Grammys, Wizkid FC and misplaced aggression

Less than a week ago on Sunday April 3, 2022, the 64th edition of the music award show, the Grammys held in Las Vegas at the MGM centre and was hosted by comedian Trevor Noah who among other things promised to keep certain names out of his mouth. Speaking of which, I can understand how, coming on the heels of the hot Oscars which took place on Sunday March 27, 2022 this year’s Grammys may seem tame. But not for long, at least not for the mostly Nigerian fans of Wizkid (Ibrahim Ayo Balogun?), hereby referred to as Wizkid FC, the preferred name of Wizkid fans. The multiple award-winning Wizkid had been nominated in 2 categories: Best Global Music Performance and Best Global Album.

First off, I think they should change Global to Rest of The World because how can African musician be kept huddled together under Global music? What genre of music is called global/ Whatever happened to Best Afro Pop, and Best Afro Pop Performance? But I digress. Although there’s a lot to be argued about awards, and the fact that African artistes continue to seek validation from all the foreign places. Why don’t we have continent-wide awards musicians would be proud to win? However, is it that we don’t have enough awards, or it’s that African musicians only have their eyes set on the Grammys?

As I was saying, Wizkid got nominated in two Grammys’ categories. Many experts were certain he would win at least one of the awards. In fact, some even thought that winning only one of the awards was going to be daylight robbery. To such fans, that Wizkid would not win either of the awards was almost unthinkable. However, this was what happened as Wizkid’s song Essence featuring Tems lost in the Best Global Music Performance to Mohabbat by Pakistan-born Arooj Aftab. Other Nigerians also nominated in that category are: Femi Kuti’s Pa Pa Pa, Burna Boy who is featured on the song Do Yourself by Angelique Kidjo. Wizkid also didn’t win in the Best Global Album category. Angelique Kidjo’s Mother Nature won. Femi Kuti and Made Kuti’s Legacy+ was also in this category.

After the results were announced or should I say even before the results were announced, many from the Wizkid FC ‘team’ had begun congratulating their icon. Talk about counting your chicks before they are hatched. Anyway, at some point after it became obvious that Wizkid didn’t win in the two categories, all hell broke loose. This was noticeable on social media sites like Twitter. Apparently, at some point, aggrieved fans transferred their aggression and began trolling Angelique Kidjo through her social media handles. This is the height of foolishness. What was Kidjo’s trolling meant to achieve? Did those bullies expect her to turn around and hand the Grammys to Wizkid? Mind you, this doesn’t mean I agree with the two winners in the Global Music category. Not that it matters as long as I don’t can’t vote. I was shocked about the Gospel awards. But who has the voting power? The trick is to focus on people who vote.

This brings me to my main point: If the Wizkid FC guys really value and love the Grammys that much, they had better get down in the trenches and start working the Grammys for the next few years. From what I’ve read, Wizkid’s real problems may not have been the “she tell me say” he in one of his songs that he was being teased about online. In 2021, music critic Oris Aigbokhaevbolo who should know, talked about wrote about Wizkid’s boring interviews and the musician not pulling his weight in choice interviews with publications like Rolling Stone. On the night of the Grammys, Aigbokaevbolo did a Twitter thread to reiterate the points he made last year and his first tweet which sums up everything he said was: “Oyinbo awards like the Grammys and Oscars are super-political. You must play the game if you want to win. If you are American, you will play it, if you are European, you will play it. But some Nigerians think that they are exempt from playing. Bros, you must.”

Remember, Wizkid can decide that the Grammys guys should ‘go and hug transformer’ but if he is really interested in the award, him and his team must back to the drawing board. It’ll also help to look at those who have won and ask some questions: What did they do differently? How can I be more interesting in interviews? How do I choose a cause that I can passionately discuss in my media rounds? And not unimportant, trying to please the Grammys might mean producing the kind of music you’ve seen win.

It just doesn’t make sense for an artiste to be interested in something but feign disinterest or ‘form’ humility. It reminds me of my oft-cited example of those Big Brother housemates who proudly say they don’t have a strategy. I’ve never understood how anyone can be chasing to win hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money but be beating their chest about not having a strategy.