Sarkodie from Ghana and Wizkid from Nigeria jointly won the Best International Act Africa in the BET Awards.
Congrats to both of them.
BUT. BET needs to fix up. What is this joint award bull that they keep pulling? When the most popular champions of Black Entertainment can't even show African talent the respect that they would show European or American talent, it's a sad day for Africans in the West. Sarkodie is frankly good enough to win the award outrightly, and Wizkid is good enough to win it outrightly too. Both artists are making it big off their own back and making diaspora communities proud of our heritage. What BET did last year and again this year is something I've expected from MTV or any awards show geared at not making other "races" uncomfortable with the idea that we don't need to be placed in a box and limited in our achievement or style.
The joint award in my opinion shows that BET doesn't rate African artists still. So I will tell Sarkodie and Wizkid and the other nominees: when you rearrange your awards cabinet to fit the BET award on, remember to keep your local awards front and centre because they come with a real appreciation of your work; the GMAs, the MAMAs, the Kora Awards and 4syte Awards, they are all worth so much more than a BET award because they will truly reverence you as you deserve. Even MOBO Awards are less condescending.
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