Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy’s exclusion from the VGMAs was a blessing in disguise as in the voice of Dancehall singer Theophilus Nii Arday Otoo, also known as Epixode.
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According to Epixode, the VGMAs ban allowed him to win Best Reggae/Dancehall Artiste for the first time at the 2021 VGMAs.
Epixode also claimed in an interview with TV3 New Day that the prohibition pushed young musicians to work harder in order to obtain recognition in the award program.
“For me, the VGMA ban on Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy was a blessing in disguise. Will we claim that former President John Evans Atta Mills’ death was actually a gift in disguise for Mahama? Despite the catastrophe, it was a blessing in disguise for Mahama, and he was elected president.”
“I mean no offense to any of them. Awards, in my opinion, exist solely to support artists,” he remarked.
As a reminder, Stonebwoy and Shatta Wale were banned indefinitely from participating in the VGMAs after an altercation between them marred the 2019 edition.
The former rivals were also stripped off the awards they won on the night and asked to return the plaques they had been given.
Because their altercation had caused panic many people fled the venue thus the organisers failed to announce the Artiste of the Year award, in which both were nominees.
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