MAMA Awards 2015: Why Chameleone, Bebe Cool lost

The hope was high, expectations to turn true, Ugandans believed that if Chameleone could not bring the award home, Bebe Cool would. But as fate could have it, both lost out.

Bebe Cool was nominated in the “Video Of The “Year” category for his hit “Love You Everyday” that he and his director, Clarence Peters, lost to Nigerian music director Adriaan Louw for the song “Nafukw,” while Chameleone lost in the MAMA Evolution category to Nigerian artiste D’Banj.

From day one, Chameleone, East Africa’s number one was going to have it tight. He had been nominated in a category were almost all Africa’s big names were.  Being nominated with; 2face (Nigeria), P-Square (Nigeria), Asa (Nigeria), Anselmo Ralph (Angola), Black Coffee (South Africa), Fally Ipupa (DRC), HHP (South Africa), Samini (Ghana) and the eventual winner D’Banj (Nigeria) was going to be a tussle for Chameleone.

Looking at D’Banj’s musical CV will leave u mesmerized.  He has won several music awards, including the awards for Best African Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2007, Artist of the Year at the MTV Africa Music Awards 2009, Best International Act: Africa at the 2011 BET Awards, and Best-selling African Artist at the 2014 World Music Awards.

The twin duo of P- Square and 2face don’t need any introduction. They together with D’Banj have dominated African music for the last decade. It can be argued that in fact Chameleone could only challenge if the three aforementioned were not in the same category.

Looking at Bebe Cools category, personal factors and internal wrangles cost him a lot. Bebe Cool attacked openly his nemesis Bobi Wine when the latter asked his fans to vote for him. However, given his satirical nature, Bobi Wine said maybe winning an award would get Bebe disciplined. With pride at stake, Bebe retaliated and asked his nemesis fans to not dare vote him. The rest is history, Bebe Cool lost.

Probably it can be argued that if all efforts were together, he would beat Nafukwa – Ricky Rick – Winner, The Sound – Davido feat Uhuru and DJ Buckz, Crazy – Seyi Shay feat Wizkid and Doors – Prime Circle to the award.

To both Bebe Cool and Chameleone, Ugandan fans are unreliable; they only showed unity towards Kenzo. They are still poor at casting votes relying on miracles. The Nigerian artirst never took to social media to ask fans for votes but won. In Uganda, even after daily updates and pleas, we lost.

Meanwhile there are over 160 million Nigerians a number larger than the East African population. Nigeria’s population is 3 and a half times of Uganda and many other countries in Africa and they live all around the world.

Ugandan music can also be blamed for lacking identity and wanting in areas of production. Ugadan artists will take screenshots of their music playing on Trace Urban, MTV whereas our Nigerian counterparts will have 7 of 10 songs on each and every list. To them, these channels are not strange, it’s a must play. Unless our artists step up their game and make these channels a home, we shall keep on losing. Quality should prevail.