For another year, Coke Studio Africa artistes have emerged as frontrunners in African entertainment, scooping 28 nominations in total for the 2016 MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMAs) that will be taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa on 22 October.
With four nominations, Kenyan award-winning group Sauti Sol leads the bunch of 21 nominees from Coke Studio Africa 4, followed by Nigerian Dancehall prince Patoranking and South African rapper Emtee, both with three nominations.
Patoranking is nominated for Best Male Artist and Best Collaboration for the hit song No Kissing featuring Sarkodie. Sauti Sol are nominated in the categories of Best Group and Best Collaboration for Unconditionally Bae featuring Coke Studio Africa 3 Tanzanian singer Alikiba. They have also been nominated for Artist of the Year and Song of the Year. Coke Studio Africa 4 Producer from South Africa, DJ Maphorisa has also been nominated in Best Collaboration for Soweto Baby featuring Wikzid and DJ Buckz.
Rising South African hip hop artist Emtee features on the finale episode of Coke Studio Africa season 4 in song collaborations with the show’s guest international star: Trey Songz alongside selected African superstars. He has been nominated for Best Hip Hop Artist, Song of the Year and Best Breakthrough Artist.
Coke Studio Africa newcomers are also on the spotlight. Toofan from Togo and Navy Kenzo from Tanzania are nominated in the category of Best Group. Mozambican songstress Lizha James has been nominated for Best Lusophone Artist, with the Best Live act category pulling in three Coke Studio Africa artists: Flavour (Nigeria), Stonebwoy (Ghana) and Eddy Kenzo (Uganda).
Yemi Alade will battle it out with Sauti Sol for the Artist of the Year award. In the Listeners Choice Award, Lij Michael, The Kansoul, Yamoto Band, Kiss Daniel and EL have all been nominated. Nigerian long time collaborators Falz and Simi, both got nominated alongside Emtee for Best Breakthrough Act, while Toofan and DRC’s Serge Beynaud have been nominated in the Best Francophone Artist category.
