Nigerian pop singer Divine Ikubor popularly known as Rema, has boasted that he is still the future of Afrobeats genre of music.
The ‘Calm Down’ singer made this claim while accepting his second prize at the 2023 Headies Awards, which took place Sunday night at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta, Georgia.
Rema was named Best Male Artist, Digital Artist of the Year, and African Artist of the Year.
Receiving his award for Best Male Artiste of the Year, Rema said, “I must say it is very important that I should let everyone know that I’m not here because of the awards. I’m here because it is important to support our institutions. And when I said institutions, I mean the bodies that support you to be able to achieve these major successes; the media houses, award organizers, you know.
“We are in a very sensitive period if we don’t give our attention to our institutions, we will miss this chance that we have. And we will never have this chance again.
“Be it Afrorave, Afro this, Afro that, at last, we go jam for the Afrobeats award. So, this is our chance. We (Afrobeats artists) are not the first to do it. Reggae has done it before,” the singer added.
Meanwhile, Rema was not the only artist that won big on the night. Grammy award winner Burna Boy also won three awards, Afrobeats Single of the Year, Song of the Year, both for “Last Last” and Best R&B Single for “For My Hand,” featuring Ed Sheeran.
Selena Gomez, who teamed with Rema on the global hit “Calm Down,” won International Artiste of the Year, while Director K, who directed the music video for the “Calm Down” remix, won Best Music Video.
Also, Rapper and songwriter,Odumodublvck won a solar-powered, two-bedroom, fully furnished house in Lagos after he was named the Rookie of the Year, while Asake walked away with a brand new car after winning the highly coveted Next Rated category.
Receiving his award, Odumodublvck said “I’m 30 years old and I don’t have money to buy a house yet.”
Other winners were Ayra Starr who won Best Female Artiste award, Victony who won Best Recording of the Year, while Chike’s ‘The Brother’s Keeper’ won Best R&B Album of the Year.
Actor and host Terrence J. Nigerian and actress Osas Ighodaro hosted the show, which was streamed live on YouTube (U.S.) and HipTV (Africa) Network.
Odumodublvck, Young Jonn, Wande Coal, Kcee, Black Sherif, Asake among others thrilled the audience with electrifying performances.
The Headies Awards, originally called the Hip Hop World Awards, were established in 2006 by the Hip Hop World Magazine, owned by Ayo Animashaun to recognize outstanding achievements in the Nigerian music industry.
This marked the show’s second edition at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. It was held in Lagos from 2006 to 2021, before it was moved to Atlanta last year.