Ghana: VGMAs withdraw Jay Bahd’s new artist nomination

The awards, the country’s biggest celebration of musical achievements by Ghanaian and African acts, unveiled this year’s nominees in March ahead of the awards show on 6 May in the capital Accra.

Jay Bahd, who shot to nationwide fame about three years ago as a member of the Kumasi-based drill collective Asakaa Boys, was up for the award alongside Ewura Abena, Lasmid, Chief One, DJ Azonto, Malcolm Nuna and DJay.

VGMAs academy member Austine Woode, who filed the petition about a fortnight ago, argued that Jay Bahd’s nomination was erroneous, as he had already been shortlisted in the Best Collaboration of the Year category in 2021 for his work on ‘Sore’ by fellow rapper Yaw Tog.

After reviewing the petition, the VGMA board announced this week that it had decided to renege on Jay Bahd’s nomination, conceding that he was not a new artist and that he had been nominated at a previous VGMAs ceremony.

“After deliberations, the board agrees that Jay Bahd is not new to the scheme because of his shared nomination on Yaw Tog’s ‘Sore’ for Collaboration of the Year in 2021. This means he’s not eligible as a nominee for the Best New Artiste category of the 24th Vodafone Ghana Music Awards,” it said.

The board also noted that Jay Bahd and his team had been informed of the new development, adding that similar issues had been reviewed after a one-week provisional window was introduced this year to fix errors and nomination omissions.

Meanwhile, Black Sherif, King Promise and Sarkodie lead this year’s nominees with 15, 14 and 10 nominations, respectively.