ST Singhateh dominates Gambia awards

Now in its second year, the ceremony handed out awards to music artists who released commendable work over the past year.

At its first edition, the awards ceremony had its fair share of controversy when Gee, the rapper famed for being outspoken, left before the event ended, presumably because he won none of the awards for which he was nominated.

While Gee received the Best Collabo award at the just-concluded edition for ‘Roll’, his song with DIP, the night’s big winner was rapper ST Singhateh, taking over from Bai Babu who dominated the 2016 edition. On social media, Gee, who was absent, lamented the case of an artist who failed to win despite seven nomination, but also praised the event.

"Yasally Njie Colley," he wrote addressing the event's organiser, "you definitely kept your word when you said BIGGER & BETTER. (You) also worked on a lot of faults from the last one. Congrats."

ST Sighateh won the Artist of the Year and Album of the Year categories, and also took the award for Song of the Year for ‘Tass Deka Bi’.

ST Singhateh, who is also called ST Da Gambian Dream, Brikama Boyo or ST, was born in 1986 and names the late US rappers Notorious BIG and Tupac as influences. In 2010, he released a mixtape. His award-winning album Watotijay was released at the end of last year and follows his debut album Distinction, which came out in 2013. He was named Best Male Artist at the first Wa Sah Halat Awards.

Other artists rewarded on the night include Big Sey and the groups Nobles and Kerr Gi Family.

The full list of winners at the second Wah Sa Halat Music Awards:

• Song of the Year – ST ('Tass Deka Bi')
• Foreign-based Artist – Big Sey
• Afro Fusion of the Year – Kerr Gi Family
• New Artist of the Year – Nobles
• Collabo of the Year – Gee ft DIP ('Roll')
• Music Video of the Year – Gambino ft ST ('Dancefloor')
• Media Personel of the Year – Senator
• Regae Dancehall – A2
• Music Producer of the Year – JLive
• Video Director of the Year – STS
• Rap Hip Hop Artist of the Year – Myk Jaydaf
• Album of the Year – ST (Watotijay)
• Life time Achievment Award – Ousu Njie Senor
• Fanbase of the Year – Brain Krackers
• Humanitarian Award – Alagie Manka
• Artist of the Year – ST