One such suprise at the VGMAs was Tamale based rapper, Fancy Gadem who defied the odds to win the Best New Artiste award.

Fancy Gadem who is relatively unknown in Accra beat competition from artistes such as Feli Nuna, Medikal, Ebony, Article Wan, Nii Funny, Rudebwoy Ranking and Eugy.

Another surprise, not too pleasant though came from Medikal.The Hiplife artiste who had an impressive seven nominations at this year’s event failed to win an award in a single category.

Medikal who received seven nominations including the Artiste of the Year award went home empty handed to the disappointment of his fans.

This year’s VGMA which is the 18th edition  kicked off with a choral performance by the Accra Symphony Orchestra setting the mood with an exhibition of Ghanaian music from independence to the present day.

Although the night was was disrupted on two separate occasions by power outages which resulted in a delay of almost two hours, the event proceeded without many technical hitches after power was restored.

With regards to performances, rapper Manifest hit the stage with some of his hit tunes including B.E.A.R, W’ani Aba and was joined on stage by Worlasi to perform 100%.

Sarkodie for his part proved to be the ultimate showstopper with a perfectly choreographed dance routine of his songs RNS and Gboza after which he was joined on stage by winner of the African Artiste of the Year, Runtown. 

 The duo performed their hit single Pain Killer after which Runtown did a solo performance of his track Mad Over You. 

Another show stopping performance was by Highlife legend Charles Amoah who showed that despite his age, he was still as vibrant and energetic as ever.

 His acrobatic display during his performance of Odo Asem was more than enough evidence that he has what it takes to give the young ones a run for their money.

Besides the power outages, performances from Kofi Kinaata and Becca respectively were not particularly exciting considering the expectations fans had about Kinaata’s Confession song. Becca was also not able to excite patrons during her performance for which she has come to be known for.

It was refreshing to see Highlife legend, Paapa Yankson who was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award which came with a GHC10,000 cash prize.

Some award winners on the night included Kofi Kinaata who bagged a hattrick of awards—Highlife Artiste of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Highlife Song of the Year.

Stonebwoy won two awards in the categories of Reggae/Dancehall Artiste of the Year and Reggae/Dancehall Song of the Year. Rapper Manifest also went home with two awards— Hip-hop Song of the Year and Best Rapper of the Year. Gospel artiste, Nacee received Album of the Year and Gospel Song of the Year.

Hiplife group VVIP won Best Group of the Year and Best Collaboration of the Year awards. Flowking Stone took home Hiplife Song of the Year while his big brother Okyeame Kwame bagged  Best Music Video of the Year for his song Small Small.