I was able to finally attend the Cannes Film Festival and the MTV Europe Music Awards for the first time. These have been international events I have always wanted to partake in, since they started to have some Ghanaian/African participation in the last couple of years.
My biggest personal highlight was attending the MTV Europe Music Awards. Although it wasn’t one of my usual fully sponsored trips, I enjoyed the show totally and it was worth every penny I spent. It was great seeing most of my favorite singers up on stage, but even better was the total experience of the ceremony- simply amazing!
2016 was an eventful year for showbiz with lots of talking points and well, memorable events. So here we go with the few I could remember as I put together this post on New Year’s Eve.
Happy weddings!
2016 saw several of our stars getting hitched! Some of the big weddings included Nana Ama McBrown finally getting married to boyfriend, Maxwell. Their wedding was so private that no cameras were allowed at the ceremony. Photos from the event were published exclusively in Atritriw magazine a month later. Kwaw Kese married again after his divorce from his American diplomat wife.
Afia Schwarzenegger also remarried, starting the process in South Africa and ending it with a traditional wedding in Ghana. Also joining the marriage train in 2016 were Kevin Prince Boateng , Agya Koo, Caleb Giovanni, and Kumkun Bagya host, Adwoa Saah. Well hopefully in 2017 I will also get married and make the list…wink.
The baby boom!
2016 was a baby-making season for many stars in Ghana. Rapper, Sarkodie welcomed his daughter Titi to his Sarkcess Kingdom with longtime girlfriend, Tracy. Actress Kafui Danku revealed she had finally had a successful pregnancy, after multiple failed pregnancies. It is not clear whether she has birthed yet, but sources suggest so!
The trend monitored was mostly baby girls. Joining the boom were Jasmine Baroudi,
Beverly Afaglo & Choirmaster, as well as Chemphe. Actor Wayoosi also had a baby girl but sadly lost her to drug overdose some few months later.
Meanwhile, Vicky Zugah came from her long hiatus to shock Ghanaians with her son with Big Brother Africa Sierra Leonean housemate, Bolt. Aphrodisiac club owner Confidence Haugen also had another son this year in far away London.
The sad farewells
2016 was a ‘black year’ with unprecedented deaths in the showbiz and entertainment world. At the stroke of 2016, we lost journalist and manager of Amakye Dede, Isaac Yeboah in a ghastly road accident. This opened up a series of tragic losses including Nkomode , George Forest, Vybrant Faya, Daasebre Gyamenah, Minister Danny Nartey, Ebenezer Donkor (Katawere), Gifty Temeng, Bishop Bob Okala, George Williams, Nii Odoi Mensah, Mc Flava Pounds, and others.
The old beefs, the new beefs and the truce!
Oh what a confrontational year 2016 was! We won’t be in a hurry to forget the epic beef between Sarkodie and M.anifest. This lyrical war all started when Sarkodie released ‘Bossy’. The track ended with Sarkodie making reference to M.anifest’s rap signature, ‘m do do ti do’. M.anifest replied with ‘godMC’ and immediately after the release, Sarkodie also did ‘Kanta’ as a direct response.
There were more lyrical wars after MTV Base Africa released a list of ten hottest emcees in Ghana, which included D Black. Wanlov believed D-Black didn’t deserve to be on the list and expressed his views on social media. D-Black went to the studio to drop a ‘voice note’ titled ‘The List’ which took Wanlov to the cleaners. Wanlov then replied by releasing ‘Ah Well’.
Other beefs in the year included the age-old catfights between Mzbel and Diamond Appiah, and Afia Schwarzenegger versus Diamond Appiah. In fact Afia Schwarzenegger was so much a fixture in the news that I think she deserves a subheading to herself!
Ever since Valentina Nana Agyeiwaa made an appearance on the Ghanaian entertainment scene, her life has been that of one controversy after the other. 2016 wasn’t any different. Earlier in the year she went head to head with the equally controversial Kennedy Agyapong. Afia called him among other things a drug pusher while he insinuated that Afia was an unkempt whore. Their trade of words eventually resulted in Afia being taken off air.
And who can forget about the sour revelations that followed Bibi Bright’s social media fight and exposé on Nana Akua Addo? It ended up being a fashionable catfight between red carpet slayers including Selly Galley and Zynnell Zuh- they all came for Nana Akua. In fact in attempt to resolve the fracas at the Ghana Movie Awards ended up equally interesting as Shirley Frimpong-Manso walked on stage to interrupt ‘the childish act’.
Meanwhile 2016 saw what has been reported as the end to Shatta Wale and Samini’s beef. The two hugged and performed on stage together, and called it a truce during the 2016 Saminfest concert.
Other memorable celebrity beefs Kaakie vs MzVee and Roro vs Reggie Rockstone.
Who owned the year?
2016 wasn’t anybody’s year in the music field but the usual big names continued to shine with some few new faces breaking through also. Mainly based on the works from the previous year, E.L, Bisa Kdei, Sarkodie and Stonebwoy ruled the 2016 Ghana Music Awards and continued to have a good year thereafter.
Some of the songs that made major waves were Choices remix by Sarkodie, Solo by newcomer Article Wan. But the surprise Jam of the year came in the form of ‘Onaapo’ , a campaign song for President Mahama during the election season.
MzVee was nominated for the 2016 BET Awards. Although she couldn’t win, her stunning outfit got mentions in the international press as one of the best.
2016 also saw a lot of musical shows organized or headlined by artists themselves. These included the annual Rapperholic concert by Sarkodie, Bar concert by EL, The Bhim concert by StoneBwoy, The Experience of Kojo Antwi Reloaded by Kojo Antwi, among others. So who owned 2016 for you? Leave your comments.
Celebs and politics!
2016 marked another general elections year, and there were major celebrity involvement like never before. Notable among them were John Dumelo, Mzbel, Rex Omar, and many others endorsing the NDC. While the likes of Daddy Lumba, Agya Koo, A-plus, Lucky Mensah, Socrate Safo and several others also backed the NPP. The likes of Kwame Djokoto and Ebi Bright went as far as contesting for Members of Parliament.
The Badass!
2016 also saw some badass behavior and scandals that surely made us cringe, laugh or infuriated. ‘Angel Obinim’ surely gave us, and indeed the rest of the world, a lot to talk about. For instance, he was seen laying on top of a church member who was seeking for healing. According to him, he was channeling the power of God to heal the woman by laying his weight on her. He was also shown on live TV lashing two teenagers for allegedly fornicating. How about when he insulted reverend Sam Korankye Ankrah on live TV? He was also arrested and put in police cells for allegedly duping a gold dealer. Clearly Obinim was the real badass for 2016!
Bukom Banku was all over the news in 2016 after he appeared to have tampered with his skin complexion. He admitted bleaching his skin, saying he decided to lighten his skin as per the advice of one of his wives. Later, after criticisms got heavier, Bukom Banku rebelled with a rather disgusting video of him dancing and stripping while claiming to be campaigning for the NDC.
In 2016, we were introduced to Lord Paper who believed he could attain celebrity status overnight by releasing pornographic music videos. He trended for some days but as to weather he has become a musician on the lips of Ghanaians, we have to wait for 2017.
A woman claiming to be the ex of actor Toosweet Annan released videos of the actor pleasing himself sexually, which became one of the most sought after sextapes of the year. The woman also claimed that the actor duped her and other ladies of several thousands of dollars.
Bye Bye 2016!
Some of the other highlights of 2016 included Majid Michel becoming a vessel for preaching God’s word. Kofi Adjorlolo also revealed that he was dating the much younger actress, Victoria Lebene. They were supposed to even get married before the close of the year but nothing has been heard about that.
We go into 2017 with a new President, Nana Akufo-Addo and a lot of promise of great entertainment ahead. Let’s meet a year from now and recount it all. Happy New Year!!!
