MY AFRIMA AWARDS 2019 REVIEW

MY AFRIMA AWARDS 2019 REVIEW

As a #JihadistOfPeace, I love preaching peace with my #gbeduPoetry; communal peace, continental peace and global peace despite religion or race.

What attracted me to Afrima Awards is first, the Afrima Awards Music Business Summit that houses African Talents/Creatives in a particular room to discuss African music: The Past, The Present and the Future. I was stunned by the VIPs I met and the in-depth knowledge I harvested. As someone whose mantra is, "If your hand never clap, at least, make your face show!" Indeed, my face showed in that event, I was able to sell myself as 2'WYTH, the #WorldFamous #gbeduPoet and on a continental level, they were introduced to my unique niche, #gbeduPoetry (that Poetry that can make you dance to) and as a #gbeduPoet (that Poet that can make you dance to Poetry). 

The next day, after the successful Afrima Awards 2019 Music Business Summit, I left my house without a ticket and no money to buy the Regular Ticket which goes for #10k to Eko Hotel and Suites, but I left home with a well-thought plan. I scaled through the Red Carpet Session leveraging as a Media Personnel under the wings of another Media Personnel.

When the Afrima Awards started in earnest, that strategy faded with his glory but my faith, my believe to gain access into the hall never died. To cut the long story short, I was giving a VIP ticket by someone who decided not to stay for the event again. That's the harvest of determination right? Yope!

I gained access into the auditorium with a ticket band worth Thousands of Naira, I seated with VIPs and felt a VIP. I sat with Nominees of the Awards, I sat behind Nadia Nakai @nadianakai , a young South African rapper who thrilled me with her performance. Fortunately, this was her first nomination and she won two awards. I congratulated her and the rest is history, expect more from us. To me, the Afrima Awards was fair because the winning or the winners cuts across different regions of Africa on the African map to celebrate the unique creativity that comes with the African sound. Thank you AFRIMA.

While I was still there enjoying the show. Thoughts kept popping in my head like Social Media Notifications, "Why is Poetry Category missing in the Afrima Awards?", "Why are African Poets not recognised yet, is it that our best is not good enough or we've not been visible enough or we've not done enough or the Afrima Awards team are not aware of the significant role we are playing with Poetry in the African continent?". Many questions popped in my head. But I resolved with the following lines, "If it's not working, get it working." "If it has not been done, just Nike it (do it)."

2019 has been an amazing year for Poetry despite our individual and collective challenges. In 2019, we experienced the release of Poetry Albums and singles (the ones I know and the ones I don't know),  Lagos International Poetry Festival, War of Words Season 8 whose Grand Finale is on December 1, plan to attend, Omalicha Audio + Video by Grrraciano and Ungbemgbe Audio by 2'WYTH available on prominent Online Music Stores like CD Baby, iTunes, Deezer, Spotify, SoundCloud etc.

My resolution is:

Poets Dream Big: Poets Dream Big, Poetry is a serious business, the same way Music is a Serious Business. See Poetry beyond the snaps you get in a cubicle of a building, see Poetry beyond that. In reality, there are Poets that are making millions, touring with Poetry, so if you're not on that level yet, don't lose hope, embrace hope and ask yourself the relevant questions, "How?" "Why?" "Is it possible?"

Collaborations: As Poets, collaborate with poets and other creatives like singers, dancers, actors etc with a vision and expand your reach. In 2019, one of the track of my debut Spoken Word Artistic Poetry Album titled CHAPMAN on iTunes Deezer Spotify SoundCloud etc titled "Hoeinyi! Hor!" was used as a soundtrack in a movie that was screened on cinema.

Promotion: Whenever promotion is mentioned, the first thing that pops is "no money, money na d wahala", but if you leverage on your friends and families and fans; you can kickstart your promotion pending when the money for the real promotion will come.

Think Global: Since the beginning of the Grammys Award, the Spoken Word Poetry Category has been enjoyed by mere writers who simply go a step further to do an audiobook, so they win our Category with Audiobooks instead of real Spoken Word Poetry audios. Let's aspire high and change the narrative, it's not a 2'WYTHAN Project alone, let's come together and change the narrative.

Dear Poets, Dream Big or retire being a Poet as many has done because of say 'poetry no pay dem'.

#2WYTH #gbeduPoet #Ungbemgbe #AfrimaAwards2019 #@afrima #poetry #poetrycommunity @africanpoetry #africapoets #globalpoets #globalpoetrycult #PoetsDreamBig