Image: Courtesy
On Wednesday, the annual MTV Europe Music Awards (MTV EMAs) announced nominees for the 2022 edition with Zuchu being the only representative from East Africa.
She has been nominated in the Best African act category alongside, Burna Boy, Tems, Ayra Starr, Musa Keys, and Black Sheriff.
The coveted Awards are presented by Paramount International Networks to honour artists and music in pop culture. The Gala for the 2022 edition will go down on November 13, 2022.
So, let us take a look at the MTV EMA Best African Artist award winners over the last 8 years.
1) Wizkid (MTV EMA Best African Act 2021)
Grammy-award winning singer Wizkid won the Best African Act award at the 2021 MTV Europe Music Awards (MTV EMA), which took place at Papp László Budapest Sportaréna in Budapest, Hungary.
Wizkid’s MTV EMA’s win complements his impressive run of achievements last year, including the global accomplishment of his 'Made in Lagos' album, including the smash hit ‘Essence’ featuring Tems.
Image: Instagram
2) Master KG (MTV EMA Best African Act 2020)
The 'Jerusalema' hit maker won Best African Act at the 2020 MTV EMAs that took place virtually owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The viral track has picked up several accolades throughout the year from going platinum in Italy, to hitting 100 million views on YouTube and becoming one of the most Shazamed songs in the world.
Image: Instagram
3) Burna Boy (MTV EMA Best African Act 2019)
2019 was one very gratifying and successful year for the Nigerian act.
On the 3rd of July 2019, he was announced as of the artists performing at that year's Coachella Valley Music and two days later (5 January) he won four awards at the Soundcity MVP Awards.
In the same year, got featured on Beyonce’s Lion King album in that same July just before he dropped his well-received 'African Giant' album.
Image: Instagram
4) Tiwa Savage (MTV EMA Best African Act 2018)
The Nigerian performer beat fellow Nigerian Davido, Fally Ipupa (Democratic Republic of Congo), Nyashinski (Kenya), and a few other artists.
She did a bunch of things that year including sharing the stage with powerful international acts like Ed Sheeran, Beyonce, and Jay Z at the Global Citizen Festival in South Africa in celebration of the centenary of Mandela’s birth.
Tiwa also closed the year on a high note after she got featured in the December edition of British Vogue.
Image: File Photo
5) Davido (MTV EMA Best African Act 2017)
Davido won the Best African Act at the 2017 MTV EMAs, beating out Wizkid, and Nasty C (South Africa) to the award, and became the 8th artist and the 3rd Nigerian to win it.
2017 was when the vocalist released the back-to-back hit singles If, Fall, and FIA.
The single 'If' garnered so much notoriety, that the infamous American RnB singer R. Kelly made a remix to the record, which eventually led to his collaboration with Davido to record the official remix of the song.
In that same year, Davido also won the Best African Act at the MOBO Awards and was also the first African Act to perform live at the award show.
Image: Instagram
6) Ali Kiba (MTV EMA Best African Act 2016)
The Tanzanian songwriter almost got snubbed that year due to human error in the counting of the votes.
The award was initially given to Wizkid by error, only to be recalled later that year and awarded to Ali Kiba after the results of the votes that made it to the public revealed that Ali Kiba was actually the person who got the highest number of votes.
Ali Kiba also won about 15 other awards apart from the MTV EMAs Best Africa Act; including WANNA Music awards (France) where he won in the People’s Choice category.
Image: Instagram
7) Diamond Platnumz (MTV EMA Best African Act 2015)
Diamond won the MTV EMAs Best African Act in 2015. He beat other heavyweight champs like Nigeria’s Davido and Yemi Alade to the award. He also won the Best World Act (Africa/India) that same year.
In that same year, he won the Best Male Artist (East Africa), Video of The Year, and the ultimate trophy for African Artist of The Year. He also won the MAMA (MTV Africa Music Awards) for Best Live Act and many other awards.
Image: Courtesy
8) Sauti Sol (MTV EMA Best African Act 2014)
The local Afro-Pop band beat Davido, Goldfish, Diamond, and Toofan to win the MTV EMAs Best African Act in 2014.
The crew also won several awards that year including a Google Recognition Award for The Most Watched Music Video on YouTube in Kenya.
The band also got nominated for various awards including MAMA (Best Group), BEFFTA Awards (Best International African Act), and Channel O Music Awards (Most Gifted East African).
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