Nominees revealed for SA Hip-Hop Awards

2 Nov 2015 - 13:03

Published under the Creative Commons Licence

South Africa’s leading award ceremony dedicated purely to hip-hop, the nominees for the 2015 edition of the South African Hip-Hop Awards (SAHHA) were announced on Friday 30 October. Held annually since 2012, the awards honour the genre’s top dogs over the past year with a trophy dubbed a Pyramid. Themed ‘African By Nature’, this year’s awards will consider the influence that African heritage has had on the country’s thriving local hip-hop scene. The ceremony will take place on 9 December between 7 and 11pm at the Lyric Theatre at Gold Reef City in Johannesburg.

AKA and Riky Rick lead the nominees for the upcoming SA Hip-Hop Awards.

Although Cassper Nyovest is currently the talk of the town following his historic sold-out show at the Ticketpro Dome on Saturday 31 October and a recent lucrative deal with MTN, it's rival rappers Riky Rick and AKA who are leading the way in terms of nominations. Riky Rick picked up seven nominations: Album of the Year (for Family Values), Best Male, Producer of the Year, Song of the Year (for ‘Boss Zonke’), Video of the Year (for ‘Sondela’), Hustler of the Year and Most Valuable. AKA follows with six nods: Best Collabo, Song of the Year (for ‘Baddest’), Video of the Year (for both ‘All Eyes On Me’ and ‘Sim Dope’), Milestone Award (for a gold album and two gold Singles) and Most Valuable.

Cassper, meanwhile, is nominated in four categories, including Video of the Year (for ‘Ghetto’), Hustler of the Year and Most Valuable. In the category Milestone Award, platinum sales for his album Tsholofelo will see him face off with AKA, his much-publicised rival. Also getting multiples nods are local heavyweights Proverb (5 nominations), DJ Dimplez (5), Reason (4), Anatii (4), Tumi (3), Zakwe (3) and Okmalumkoolkat (2). Iconic DJ Ready D will receive a special Honorary Award for his role in developing hip-hop in South Africa over the past 30 years.

One notable absence from the nominees is K.O, recently returned from a tour of East Africa. His company CashTime last year withdrew from the awards in protest to the organisers apparently snubbing his massive hit ‘Cara Cara’ in 2014, before the track went on to clean up at the 2015 SAMAs in April.

Interestingly, only two artists contest Best Female category - Assessa and C'Ro – evidence the hip-hop in South Africa remains a men’s game. For lesser-known acts, the organisers host the ‘King’ awards for each of the country’s nine provinces, although the ladies don’t get the same honour.

Awards founder Osmic Menoe didn’t touch on this gender imbalance when he said the list of nominees highlighted the growth of hip-hop in the country. "You can see at the rate the industry is going that we are no longer where we were years ago" he told the Sowetan.

The full list of nominees for the 2015 SA Hip-Hop Awards is as follows:

Album of the Year:

Riky Rick - Family Values
Reason - Audio HD
Proverb - Read Tape
Tumi - Return of the King
Zakwe – Impande

Best Collabo:

• DJ Speedsta – ‘Special Somebody’

Anatii ft. AKA – ‘The Saga’
Okmalumkoolkat ft. Stilo Magolide, uSanele and Sibot
Nadia Nakai ft. Ice Prince – ‘Saka Wena’
AKA ft. Khuli Chana, Burna Boy and Yanga – ‘Baddest’
DJ Sliqe ft. WTF and Okmalumkoolkat – ‘iLife’
DJ Dimplez ft. Cassper Nyovest and JR – ‘Way Up’
DJ Sliqe ft. Kwesta and Flabba – ‘Do Like I Do’
Gigi LaMayne ft. Khuli Chana – ‘Ice Cream Remix’
Reason ft. HHP – ‘Endurance’

Best Dance Crew:

Creed Crew
Supreme I Crew
EDC
2Legitt Crew
Freeze Frame

Best Female:

Assessa - Yim Lo
C'Ro - First Foray

Best Freshman:

Assessa - Yim Lo
Jonny Joburg - King Jonny Cometh
Mthinay Tsunam - The Beginning
Aewon Wolf - Darkest Winter
Nasty C - Price City

Best Graffiti Artist:

MARS
RIOT
PSALM 1
GIFT

Best International Brand:

Red Bull
Sprite
Miller
KFC

Best Local Brand:

Butan
Head Honcho
GALXBOY
Ama Kip Kip

Best Lyricist:

Tumi - The Return Of The King
Proverb - Read Tape
Reason - Audio High DefinitionHigh Definition
Zakwe - Impande
Ginger Breadman - Mo Better

Best Male:

Riky Rick - Family Values
Tumi - Return Of The King
Zakwe - Impande
Reason - Audio High Definition
Proverb - Read Tape

Best Mixtape:

DJ Dimplez - Zeal
Fortune - Abomrapper 2
OkMalumkoolkat - 100K Ma Cassette
Ejay - Apartheid: Black & White
Aewon Wolf - Darkest Winter

Best Radio Show:

Headwarmaz - Bush Radio
The Hip Hop Floor - Yfm
Ground Zero - TruFM
The Stir Up - 5FM
Namba Namba - Ukhozi FM
16 Bars Reloaded - UJ FM
VenRap Radio
The Ready D Show - Good Hope FM
Trail Blazer - SK FM
The Mixtape - Alex FM

DJ of the Year:

DJ Dimplez
Junior De Rock
DJ Speedsta
DJ Capital
Major League DJs

Producer of the Year:

Riky Rick
Anatii
Tweezy
Gemini Major
Ganja Beatz

Promoter of the Year:

Maftown Heights
Authentic Sundays 
HomeComing Picnic 
Pop Bottles
Str Crd

Song of the Year:

Riky Rick – ‘Boss Zonke’
Khuli Chana – ‘Mahamba Yedwa’
Anatii ft. AKA – ‘The Saga’
Major League DJs ft. Cassper Nyovest, Riky Rick and Okmalumkoolkat – ‘Slyza Tsotsi’
L-Tido – ‘Dlala Ka Yona’
Emtee – ‘Roll Up’
DJ Sliq ft. Kwesta and Flabba – ‘Do Like I Do’
AKA ft. Khuli Chana, Burna Boy and Yanga – ‘Baddest’
Gigi LaMayne ft. Khuli Chana – ‘Ice Cream Remix’
WTF – ‘Nomusa’

Video of the Year: