Francis Doku: Hurray! Stonebwoy wins BET award
At the very last Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) that took place at the Dome of the Accra International Conference Centre, before reverting to the main auditorium, a young musician was introduced to the audience both at the venue and on television.
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His performance that night was a good one without much fanfare or any hangers-on trooping to the stage to “make sure” that his performance would go well.
It was obvious from the audience’s reception that he may not have been very popular at the time, but they saw potential in him and applauded his very good but short performance that night.
I remember standing close to the stage with Boys Boys on Viasat 1 presenter, Kojo Frempong, who said to me that he was impressed mostly 0 the attitude of the young man with regards to how he came on stage like a lone star, performed his song and then dropped the mic and walked off with swag.
Fast forward to 2015 and the same artiste mounted the VGMA stage, but this time he came with enough pomp that would make even a paramount chief of some village envious of him.
He had banner carriers, money throwers, backing vocalists and a whole lot of other people in his large retinue.
He mounted the stage and did a very big show with a lot more songs he had added to his bulging repertoire since that lone performance at the Dome. Livingstone Etse Satekla aka Stonebwoy Burniton would go back to Ashaiman with the biggest award on the night, Artiste of the Year.
It was a big award and it meant a lot to him because he believed, as many other observers did, that he had worked hard over the years and picking up the Artiste of the Year award, besides others, was to crown the effort he had put into his craft over the years.
However, unbeknownst to him and to his fans, there was a bigger crowning glory in the works and soon to be bestowed on him. No sooner had he won the Artiste of the Year than the nominations list for the 2015 BET Awards were released and Stonebwoy along with Sarkodie were nominated from Ghana on list for Best International Act, Africa.
That was big news for the Bhim Nation (as his fans and followers call themselves) and even more bigger a news was when over the weekend, the man from Ashaiman emerged winner from a list that included big name Africa artistes such as Wizkid, Yemi Alade, AKA, Sarkodie and Fally Ipupa.
Considering where he had come from, there was the need to commend this young man over this feat. He had risen from the ghetto, defied all the odds that were set against him in life and in his career to emerge to pick up this very illustrious award.
This was Sarkodie’s third nomination to the BET Awards in this same category and he won it the first time too just like Stonebwoy. The former graciously commended his colleague artiste and former school mate at Methodist Day Secondary School.
Oh do you remember that Stonebwoy and Sarkodie had been nominated for the MAMAs too? Let's hope one of them wins it!
…AND FUSE ODG GOES GAGA
British artiste with Ghanaian descent, Nana Richard Abiona better known as Fuse ODG was also nominated for the BET Awards. He was nominated in the Best International Act, UK category, but that award went to Stormzy.
It needs to be said that Stormzy who is one of the fastest rising MCs in the UK is, like Fuse ODG, originally from Ghana. His official name is Michael Omari and so we can confidently say that Ghana bagged the two international category awards on offer for UK and Africa respectively. No?
However, Fuse ODG had a few choice words for the organisers of BET when he posted that he did not show up at the event “because you give our awards backstage! You have no respect for our hard work and achievements.” The MOBO winner was convinced that the organisers gave the international category awards backstage and it showed disrespect to those who won it.
My two pence on this is that Fuse ODG ranted unnecessarily. First of all, the award is not presented backstage as he erroneously alluded. As much as it was not presented on the main event stage where all others were presented doesn’t make it a backstage event. There should be some fact before criticism.
Secondly, he knew how those awards were always presented and the fact that they had not announced that it would change and yet when he received the nomination he did not decline it, he waited till the awards were done before posting such a comment.
If you knew it would be presented to you “backstage” and you won’t go for it, why not opt out from the beginning so you won’t waste everyone’s time? This post event attention seeking was very unnecessary in my view.
Thirdly, his rant was meant to take the shine from what Stonebwoy and Stormzy had achieved on such a big music and entertainment platform. Otherwise, why would he choose such a time to raise such an issue when his compatriots were basking in the glory of what they had achieved?
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The audience of the BET is American. They decided at some point to split the international category for Africa and the UK.
I am sure they will assimilate that into the main awards at a certain time. When their audience are ready, that is. At this stage, they are not and you can decide to accept it as it is or go and dance Antenna.
WAS BLAKK RASTA REALLY ON “HEAT”?
On his mid-morning show, Taxi Driver on Hitz FM, firebrand radio presenter, Blakk Rasta, takes no prisoners on any matter at all. Whether he is talking about politics, economics, religion, gayism or anything, Blakk Rasta goes hard into everyone who he thinks he should go hard into, regardless of who they may be in the society.
Presidents, ministers, the clergy and everyone else worth their name have had one or two or three or more tongue lashing from the maverick presenter.
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Then he granted an interview to his own station and in the process of arguing for the legalisation of marijuana, he said 80 percent of Members of Parliament smoke the illegal substance.
The MPs decided through the Privileges Committee to invite him to answer and to provide evidence to his allegations. Following the heads up that he was likely to be invited, he went on a PR spree to mitigate what he had said.
In the various interviews that Blakk Rasta granted post his comment, he said he did not say the MPs smoke weed but rather what he said was that they use it and that could be in many forms unbeknownst to them. He also argued that his advocacy was aimed at improving the economic woes of Ghana.
More than these explanations though, his posture was that he was going to Parliament to have a massive tango with the members of the committee that would hear him.
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However, when he arrived and the exact thing he said was played back to him, Blakk Rasta’s boisterousness went from high to low and he moved from being a hard guy to one who was ready to apologise.
You have to know that Blakk Rasta from all his radio days, at least those that I have known from Goodnews FM in Takoradi, Happy FM and Hitz FM in Accra respectively, he never pull back any punches.
He was your hardest guy on radio and so seeing him go from hard to soft like a boiled ripened plantain was heartbreaking for some of his fans. It was like the general who runs away at the sight of oncoming adversary and leaves the soldiers to their fate.
The hearing was telecast live and what got social media really talking was when in his apology, Blakk Rasta said when people are on “heat” they say things that they would ordinarily not say and therefore he should be pardoned.
For me, it was the best decision he made when he took the advice of his lawyer to apologise. It would have been impossible for him to provide any evidence that remotely suggests that 80 percent of the people in Parliament smoke weed and therefore as humiliating as it was, the best thing he did was to apologise.
Will Parliament accept his remorsefulness and forgive him? According to the Deputy Majority Leader, Alfred Agbesi, the apology might not save him. He said “people should not jubilate and people should not say that is all that Parliament can do.
“His apology to the committee does not end the matter at all. When the report comes, the report can say that, yes, they have accepted the apology yet it is subject to the final acceptance by the House [Parliament]. So we are waiting for the committee’s report and I believe the House will take a serious view of what has happened,” he was reported to have said.
Even if he doesn’t walk freely, Blakk Rasta did what was right under the circumstance. He could not substantiate his claim and he had to apologise. The issue of whether Parliament should have ignored his comment is a moot one.