Shatta Wale, Wizkid up for 2020 Soul Train Music Awards

Presented by BET, the Soul Train Music Awards were established in 1987 to celebrate outstanding achievements in African-American culture, including soul music, contemporary R&B, gospel, jazz and hip hop.

Shatta Wale and Wizkid guested on Beyoncé’s ‘Already’ and ‘Dark Skin Girl’, respectively. ‘Already’, which also features Major Lazer and has racked up more than 30 million YouTube views since its release, is up for the Best Dance Performance Award alongside Chloe X Halle, Chris Brown and Young Thug, Danileigh, Missy Elliott and Teyana Taylor.

The Wizkid-assisted ‘Dark Skin Girl’ was shortlisted in the Video of the Year category alongside Chloe X Halle’s ‘Do It’, Chris Brown’s ‘Go Crazy’, H.E.R.’s ‘Slide’, Lizzo’s ‘Good as Hell’ and Skip Marley’s ‘Slow Down’. This year, ‘Brown Skin Girl’ picked up the BET Her Award and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration. In 2019, the song won the Ashford & Simpsons Songwriter’s Award at the Soul Train Awards.

The videos for ‘Already’ and ‘Brown Skin Girl’ are taken from the American pop singer’s Black Is King visual album, released earlier this year. Black Is King also arrived as the video companion for 2019’s The Lion King: The Gift album. 

Meanwhile, American R&B singer H.E.R. leads this year’s nominees with eight nods including Best R&B/Soul Female Artist, Best Collaboration and Video of the Year. She’s followed closely by Chris Brown with seven nominations, and Beyoncé and Young Thug who have six nominations apiece.

The 2020 Soul Train Music Awards will be co-hosted for the third year running by Tisha Campbell and Tichina Arnold, who co-starred in the ‘90s sitcom Martin. 

The awards will air on BET Africa on 29 November.