It was that time of the year again when Ghanaians came together to celebrate Ghana music on the 8th of April. For the first time in many years, all eyes weren’t on ‘king’ Sark, Stonebwoy, or any other top Artiste but rather Medikal. The new act has been in the scene for not long after his breakthrough last year after dropping back to back hits; confirm, by heart boy and connect. This earned him top collaborations with Sarkodie, Stonebwoy, and he even featured on E.L’s ‘BAR III’,

Medikal (MDK) topped this year’s nomination with seven (7), including the overall best. With the numbers been so impressive, we all had high hopes, but it seems he was also just in a ‘comfortable lead’ just as Ex-President ‘Mahama’ and ‘PSG’ in their respective profession. Who is to be blamed for his abysmal loss? Was he complacent? Did they fail to strategize their objectives? Was he cheated? Does he have any issue with top management at Chatter House?

I personally tipped MDK to be named discovery of the year, rapper of the year and overall artiste of the year, but he failed to pick a single accolade and rather set up a negative history. This is the first in the history of Ghana Music awards that an artiste topping nominations has failed to grab a single accolade.

New Artiste of the year

Everyone was expecting Medikal to easily grab this particular award but I am not even sure the devil saw it coming. MDK was nominated alongside Ebony,Feli Nuna, Rudebwoy  Ranking, Nii Funny, Eugy, Article Wan and the new act from the North, “Fancy Gadam”. I know you will be guessing who is that FancyGadam guy? As I said earlier, not even the devil saw that coming.

Fancy Gadam who won the prize had only one (1) nomination and therefore had limited concentration as compared to Medikal’s seven (7). At this point, I feel MDK together with his crew and fans undermined the potential threat of Fancy Gadam. This is an artiste who filled a whole Tamale stadium; and dubbed as Northern champion. Vodafone Ghana was celebrating Ghana Music, and not Accra based music.

Medikal and his crew should have been wary of the real threat of this guy from the North. This is a guy who bought an airtime on TV stations and radio stations at the Northern part of Ghana to campaign for votes. This is a guy who isn’t scared of taking risks, whether calculated or not. For an artiste not known in Accra to fill National Theater, is that not impressive enough to be wary of? A question that remains unanswered in my inner me is “did MDK and his team undermined the potential threat available here?”

Best rapper

This is another category I tipped Medikal to grab. It wasn’t an easy category and it has never been easy to anyone who has ever won it but technically, I felt he deserved it and still feel he deserves it. Even though he found himself competing with E.L, Sarkodie, M.anifest,  Yaa Pono and Flowking Stone,  I still tipped him for the notch.

Technically, I felt Flowking and Sarkodie  were out due to the song nominated. It was a total disrespect to both parties; how can you nominate Sarkodie whilst that particular song belongs to Flowking? Who gave him the right to submit a song that wasn’t legally his? Who did that particular assessment? Was the law asleep during the evaluation process? So what else? If Sarkodie had won, does that imply he rapped better than Flowking and vice versa? That was a total disrespect to both rappers and I think technically that disqualifies both parties.

Yaa Pono to me wasn’t a real contender and E.L. The real contenders to me were M.anifest and Medikal and analyzing the songs that got nominated, I think MDK deserved it more. This is a rapper who emulated E.L, Joey B, Criss Waddle, Omar Sterling, Yaa Pono and Kofi Kinaata. It takes a lot of hard work to be such creative. Hey! This is Ghana; and I witnessed “Hand to Mouth” adjudged best rap song ahead of “Fire bon dem”.

Overall best artiste

This category was very tough and has always been tough. Technically, Mzvee and Sarkodi e were not a real threat to Medikal as he had a better year than them. Stonebwoy and E.L have been on fire since last year. I am not a real fan of Gospel artistes vying for artificial accolades as I think they are to win souls and get rewarded in Heaven instead. Hence, I did not tip Joe Mettle. Was I surprised when he won? “Yes”! Did I expect him to pull a surprise? “Yes”!

This is an artiste who has been in the news for the week, claiming he was going to win the major prize. It was clear he had a well-planned strategy and it worked perfectly. That particular category was 100 percent fans vote and mathematically, if there was anyone who can grab 90% plus votes, it has to be him.

“Sarknatives and Sarknations” were going to vote for Sarkodie, “Bhimnation” were going to vote for Stonebwoy, “Eliens” were going in for E.L; all Gospel artistes were rooting for Joe Mettle together with their fans in church. Now, who was going to vote for Medikal?

I might not be a scientist, but I know a research will prove that Medikal’s fans are distributed between that of Sarkodie, Stonebwoy, E.L and Shatta Wale. This is where a collective or cooperative strategy was needed.

Sarkodie is a two time champion, Stonebwoy and E.L have both won it once, hence I thought a business collaboration to aid Medikal win the major prize would have been perfect and good for the lad, but who doesn’t need that award? If a Gospel artiste needs it, why not a secular musician?

I don’t know Medikal that much but I can feel the pain and disappointment (in my capillaries and arteries). Life is about learning from your mistakes and working hard towards future achievements. The world we live in now is full of fun and many will troll you (which I am of no exception). Personally, I felt sad for MDK since am also an artiste and I know how it feels when your hard work goes unnoticed; but I still saw the funny side of him been in a “comfortable lead”

I urge his management and team to strategize their plans effectively and I would not be surprised if he gets nominated for this year’s BET award.

Author: Nana Yaw Asiedu Amponsah