International broadcaster, Sheila O recently hosted Nigerian born American based rapper, Tobe Nwigwe and his Ghanaian counterpart, Rocky Dawuni in Lagos.
Nwigwe, who is also an actor, was nominated in the ‘Best New Artiste’ category, while Dawuni was nominated in the ‘Best Global Music Performance’ category.
On Friday, January 13, Sheila O, the host of the ground-breaking music show, Afrozons, hosted Tobe Nwigwe and Rocky Dawuni at a media discussion in Lagos.
On how he feels about his Grammy nomination, the ‘Lord forgive me’ rapper who attended the event alongside his wife said: “For me it’s surprisingly overwhelming And that they would have the audacity to nominate an independent artiste like me especially in this kind of category. I was shocked but it was like a good surprise. We are just extremely happy to be in this position”.
On his own part , Dawuni, a third-time Grammy nominee said: “African music right now is impacting the world, it has always impacted the world. But the world never acknowledged it because you only have to look at popular music and you know that the influences were more of a cultural conversation between the motherland and the diaspora. But now with the power of the internet, we have seen our music circumvent many of the traditional gatekeepers who used to define what African sound was. I believe this is a new chapter in African music”.
Speaking on the sponsorship, Sampson Oloche; Portfolio Manager, International Premium Brands, Nigerian Breweries Plc says: Our goal at Heineken is to ignite our consumers’ passion through partnerships like this; we will continue to facilitate engagement that will ensure that our consumers have the opportunity to meet global artists like Tobe because for us, consumers are our priority.”
Sheila O, a voting member of the Recording Academy who recently bagged her PHD in media and communications from Myles Leadership University, Benin said she is pushing for the Afrobeats category to be added to the Grammys.
