In Search of African Global Media Platforms & Examining Headies’ “Rookie of The Year”
Another month, another triumph by African and Nigerian artistes. It’s been a whirlwind of successive wins, from the BET Awards, where Burna Boy and Tems won while Davido had one of the night’s most significant performances – despite the hip hop anniversary-themed event. Wizkid also was in the spotlight as he warmed up for his headline concert at the Tottenham Stadium in London. Burna has yet to slow down on his Love, Damini tour and became the first African artiste to sell out Citi Field Arena in New York, one of the most iconic homes of major league baseball. And then Afronation? If you didn’t know about the world’s most prominent African music festival by now, you certainly have seen the iconic images shot by Michael Tubes. It’s a great time to be African.
The fallout of these feats is that, more times than not, African have to rely on foreign media outlets for proper coverage of these events and happenings. Sure, there are social media clips shared by attendees and artiste-generated content. Still, there’s yet to be a genuinely African media juggernaut to cover, document and contextualize them for the world. The consequence is that even though these foreign media platforms might be good-intentioned, something is missing or incomplete. Besides, their media coverage is for their own audiences, not ours. For example, Wizkid’s performance at Tottenham is significant for at least two reasons: Wiz grew up in Surulere, where the National Stadium is located in Lagos. More than football, the stadium, for several decades, has been the site of countless bars and a hub for upcoming Nigerian singers. Nobody has drawn a parallel from National Stadium to Tottenham Stadium. Sometimes, it’s in small things like that. Other times, it’s in glaring errors we’ve seen GQ Magazine make.
However, I believe artists are now positioned to build worthy media companies. Again, while one cannot demand anybody to invest in anything, local media played a part in the emergence of the music industry that is now a primary income earner for African countries – led, of course, by Nigeria. The media industry is as capital-intensive as it is essential, so most individuals who play in that space do it mainly as a labour of love. Even major corporations operating in Africa, such as Multichoice, Beat FM, and Radio Africa Group, often cater only to the home-based audience. People of the culture need to fill a gap in the diaspora. It’s a similar issue that hip-hop had until people from that community began to invest in their media outlets: Jay Z – TIDAL, Nas – Mass Appeal, LL Cool J – Rock The Bells, Diddy- Revolt and so on. The momentum is with Africa right now, and we must own it.
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Speaking of media platforms, the leading music awards in Nigeria – The Headies – this week released a list of nominees for this year’s event. The organization and the product often get a lot of stick from Nigerians who disagree with the nominations or the flow of the event on television. Owned and run by Ayo Animahsun, a media mogul that has played relentlessly in the media space for about thirty years, The Headies always find a way to continue where many others have fallen completely off. It is why (besides the disclosure that Animashaun is someone I know personally and professionally) I often give them the benefit of the doubt. The Headies has been helpful to the Nigerian entertainment industry more than it has had pitfalls. It has also found a way to create a pipeline that almost everybody in Afrobeats goes through. The Next Rated and Rookie of the Year categories are hotly contested, even more than the Artiste or Song of the Year categories.
It’s no different this year: emerging rap star Odumodublvck has been nominated in the Rookie of the Year category, and many of his fans are not having it. Many of them think he ought to be in the Next Rated class, perhaps due to the perception that the others in the category are younger and seemingly more greenhorn than him. The rapper acknowledged it, dedicating the nomination to “Miss Gladys.”
That said, I don’t think the Headies made a mistake in his nomination. The organizers described it as “a voting category for the rookie of the year who has had a great year musically, with the absence of an album in the year under review.” In fairness to Odumodublvck, he’s 29 years old, and his first single came out in 2017. On the flip side, it wasn’t until 2022 that he had a breakout year, starting with the joint album The Drop with fellow rapper B.O.C. Madaki, the single Dog Eat Dog and the ultra-viral Declan Rice. As far as the term fast-rising goes, Odumodublvck is it, and his style is as fascinating as they come. Still, if the criteria for being in the Next Rated category includes an album released in the year being awarded, we can’t fault them for excluding a fan favourite who doesn’t have it this year.
I am eagerly looking forward to the rest of the nominations.
Lastly, stay updated with all you need about African music at S.O.A. right here.
