Young Ghanaian Rapper, Nuru has stated that he doubts the credibility of most music award schemes. Nuru raised several objections on twitter hitting specifically at Charter House’s ‘Vodafone Ghana Music Awards’.
Most people in the entertainment industry get excited when their names pop up in events which are meant to award them but the question will always remain; ‘Do they really deserve to be commended?’
Ghana’s biggest music event, the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards remains a major discourse on many Showbiz platforms. From Radio, online media, newspapers to TV, analysts are discussing the event. Awards has always had its criticism from the nomination phase to award winners and people from all walks of life get the opportunity to talk, rant and dissect it with different mind-set to suit their individual understanding.
In most cases, board members of these schemes lack independence from the organisers. Event organisers should not influence the award scheme and have to just make sure the necessary logistics and process are set in place.
It is also believed that, people who take a negative stance on these schemes get rewarded in subsequent editions. But does personal feuds and vendetta play a role in who gets listed or not?
Needless to say, where’s there’s money and public acclaim involved, we should not be surprised that the competitive nature of the industry trips over itself.
In a series of tweets, Nuru described award schemes as creativity killers. The rapper tweeted;
#VGMAs should stop awarding immature work. It's in danger of compromising award schemes as a whole.
— Mac Nuru (@thisisNURU) April 3, 2016
Stakeholders have been concerned about phony awards for years now but it seems to be getting out of hand lately.
— Mac Nuru (@thisisNURU) April 3, 2016
Most of our award schemes kill creativity in music because they are often based on popularity only.
— Mac Nuru (@thisisNURU) April 3, 2016
First, there’s a talent issue. We need more daring musicians. We need more adventurous and risk taking investors.
— Mac Nuru (@thisisNURU) April 3, 2016
We need more amazing songwriters from more diverse backgrounds. We need more artists with a radical view of the world.
— Mac Nuru (@thisisNURU) April 3, 2016
With these and many other positive efforts, the creative industry can get back to first place.
— Mac Nuru (@thisisNURU) April 3, 2016
Unfortunately, we cannot count everyone in our industry to play with originality and produce just good music. However, it says more about the artist than the industry.
Awards are a good thing in any industry but we need to win it for all the right reasons.