According to Mary Kay, the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, “there are two things people want more than sex and money: recognition and praise.” And this is apt in the life of every successful person on earth and musical acts are definitely not exempted.
Artistes make songs for fans to enjoy and also make money for themselves which can only happen if they are known, accepted by all and sundry.
The urge for recognition is the primary reason why HIp Hop World Magazine of Nigeria was motivated to recognise outstanding achievement in the musical industry by introducing Nigeria’s prestigious music awards The Headies which has been dubbed Nigeria’s Grammy.
The yearly recognition features performances by established and promising artists who thrill guests. Over the years, they have been series of controversies surrounding the ceremony such as Tekno.
He was nominated in the glorified rookie award section, the “Next Rated” category alongside Aramide, Mr. Eazi, Ycee and Humblesmith. He subsequently blasted the organisers for including him in the list. His name was later removed.
A subsequent Instagram post with the comment “Next rated after how many years! Lets be honest pls,” was enough to state his disapproval of the nomination.
At the 2015 edition, a rivalry concerning who deserved the year’s Next Rated award was witnessed between Marvin Records boss, Don Jazzy and YBNL boss, Olamide.
The latter was disgruntled over the organiser’s choice to give the award to Reekado Banks instead of Lil Kesh who according to Olamide had a better year with ‘back to back’ hits.
After Adekunle’s acceptance speech Olamide grabbed the mic where he said, “Adekunle Gold let’s be honest, this award belongs to Lil Kesh, because Lil Kesh is our Next Rated artist”, he said. “Every single was a hit back to back, from ‘Lyrically’ to ‘Shoki’ to ‘Efejoku’”.
Before he threw his drink, dropped the mic and stormed off stage.
This year’s award was anchored by Nollywood actress, Adesua Etomi, and artiste, Falz, and held at Eko Convention Center, Victoria Island, Lagos, saw Kiss Daniel clinch three awards out of the five categories he was nominated in. Wizkid won the Artist of the Year award at The Headies 2016.
Despite the purported glamour of Nigeria’s premier musical awards, celebrities shunned the event citing different reasons.
Notable absentees were the entire members of Mavin Records and YBNL Records, led by Don Jazzy and Olamide respectively.
Their nonappearance was so glaring with numerous nominees and awardees absent at the awards. So much so that the presenters had to collect the awards on their behalf backstage.
Simi failed to claim her award for “Best Vocal Performance”, Kiss Daniel failed to claim an award, and so did Illblisss who was a big winner in two categories.
Patoranking who won the Best Reggae/Dancehall single and Olamide, who won two awards, were visibly absent.
Big winners on the night include Darey, Illbliss, Kiss Daniel and Mr Eazi, who won the Next Rated category.
It will be recalled a popular disc jokey, DJ Timmy reacted to the Headies 2015 awards which generated a lot of controversy on social media where he literally spoke the minds of Nigerians.
According to him in an open letter he penned, Headies as an award are still not appreciating certain artiste, producers, entertainers and Dj’s who work 24/7 to make sure they bring out the best. He further said that they give the impression that once you are not nominated or you do not win, you have not started your career.
“Firstly, I noticed your hall was half empty. Your live broadcast that you always brag about had the picture quality of NTA channel 10 and your technical crew were going offline every time things became awkward and they immediately have to switch to “lyrics on the go” to cover up your shame. I watched BET African awards live and Mtv and i can see a very huge difference in all aspects. You still have a lot to learn. Another disturbing fact is that headies as an award is creating bad blood among colleagues in the Nigerian music scene. Headies is the reason why we have not seen collaborations among certain musicians. Tell me why Phyno,Davido, Falz, Solidstar and many other music producers and artiste who have been topping charts this year where not recognized”?, he wrote
Sadly, ‘Nigeria’s Grammy’ is fast losing its prestige as it shrouded in various controversies, allegations of organisers favouring some artistes over others in a very biased way. Apparently, the days artistes flaunt their Headies awards may soon be over if the organisers don’t correct the errornous impressions that they have been compromised.