Nominees revealed for SA Hip-Hop Awards

Although Cassper Nyovest is currently the talk of the town following his historic sold-out show at the Ticketpro Dome on Saturday 31 October and a recent lucrative deal with MTN, it's rival rappers Riky Rick and AKA who are leading the way in terms of nominations. Riky Rick picked up seven nominations: Album of the Year (for Family Values), Best Male, Producer of the Year, Song of the Year (for ‘Boss Zonke’), Video of the Year (for ‘Sondela’), Hustler of the Year and Most Valuable. AKA follows with six nods: Best Collabo, Song of the Year (for ‘Baddest’), Video of the Year (for both ‘All Eyes On Me’ and ‘Sim Dope’), Milestone Award (for a gold album and two gold Singles) and Most Valuable.

Cassper, meanwhile, is nominated in four categories, including Video of the Year (for ‘Ghetto’), Hustler of the Year and Most Valuable. In the category Milestone Award, platinum sales for his album Tsholofelo will see him face off with AKA, his much-publicised rival. Also getting multiples nods are local heavyweights Proverb (5 nominations), DJ Dimplez (5), Reason (4), Anatii (4), Tumi (3), Zakwe (3) and Okmalumkoolkat (2). Iconic DJ Ready D will receive a special Honorary Award for his role in developing hip-hop in South Africa over the past 30 years.

One notable absence from the nominees is K.O, recently returned from a tour of East Africa. His company CashTime last year withdrew from the awards in protest to the organisers apparently snubbing his massive hit ‘Cara Cara’ in 2014, before the track went on to clean up at the 2015 SAMAs in April.

Interestingly, only two artists contest Best Female category - Assessa and C'Ro – evidence the hip-hop in South Africa remains a men’s game. For lesser-known acts, the organisers host the ‘King’ awards for each of the country’s nine provinces, although the ladies don’t get the same honour.

Awards founder Osmic Menoe didn’t touch on this gender imbalance when he said the list of nominees highlighted the growth of hip-hop in the country. "You can see at the rate the industry is going that we are no longer where we were years ago" he told the Sowetan.

The full list of nominees for the 2015 SA Hip-Hop Awards is as follows:

Album of the Year:

• Riky Rick - Family Values
• Reason - Audio HD
• Proverb - Read Tape
• Tumi - Return of the King
• Zakwe – Impande

Best Collabo:

• DJ Speedsta – ‘Special Somebody’

• Anatii ft. AKA – ‘The Saga’
• Okmalumkoolkat ft. Stilo Magolide, uSanele and Sibot
• Nadia Nakai ft. Ice Prince – ‘Saka Wena’
• AKA ft. Khuli Chana, Burna Boy and Yanga – ‘Baddest’
• DJ Sliqe ft. WTF and Okmalumkoolkat – ‘iLife’
• DJ Dimplez ft. Cassper Nyovest and JR – ‘Way Up’
• DJ Sliqe ft. Kwesta and Flabba – ‘Do Like I Do’
• Gigi LaMayne ft. Khuli Chana – ‘Ice Cream Remix’
• Reason ft. HHP – ‘Endurance’

Best Dance Crew:

• Creed Crew
• Supreme I Crew
• EDC
• 2Legitt Crew
• Freeze Frame

Best Female:

• Assessa - Yim Lo
• C'Ro - First Foray

Best Freshman:

• Assessa - Yim Lo
• Jonny Joburg - King Jonny Cometh
• Mthinay Tsunam - The Beginning
• Aewon Wolf - Darkest Winter
• Nasty C - Price City

Best Graffiti Artist:

• MARS
• RIOT
• PSALM 1
• GIFT

Best International Brand:

• Red Bull
• Sprite
• Miller
• KFC

Best Local Brand:

• Butan
• Head Honcho
• GALXBOY
• Ama Kip Kip

Best Lyricist:

• Tumi - The Return Of The King
• Proverb - Read Tape
• Reason - Audio High DefinitionHigh Definition
• Zakwe - Impande
• Ginger Breadman - Mo Better

Best Male:

• Riky Rick - Family Values
• Tumi - Return Of The King
• Zakwe - Impande
• Reason - Audio High Definition
• Proverb - Read Tape

Best Mixtape:

• DJ Dimplez - Zeal
• Fortune - Abomrapper 2
• OkMalumkoolkat - 100K Ma Cassette
• Ejay - Apartheid: Black & White
• Aewon Wolf - Darkest Winter

Best Radio Show:

• Headwarmaz - Bush Radio
• The Hip Hop Floor - Yfm
• Ground Zero - TruFM
• The Stir Up - 5FM
• Namba Namba - Ukhozi FM
• 16 Bars Reloaded - UJ FM
• VenRap Radio
• The Ready D Show - Good Hope FM
• Trail Blazer - SK FM
• The Mixtape - Alex FM

DJ of the Year:

• DJ Dimplez
• Junior De Rock
• DJ Speedsta
• DJ Capital
• Major League DJs

Producer of the Year:

• Riky Rick
• Anatii
• Tweezy
• Gemini Major
• Ganja Beatz

Promoter of the Year:

• Maftown Heights
• Authentic Sundays

• HomeComing Picnic

• Pop Bottles
• Str Crd

Song of the Year:

• Riky Rick – ‘Boss Zonke’
• Khuli Chana – ‘Mahamba Yedwa’
• Anatii ft. AKA – ‘The Saga’
• Major League DJs ft. Cassper Nyovest, Riky Rick and Okmalumkoolkat – ‘Slyza Tsotsi’
• L-Tido – ‘Dlala Ka Yona’
• Emtee – ‘Roll Up’
• DJ Sliq ft. Kwesta and Flabba – ‘Do Like I Do’
• AKA ft. Khuli Chana, Burna Boy and Yanga – ‘Baddest’
• Gigi LaMayne ft. Khuli Chana – ‘Ice Cream Remix’
• WTF – ‘Nomusa’

Video of the Year:

• AKA ft. Burna Boy, JR and Da LES – ‘All Eyes On Me’
• Anatii ft. AKA – ‘The Saga’
• Khuli Chana – ‘Mahamba Yedwa’
• Riky Rick ft. Zano – ‘Sondela’
• WTF – ‘Nomusa’
• L-Tido – ‘Dlala Ka Yona’
• Da LES ft. AKA and Burna Boy – ‘Paid’
• AKA – ‘Sim Dope’
• DJ Speedsta – ‘Special Somebody’
• Cassper Nyovest ft. Anatii and DJ Drama – ‘Ghetto’

Hustler of the Year:

• Nema Wama Hunghuni
• Khuli Chana
• Cassper Nyovest
• Riky Rick
• Proverb

Milestone Award:

• Cassper Nyovest (platinum album)
• AKA (gold album and two gold Singles)

Most Valuable:

• AKA
• Cassper Nyovest
• Proverb
• Riky Rick
• DJ Dimplez

Honorary Award:

• DJ Ready D

King of Eastern Cape:

• Yahkeem Ben Israel
• Lungelo Trusenz Nzama
• Tsviel The Prince

King of Free State:

• Dithato Mogoiwa
• Thabo Tsasane
• Kulax Khaile

King of Gauteng:

• Refiloe Ramogase
• DJ Dimplez
• DJ ID

King of KwaZulu-Natal:

• Ntsika Seoka
• Lindo Prowjekt Twala
• Bon Hussla

King of Limpopo:

• Hip Hop Live SA
• Nema Wama Hunguni
• Culprit

King of Mpumalanga:

• Marvin Straight
• Ecks Exodus Nkosingiphile
• Thabs Tha Acid

King of Northern Cape:

• Shirm Moipolai
• Kgomotso Modiragale
• Malibongwe Vongs Vuntu

King of North West:

• DJ Lemonka
• Amos Ofentse Tapile
• Thabiso "Lunchboy" Tshabalala

King of Western Cape:

• Curtleigh Louw
• Rheebongs
• Zanzolo Uzwi Kantu

The winners are decided through a combination of public and jury votes, depending on the category. Cast your vote now at the SAHHA website.