It was a disappointment for over a thousand jolly and joyous souls that assembled to rollick and rock limitlessly to what is supposedly tagged Nigeria’s equivalent of the Grammys, The Headies that held last night, 1st of January, 2016 at The Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The event that was hosted by ace comedian, Bovi and dance queen, Kaffy had a low turnout due to wrong timing and clash with Alibaba’s January 1st Concert; was met with various impediments as the organizers were unable to coordinate their affairs properly.
The organizers had issues not starting on time. At a point people who could not continue waiting left the venue for other activities, and returned to still meet the event steaming fresh.
Other areas that marred the event included bad lightening, poor sound etc.
The popular artistes, whom many had tipped to come tops in various categories of the awards, lost to the newbie in the game. The major shocker of the night was when Reekardo Banks was announced as the Next Rated Artistes of the year, a fiercely contested category that comes with a car gift. When the nominees for the next rated were announced, the audience unanimously chorused Lil Kesh. However, they were shocked to hear Reekardo Bank’s name declared the winner of that category.
A similar scenario was repeated at the Best Producer Category where the audience believed that Young John would win but to their amazement, the Best Producer was awarded to Legendary Beatz.
Olamide also won Artiste of the Year and everyone thought it’s logical for the Best Song Of the Year to go to the Artiste of the year, but instead the song of the year was awarded to Wizkid’s Ojuelegba.
The examples are endless.
My verdict, the organizers of Headies claimed the Awards was Amplified voting but why can’t they contract the job to Alexander Forbes a renowned digital company that were handling the auditing of the MTN Project Fame and Nigeria Idol Votes. But that’s not even the point here, the point is the screening process should and must be made more transparent, the identity of the judges made public.
And I think the quality of production and content could be far far better. And lest I forget, the DJ on the Wheel of Steels was a total disaster for the night.
The crowd were thrilled by superlative performances from 2face, Harrysong, Adekunle Gold, Reminisce, Simi etc.
In attendance at the highly revered event are Senator Ben Bruce, Mercy Aigbe, Segun Arinze, Fade Ogunro, Alex Ekubo, Dj Cuppy etc.
I think is high time the producer of Headies, Mr. Ayo Animashaun and his crew upped their game before they lose credibility and major sponsors of the one of the biggest Award shows in Africa.
A word they say is a enough for the wise.
Headies Hall of Fame
2Face Idibia
Best Street-Hop Artiste
Olamide (‘Bobo’)
Best Pop Single
‘Godwin’ by Korede Bello
Best Male Performance
Timi Dakolo (‘Wish me well’)
Best R&B single
‘Wish me well’ by Timi Dakolo
Best rap single
‘King kong’ by Vector
Best Vocal Performance (female)
Aramide (‘Iwo Nikan)
Best Ragga/dancehall single
‘German juice’ by Cynthia Morgan
Best Music Video
‘Katapot’ (by Reekado Banks, video shot by Unlimited L.A)
Best Collaboration
‘Local Rappers’ – Reminisce ft Olamide, Phyno & StormRex
Best Rap Album
“Chairman” by M.I
Best Music Producer
Legendary Beatz (‘Ojuelegba’)
Lyricist On The Roll
Vector
Next Rated
Reekado Banks
Revelation of The Year
Yemi Alade
Recording of the year
‘Wish me well’ – Timi Dakolo
Best Alternative Song
‘Sade’ – Adekunle Gold
Special Recognition Award
Don Jazzy
Best Pop/R&B Album
AYO – Wizkid
Artiste of The Year
Olamide
Song of The Year
‘Ojuelegba’ – Wizkid
Rookie of The Year
YCee
