P-Square, Fally Ipupa top MAMA nominations

Nigerian female artists also rated well with Best Female nods for Nneka and Sasha, and a nomination as Brand:New artist for Mo Cheddah. D’banj, a four-time MAMA winner, received yet another MAMA nomination for Song of the Year for “Fall in Love”.MAMA 2008 Best Live Performer winners Jozi (South Africa) notched up another ‘nod’ from […]

Nigerian female artists also rated well with Best Female nods for Nneka and Sasha, and a nomination as Brand:New artist for Mo Cheddah. D’banj, a four-time MAMA winner, received yet another MAMA nomination for Song of the Year for “Fall in Love”.
MAMA 2008 Best Live Performer winners Jozi (South Africa) notched up another ‘nod’ from the MAMA academy with a nomination for Artist of the Year. Six further South African artists were recognised by the MAMA Academy, with nominations for Teargas (Best Group), JR (Song of the Year), Black Coffee (Best Male), Big Nuz (Best Anglophone), Liquideep (Song of the Year) and The Parlotones (Best Video).
Fally Ipupa scored the highest individual number of the nominations with four separate MAMA award nominations. The charismatic artist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), who is also performing at MAMA 2010, has been nominated for Artist of the Year, Best Male, Best Video and Best Francophone. Barbara Kanam brought the DRC nomination tally to five with a first-time nomination in the Best Female category.
East African artists continued their positive nominations run with five nominations from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Kenyan Gospel crossover artist Daddy Owen is nominated for the first time in the Best Anglophone category while hip hop outfit P-Unit gets a mention for Best Group and Muthoni is recognised in the Brand:New category. In Uganda there is a first time nomination for Radio and Weasle (Best Group) while Tanzania’s Diamond gets his commendation in the Brand:New category.
Following the MAMA success of Samini in 2009, Ghanaian artist Sarkodie gets a first time nomination in the Best Anglophone category.
Four US mega-artists are to fight it out in the Best International category which sees Rihanna representing the gals against Eminem, Drake and Rick Ross in the ultimate urban music face-off.
Two new categories in 2010 have broadened the scope of artists eligible for the MAMA. The Best Francophone category sees Gabon enter the MAMA race for the first time with a nomination for Ba Ponga, while Senegalese artist Awadi and Ivory Coast‘s DJ Arafat also pick up their first ever MAMA nominations. Angolan artists Cabo Snoop and Paul G pick up nominations in the Best Lusophone category alongside Mozambique’s hip hop queens Lizha James and Dama do Bling.