OPINION- Sarkodie Has Been Ghana’s Best Musician For The Past 10 Years- He Is The VGMA Artiste Of The Decade

The 20th edition of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards(VGMA) will happen this weekend at the Accra International Conference Center and as usual, a lot of people are seriously anticipating what will happen on the night of the biggest music awards show organized in Ghana.

Ten years ago, when the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards was celebrating a decade of awarding excellence in the Ghana Music Industry, they introduced another category in the awards scheme that sought to award one Ghanaian musician who has done extremely well in the music industry since the inception of the award scheme 10 years ago. That category, named ‘Artiste Of The Decade’ was hugely contested by great Ghanaian musicians, but at the end of the day, Kojo Antwi known as the music man beat everyone to it.

It is another decade yet again this year and as we were all expecting the ‘Artiste Of The Decade’ category has been introduced again. Sarkodie, Shatta Wale, Samini, Stonebwoy, Becca, Efya, No Tribe and Nacee, Okyeame Kwame and Joe Mettle have been nominated to battle it out in this category. Ghanacelebrities.com congratulates all the musicians who have been nominated in this particular coveted category. In this write-up, I will love to argue my way out as to why Micheal Owusu Addo aka Sarkodie has been Ghana’s best musician for the past 10 years and why he will win the VGMA Artiste Of The Decade.

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The VGMA’S define the Artiste Of The Decade as that artiste adjudged by the board and academy as the artiste with the highest audience appeal and popularity over the last decade. The artist must have released a hit single/album within the last 10 years. Every single artist that has been nominated in this category fits this definition but it is clear Sarkodie deserves it the most and I will defend and prove this with everything in my bone.

READ ALSO: Who Wins Ghana Music Awards’ ‘Artiste Of The Decade’? Is It Samini, Sarkodie, Shatta Wale Or Stonebwoy?

Micheal Owusu Addo aka Sarkodie has been the most consistent Ghanaian musician in the past 10 years. Ever since he released his first album ‘Makye’ in 2009 he has never looked back. Apart from 2011, he has been part of the Ghana Music Awards nominees list every single year and that is a testament of his musical prowess, winning the coveted Artiste Of The Year twice in 2010 and 2012. He shares this achievement with only music group VIP, the music group has also won it twice.

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Over the past 10 years, Sarkodie has been the most awarded Ghanaian musician of all time and also stands out as the most awarded African rapper of all time. Sarkodie has been nominated and won big at almost all the biggest award schemes across the length and breadth of Africa. In total, Sarkodie has been nominated 140 times in all major awards both home and abroad and has won 80 out of the 140 nominations, seriously this is not a joke thing. What is very interesting about this particular feat of Sarkodie is that whatever he has done in his music career is in this 10 years. Sarkodie remains the King of the Ghana Music Awards as he has bagged 49 nominations since 2009 and has won 21 of those nominations. Can you believe it? This is absolutely incredible and mindboggling.

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The Black Entertainment Award Winner for the Best International Act Africa category over the past 10 years has released six successful albums that have topped music charts in Ghana, Africa and the World at large. His maiden album in 2009, Makye, shot him to fame and won him the VGMA Artiste Of The Year in 2010. He followed it up in 2012 with Rapperholic, he teamed up with fellow rapper Jayso to do a collaborative album, The Mind Games (TMG) in 2013, Sarkodie came back in 2014 and produced another album Sarkology, in 2015, Sarkodie collaborated with the genius Akwaboah to produce a top-notch highlife album titled Mary and finally in 2017 he released his much talked about album Highest. No artist has released that number of albums apart from Sarkodie and it sets him apart from his contenders.

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For the past 10 years, Sarkodie’s popularity transcends the corners, corridors and borders of Ghanaian music. He has sold out most Ghanaian music venues you can ever think of which includes almost all the sports stadia in Ghana. He has on a number of occasions sold out venues outside Ghana that includes the famous Indigo 02 Arena and many other entertainment outlets in America and Europe. His audience appeal transcends beyond just the youth as elderly people also enjoys his music. Although he primarily sings and raps in Twi people from all walks of life who knows zilch about the Ghanaian Language are still able to vibe to his amazing works.

READ ALSO: Samini Deserves to Win VGMA Artist of the Decade Ahead of Myself, Shatta Wale and Sarkodie — Stonebwoy

Sarkodie’s unique brand and popularity have given him the opportunity to be the face and brand ambassador for most corporate organizations both local and international companies. In 2012, electronic giants Samsung Electronics officially signed Sarkodie as their Brand Ambassador. Fan Milk Ghana signed Sarkodie as their Brand Ambassador in 2013 to help promote the sale of their products because of his huge audience appeal. That same 2013, Telecommunications giant Tigo Ghana signed Sarkodie and even went ahead to sponsor his 2013 annual Rapperholic concert. Sarkodie’s is the owner of one of the biggest musical concerts in Ghana namely Rapperholic which he charges an average of 100 Ghana Cedis every year. For the past 6 years, every year the show happens and brings to one stage almost every single musician on the African continent. It takes only a genius to be able to achieve such a great feat. I have no doubt on the above reasons that Sarkodie deserves the Artiste Of The Decade as no single musician comes close to him.

Source: Ghanacelebrities.com