Wizkid, Somi win NAACP Image Awards

The NAACP Image Awards were first held in 1967 to celebrate excellence by people of colour in film, TV, music and literature. This year’s awards, which ran virtually from Monday last week, concluded on 28 March.

“Congratulations to the 52nd #NAACPImageAwards winners in our Outstanding Recording categories! @theestallion, @Beyonce, @Hit_Boy, @wizkidayo, @SAINtJHN, Blue Ivy Carter & @JheneAiko,” the NAACP tweeted on 26 March.

The victory marks Wizkid’s second consecutive NAACP Image Award after ‘Brown Skin Girl’ won the Outstanding Duo or Group Award last year. The record also won for Best Music Video at the recently held 63rd Grammys.

‘Brown Skin Girl’ was released in 2019, and its accompanying video is taken from Beyoncé’s 2020 visual album Black Is King. 

The ‘Ojuelegba’ hitmaker was among a number of West African popstars – including fellow Nigerian artists Tiwa Savage and Davido, and Ghana’s Bisa Kdei – who secured nominations at this year’s NAACP Image Awards. Tiwa Savage and Davido lost to Jamaican singer Koffee in the Outstanding International Song category. Bisa Kdei, who secured a nomination for Outstanding Soundtrack/Compilation Album for his contribution on Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, lost to the makers of the Soul film soundtrack. 

Wizkid was not Africa’s only winner this year. American singer, scholar and activist of Rwandan and Ugandan descent Somi received the Oustanding Jazz Album award at the 2021 NAACP Image Awards for Holy Room: Live at Alte Oper with Frankfurt Radio Big Band, which will be released in July last year. 

“Thank you NAACP Image Awards for this immense honour”, Somi wrote on Facebook. “I’m ululating all the way from Kigali (in the middle of the night) with so much gratitude. Thank you for seeing my heart and listening to yours. I celebrate this moment with my generous collaborators and congratulations to my fellow nominees.”

The album was recorded with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band during her performance for the Hessischer Rundfunk national broadcaster at the Alte Oper concert hall in Frankfurt, Germany, in May 2019. Award-winning pianist John Beasley contributed expert big band arrangements and conduction and was accompanied by Somi’s longtime collaborators – guitarist Hervé Samb and pianist Toru Dodo. 

Proceeds from the album’s sales are being donated to the Black Art Futures Fund – a collective of emerging philanthropists promoting the elevation and preservation of black arts and culture.

Meanwhile, Beyoncé was this year’s biggest winner as she also bagged the awards for Outstanding Female Artist, Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration (Contemporary) and Outstanding Hip Hop/Rap Song with Megan Thee Stallion for the remix of the rapper’s ‘Savage’.

Additional reporting by Lucy Ilado