It’s official: not attending the Headies 2016 was definitely not an error of commission as all the major players who didn’t show up on Thursday all made a beeline for Rhythm Unplugged the very next day.
The annual concert took place at the same venue which the awards ceremony held the previous day and was attended by Olamide, Adekunle Gold, Reekado Banks, Korede Bello, Tiwa Savage, Waje, Omawumi, Davido, Tekno, P-Sqaure – many of whom were nominated in different categories of the Headies but were conspicuously missing on the night.
This coming in spite of the fact that it held on a Thursday night that most artistes were not necessarily occupied by events as they would be on weekend nights.
For an individual like Tekno, not showing up to the Headies given their recent disagreement was not unexpected. But others seemed to carry over a lingering beef from the last edition.
Olamide famously ranted on stage to defend his YBNL act Lil Kesh and would go on to diss Don Jazzy. On his part, Don Jazzy seemed unwilling to risk that sort of confrontation again and his entire Mavin Records team stayed away.
Don Jazzy was with Tiwa Savage and Korede Bello in Cote D’Ivoire capital city, Abidjan for a show on the same night as the Headies.
For others, it seemed inexplicable that they would choose to ignore what many regard to be the biggest awards platform Nigeria has.
If indeed they had prior commitments to perform elsewhere as AY suggested on Thursday night, they made it very clear what was more important to them: money making over an awards show.
It might be worrisome for the organisers of the Headies as this very much looks like a resounding notice by the Nigerian acts that inasmuch as the Headies plaque was a nice thing to have, they would rather go with people that can simply give them money. To paraphrase Olamide, who Headies epp?
Rhythm Unplugged on their part would have no complains as the Headies’ loss was their gain.
The event was sold out and all the big stars showed up. The 12th edition literally lasted all night with outstanding performances by all of the artistes.