The 5th annual South African Hip Hop awards are set to take place tomorrow, 14th December at The Lyric Theatre, Gold Reef City, Johannesburg and the aim of the night will be to celebrate achievements within the local hip hop culture by handing winners a pyramid statue (which is the official SAHHA’s trophy).

All eyes are on artists such as Maraza, Nadia Nakai, Riky Rick,Fifi Cooper, Nasty C, AKA, Ms Cosmo and Emtee who is sitting on 6 nominations this year.

The celebration goes beyond the mainstream artists we have come to know and love as accolades will be handed to local and international brands who have done their bit to contribute to and promote the culture as well as radio shows, dance crews, graffiti artists and promoters.

Batsile ‘Boy Wonder’ Ramasodi and Nina Hastie will be the night’s hosts and the theme for this year is ‘Who Wants To Be Billionaire?’ Naturally, we were like “me! Me! Me!’ but we wondered what exactly the theme is all about?

Well, according to the organizers, it was inspired by the role big money is starting to play within the culture. Think grills, Rolexes, Bentleys, super expensive Gucci fur slides and all the money artists are pouring into setting up their own businesses.  

In recent years, the awards have come under fire for not being representative enough of the entire country’s hip-hop scene, especially what goes on in Cape Town.

In addition to working on being more inclusive, it would be great if organizers did more in terms of recognizing the actual producers and directors behind the videos by actually naming them seeing talent such as Kyle Lewis has worked on 5 of the videos nominated in the best music video category this year alone.

Photography is also a major part of the culture so it would be great to see local talent get recognized in future.  

Five years is still relatively early so we are interested in seeing how the awards evolve.

2016 South African Hip Hop Awards Nominees include:

BEST ALBUM

20FIFI – Fifi Cooper
Avery – Emtee
DAKAR II – Kwesta
Refiloe – Cassper Nyovest
We Need A Title – BETR Gang

HONORARY AWARD

Goddessa

MIXTAPE OF THE YEAR

AM-EP – Maraza
You Don’t Know Me Yet – Priddy Ugly
Ground Zero – Gigi Lamayne
3/4 Pace – Kid X
Cameron Diaz – Stilo Magolide

BEST MALE

Avery – Emtee
DAKAR II – Kwesta
Refiloe – Cassper Nyovest

BEST FEMALE

20FIFI – Fifi Cooper
Bragga – Nadia Nakai
Ground Zero – Gigi LaMayne
Storiez 2 Tell – Megmafia

DJ OF THE YEAR

DJ Switch
Major League DJz
DJ Dimplez
DJ Speedsta
Ms. Cosmo

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

Tweezy
Ruff
Ganja Beats
Lunatik Beats
Gemini Major

BEST COLLABO

Ameni – Miss Pru ft. Fifi Cooper, Emtee, B3nchmarq, A-Reece, Saudi & Sjava
Kuze Kuse – Fifi Cooper ft. Emtee
Washa – DJ CitiLyts ft. Fifi Cooper, Emtee & B3nnchmarq
Dream Work – AKA ft. Yanga
Ngud’ – Kwesta ft. Cassper Nyovest
Ragga Ragga – Gemini Major ft. Family Tree
Now Or Never – DJ Switch ft. Shane Eagle, Proverb, Reason & Kwesta
Way It Go – DJ Switch ft. Tumi, Nasty C and Youngsta
Jump – Anatii ft. Cassper Nyovest and Nasty C
Walking & Dabbing – Aewon Wolf ft. Gemini Major and Khuli Chana

LYRICIST OF THE YEAR

Nasty C
Solo
A-Reece
Kid Tini
Kid X

BEST FRESHMAN/NEWCOMER

Coming of Age - Kid Tini
20FIFI – Fifi Cooper
Cameron Diaz – Stilo Magolide
3/4 Pace – Kid X
Book Of Chad – Chad Da Don

HUSTLER OF THE YEAR

Cassper Nyovest
Khuli Chana
Proverb
Gigi LaMayne

BEST DANCE CREW

Creed Crew
Supreme I Crew
2Legitt Crew
Vintage Crew

BEST VIDEO

Couldn’t – A-Reece ft. Emtee
Le Mpitse – Cassper Nyovest ft. Riky Ricky
Sidlukotini – Riky Rick
Ameni – Miss Pru
War Ready – Cassper Nyovest
YippiKayay – Reason ft.AKA and Khuli Chana
More – Stilo Magolide
Mr. Madumane – Cassper Nyovest
Jump – Anatii ft. Cassper Nyovest and Nasty C
Fuseg – Riky Rick ft. Cassper Nyovest and Anatii

BEST GRAFFITI

Riot
Mars 
Tapz

BEST LOCAL BRAND

Butan
Two Bop
GALXBOY
Ama Kip Kip
Cassper Nyovest

BEST INTERNATIONAL BRAND

PowerPlay
Castle Lite
Redd’s
Absolute vodka
Red Bull

PROMOTER OF THE YEAR

Pop Bottles
Major League Gardens
Authentic Sunday
Sneaker Exchange
Maftown Heights

MILESTONE

Fill Up The Dome - Cassper Nyovest

BEST DIGITAL SALES

Gold Album + Gold Single – Kwesta
Double Platinum Album – Cassper Nyovest
Platinum Album – Avery – Emtee

BEST REMIX

Ambitions Remix – Tweezy ft. Khuli Chana & Ice Prince
Roll Up (Re-Up) – Emtee ft. AKA and Wizkid
Baddest Remix – AKA ft. Fifi Cooper, Rouge, NoMoozlie & Gigi LaMayne
Now Or Never Remix – DJ Switch ft. Various Artists
Juice Back Remix – Nasty C ft. Davido &Cassper Nyovest

MOST VALUABLE

Cassper Nyovest
AKA
Riky Rick
Khuli Chana
Kwesta

BEST HIP HOP RADIO SHOW

The Hip Hop Floor – YFM
The Stir Up – 5FM
Namba-Namba – UKHOZI FM
The Ready D Show – Good Hope FM
Headwarmaz – Bush Radio
The Mixtape – Alex FM
Hip Hop Corner – NW FM
Hip Hop Culture – Ligwalagwala FM
The Fresh Cut – Gagasi FM
The Capital Rap Up – Cliff Central

KINGS OF PROVINCES

KING OF MP

Thabs Tha Acid
Fortune Ntekati
Marvin Straight

KING OF WP

Lolli Dekeni
Zanzolo Uzwi Kantu
Emile Y?X

KING OF LIMPOPO

Hip Hop Live SA
Nema Wama Hunguni
DJ Chocos

KING OF EC

Yahkeem Ben Israel
Trusenz
Snesh Nota

KING OF NW

Amos Ofentse Tapile
DJ Lemonka
Thabiso “Lunchboy”Tshabalala

KING OF FS

Thabo Tsasane
Psykonik
Ba2cada

KING OF NC

DJ Speedy V
Snowy Maine
King Kyla

KING OF KZN

DJ Feel
Junior De Rocka
Lindo Prowjekt Thwala

KING OF GP

Spoken Priestess
Enzo
Major League DJz

The SA hip-hop awards show will be broadcast on MTV Base(DSTV Channel 322) on Monday, 26 December.