obviously did well in the year for highlife. His “Baba” song is just beautiful and he got himself some pretty good shows, plus he featured on a couple of tunes which went well as well so he deserves it for the category.
Castro: For his “Odo Pa” song he got himself some appreciable recognition and popularity which brought with it some minor shows. I’m still not convinced but for the fact that there is not much to choose from in this category, I will let it pass.
Kwabena Kwabena: He did appreciably well in the year, launched his album which had his usual love themed songs but his “Adult Music” song which featured Samini, actually did the trick. Problem is that, that song is not even a typical highlife song. But he has highlife songs and he is a highlife artiste so why not.
4. Gospel Song of the year:
-Osoree Nnwom – Cecilia Marfo
-Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz- Nicholas Omane Acheampong
-Wonder God – Sonnie Badu
-Maye Se Mo Pen – OJ
-Nyame Egwamaa – Joyce Blessing feat. Jewel Ackah
-Menu – Patience Nyarko
I don’t listen to a lot of local Gospel tunes except ones from particular artistes so I wont say much about this but I believe everyone in here deserves to be there even though May3 s3 mo p3n clearly stands out.
5. Best Female Vocal Performance
-Efya – Life
-Joyce Blessing – Nyame Egwamaa
-Miriam Afari – Ashei Nyame
-Gena West – No Power Against Me
I’m totally confused about some of the songs… I don’t know much about them but I can say that Efya will win it hands down. Gena West is good but she’s quite unknown in Ghana unlike outside so it will be difficult to win.
Joyce and Mirian I don’t think are strong enough to compete with Efya in this category.
6. Best Male Vocal Performance
-Sonnie Badu – Wonder God
-OJ- Maye Se Mo Pen
-Knii Lante – Baby Take Good Care
-Kwabena Kwabena – Engya Me Ho
-Castro – Odo Pa
Nothing much to see about this category. Everyone deserves to be here. Still think that other artistes could have been added.
7. African Artiste of the Year
-Mafikizolo
-P-Sqaure
-Davido
-Kcee
-Wizkid
-Flavour
This is the best line up we could ever come up with, period. Songs from these artistes virtually took over the entire country. They generated a lot of excitement in the public with their songs and appeal.
8. Gospel Artiste of the Year
-Sonnie Badu
-Nicholas Omane Acheampong
-OJ
-Joyce Blessing
-Patience Nyarko
The question that I keep posing through out this write up is this, “Did they do enough during the year to warrant the Gospel Artiste Of The Year” title??? From the list, it’s quite clear that apart from Sonnie Badu, non of the other nominees did enough anything extra ordinary during the year in review.
They all had great songs no doubt, but was their presence felt but on Radio, Tv and among the general public???
Tipping Sonnie Badu to nip this in the bud.
9. Hiplife/ Hip Hop Artiste of the Year
-Sarkodie
-Eazzy
-R2Bees
-Guru
-M.anifest
-EL
-Joey B
This is a straight battle between Sarkodie, R2Bees, Guru and EL. I don’t even know why Eazzy is in the list. She released her scream song and made a cool video. What else did she do with her time? She made some good crazy and cool songs but I don’t think she is the toast of the public.
Manifest did his thing last year and this year is not his year. He hasn’t done anything else apart from releasing singles and shootting videos.
10. Afro Pop Song of the Year
-Latex – Edem feat. Kaaki
-Million Pound Girl – Fuse ODG
-Dance (Neke Neke) – Itz Tiffany
-Slow – R2Bees feat. Wizkid
-Dance For Me – Ruff N Smooth
-Scream – Eazzy
This list is just great, the best in Afro Pop. It’s difficult to fault any artiste and for once I duff my hat to Charter House.
11. Highlife Song of the Year
-Adult Music – Kwabena Kwabena
-Odo Pa – Castro feat. Baby Jet & Kofi Kinaata
-Love – R2Bees
-Metanfo- Bisa Kdei
-Break Into 2 – Kumi Guitar
I have a problem with R2Bees “Love” being in this category. This song would have been perfect in the Afro Pop category. Someone probably was listening to a different song when he placed it in this category. This is not Highlife. There’s nothing highlife about it, it’s pure Afro Pop.
It’s difficult talking about Kumi Guitar cos nobody seems to know him. I haven’t heard of his song until Today. As to how he found his way into the Highlife Song of the Year category, beats my imagination.
12. Reggae/Dancehall Song of the Year
-Freaky Girl – Jupiter
-Pull Up – Stonebwoy
-Hot Cake – Pope Skinny feat. Shatta Wale
-Dancehall King – Shatta Wale
-Fever – D2 feat. Shatta Wale
-Scatter Badmind – Samini
This is a war meant for the Gods…..just kidding, lol. The songs here are great and popular. They are still being played everywhere you go. The only weakling in here is D2 feat. Shatta Wale’s “Fever”. It wasn’t that big a tune. The Shatta Wale feeling followed and pushed it but it just wasn’t enough for it to explode.
13. Vodafone Song of the Year
-Adult Music – Kwabena Kwabena feat. Samini
-Odo Pa – Castro Feat. Baby Jet & Kofi Kinaata
-Slow Down – R2Bees Feat. Wizkid
-Dancehall King – Shatta Wale
-Metanfo – Bisa Kdei
-Tonga – Joey B feat. Sarkodie
-Maye Se Mo pen – OJ
-Akayida (Boys Abr3) – Guru
I can’t see Sarkodie’s “Illuminati” or “Lies”, but these songs were and still are big.
I think all the artistes here deserve to be here. The nominated songs did indeed generate lots of excited and became the toasts of music lovers.
I’m only skeptical about Bisa Kdei’s “Metanfo” cos I don’t see it that big to garner a song of the year nomination. It was popular yes, but I don’t think it created that excitement and popularity to be here.
14. Record of the Year
-Trigmatic – Wo Sika Nti
-Knii Lante – Baby Take Good Care
-Tseataa (Josh Laryea) – Everlasting Love
-Akwaboah – I Do Love You
-Down On One – Sarkodie feat. Fuse ODG
-Million Pound Girl – Fuse ODG
Honestly, I am totally confused about this category. There is Song of the Year, there is Album of the year, what in heavens name is Record of the year????
I’m asking this because “Record of the Year” in America.
15. Best Collaboration of the Year
-Odo Pa – Castro feat. Baby Jet & Kofi Kinaata
-Down On One- Sarkodie feat. Fuse ODG
-Slow Down – R2Bees feat. Wizkid
-Adult Music -Kwabena Kwabena feat. Samini
-Azonto Boys – Guru Feat. Lil Win
-Hot Cake – Pope Skinny Feat. Shatta Wale
-Nyame Egwamaa-Joyce Blessing Feat. Jewel Ackah
Once again I have a problem with Guru’s inclusion in this category. I don’t have anything against him or his music, infact I love this particular song with Lil Win but is the song strong enough for best collaboration of the year??? Was it popular enough???
16. Album of the Year
-Sarkology – Sarkodie
-Heavy Price – Joyce Blessing
-Aroma of Worship – Sonnie Badu
-Akaiyida (Boys Abr3) – Guru
I haven’t heard of Joyce Blessing’s album and it’s songs yet so I can’t judge whether it’s a good one or not. Sarkodie definitely deserves this, his Sarkology album had numerous hits which are still on rotation in radio stations. Sonnie Badu also deserves this without a shade of doubt.
The problem here once again is Guru’s “Alkayida (Boys Abr3)”. Seriously does Guru have an album like this?? Is someone just desperate to give the young rapper an award at all cost???
17. Song Writer of the Year
-Maye Se Mo Pen – OJ
-Wo Sika Nti – Trigmatic
-Engya Me Ho – Kwabena Kwabena
-Baby Take Good Care – Knii Lante
-Baba – Bisa Kdei
This is where I believe Castro’s “Odo Pa” should get a nomination. That song was written very well. The composition was just perfect and should have earned him a nomination, not Artiste of the Year.
Somtimes it’s quite difficult what the criteria was in coming up with nominees for this category. Must the song be inspirational to earn it a Song writer nomination??