The Ghanaian Hip Hop scene was the center of it all at the 24th Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs), with some of the country’s leading hip hop acts gracing the stage with quality performances and taking home awards. From Black Sherif, Medikal to Sarkodie’s performance. HipHop Africa explores the winners and biggest moments from the awards show, from a hiphop view.
Realistically, a Blacko sweep was expected, what a run he has had over the last two years, it’s still crazy to believe as at a point in April 2022, his “KKT” song was the most shazamed song in the world. Debuting at number 1 on the Nigeria Top 100, the first Ghanaian song to make that record. A successful debut, most played album on Boomplay, ties with Burna Boy, meeting with the Vice President of the United States of America, guest feature on Popcorn’s Album Deluxe edition and another on Creed 3 soundtrack album with Dreamville’s Bas, coming into this Award show, he was the hottest artist out there and the favorite for it all. He had a smooth night, with yet another statement performance. Sarkodie’s legacy had a bit of a re-up too, with the Jamz album doing good, especially with the record with Blacko, overall the hiphop community had a good run too and it was only going to get better.
Black Sherif held the highest nomination with 11 coming into the show, winning 5 overall. “KKT” won the Hip-Hop song of the year, after debuting at number 5 on the billboard U.S Afrobeats songs chart. The song has over 14.6 million Boomplay streams, charting on 8 different platforms. Another part of his craft that seem to have upgraded is his visuals. Konongo Zongo’s serene shots and textured color grading by Babs won the video of the year. It was no surprise when KKT grabbed the most popular song of the year, the internet challenges and all. From a production point of view, hip hop producer Altra Nova won Sound Engineer of the year, with his production skills for “Gyakie’s Far Away”. For the performances, the Hiphop acts stole the show, starting with a daring performance from Medikal. The rapper was in a set that looked like a press conference, with bodyguards next to him whilst he rapped his way to the stage in a glittering mask. Amerado also took home the Best Rap performance of the year while Sarkodie’s joint with Black Sherif knocked the Best Collaboration of the year.
RBA’s frontman was back again with his win for Most Popular song of the year with Kwaku The Traveler, another expected win for him, the controversies took a turn when his debut album lost to King Promise’s “5 stars”, with viewers disagreeing with the winner. Black Sherif took over the stage shortly after to bring some of his tunes to Live with quality performance that lasted for over ten minutes. The Landlord (Sarkodie) reminded Ghana who he was with an epic performance, dripped out in a $1,319 white Casablanca suit, the icing on the cake for the hiphop community came when Black Sherif was crowned Artiste of the Year, taking home the most prestigious award of the night. Overall, it was a good night for the hiphop community as their reps took home the awards, summing up a successful night.
