Do You Agree Ghana Music Awards Should Scrap the HIP HOP Category?

The name of the award is Ghana Music Awards. From commonsensical logic, any human being who will hear Ghana Music Awards is readily informed that it’s an award scheme that awards Ghanaian musicians and music of Ghanaian origin.

Currently, the only music genres that can be described as music of Ghanaian origin are Highlife and Hiplife. The question therefore is; what is Best Hip Hop Song of the Year and Best Hip Hop Artiste of the Year doing in Ghanaian Music Awards?

Do we have ‘Best Highlife Music’ or ‘Best Highlife Musician’ in BET or Grammy Awards? The answer is a resounding no! By awarding Hip hop artistes in Ghana, whose touchstones does Ghana Music Awards board use – Western or Ghanaian? (Laughs)

I will not be surprised if Westerners mock us for awarding Hip hop artistes in Ghana. To us, D-Black and Kwaku T are Hip hop artistes, but to Westerners, they (D-Black and Kwaku T) are totally aliens to Hip hop music. Western Hip hop musicians don’t see Ghanaian or African Hip hop artistes as same-genre music compeers or competitors.

So the point is; what is the essence of creating Hip hop category (ies) in Ghana Music Awards? To award those so called Hip hop artistes to go international? Or to award them to become ‘local champions’ in Ghana? Funny showbiz industry we live in Ghana.

BET Award organizers created a category for Africans and named it Best African Act. BET organizers could have nominated an African artiste based on the specific genre of music the artiste do; but they didn’t. They boxed us into one wispy category – Best African Act.

What is Best African Act? It doesn’t even make sense! They deliberately, intentionally, and knowingly did so because they know the ‘commercial value’ that comes with music genre nomination. For example, BET knows that if they nominate say a Highlife or Hiplife artiste from Ghana with a genre-named category/nomination, most definitely, Highlife or Hiplife will top out huge ‘commercial value’ on their august platform.

You think they give African artistes awards backstage for no reason? Every little exposure they give us, they have already calculated its ‘commercial value.’ What is this ‘commercial value’ I write of? Let me give you an example.

When Sarkodie won the BET Awards in 2012, what did lovers of hiplife music say? They said the Hiplife music which our ‘oldies’ mostly scorn, has been vindicated – gone international, courtesy, Sarkodie. They also said even the evergreen Highlife could not take Ghana to BET.

We sit here and give Hip hop ‘commercial value’ in Ghana Music Awards without being conscious of it. I am not against rap music. I am not against Hip hop music. I am rather against registering its presence in Ghana Music Awards.

Do you agree Hip hop category should be scrapped from Ghana Music Awards? The discussion has just begun; join in with your submission. Until then….MOTWUM!!