Music  

From Soundcity MVP, Honour Comes For DJ Cuppy

By Chuks Nwanne

18 January 2020   |   4:30 am

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For her recent fundraising project to educate young girls in the Northeast region of the country, Ifeoluwa Otedola, popularly known as DJ Cuppy, was rewarded with a plague...

DJ Cuppy

Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Teni, Others Win

For her recent fundraising project to educate young girls in the Northeast region of the country, Ifeoluwa Otedola, popularly known as DJ Cuppy, was rewarded with a plaque of excellence in philanthropy at the Soundcity MVP Awards held over the weekend.

Cuppy, who is an ambassador of Save the Children, a global movement made up of national member organisations that raise funds for children advocacy, marked her last birthday with the launch of her Cuppy Foundation. The fundraising event had the cream of the society in attendance donating to the cause of the DJ.

Coming on stage to receive her award, Cuppy brought along Kupe, one of the beneficiaries of her largesse. She expressed surprise that she would be on stage receiving an award that is not music related.

The popular DJ, in a moment of pride, told the large crowd that filled the Eko Convention Centre, that she is an embodiment of greatness.

“I’m 27 years-old,” she said, encouraging the youths to be inspired by her Cuppy Foundation and seek ways to make lives of the less-privileged better.

Despite the mild booing from the crowd, Cuppy stood her ground and ensured that she passed the message across.

It was the first time that the music awards organised by media mogul, Tajuddeen Adepetu, recognised exceptional individuals, who have done well in their various fields.

Other recipients of the excellence awards include the British-Nigerian professional boxer, Anthony Joshua for his excellence in sports; media entrepreneurs and political activists, Adebola Williams and Chude Jideonwo for their excellence in community and socio-political development; CEO of iCreate Africa, Bright Jaja for social entrepreneurship and digital influence.

Now in its fourth edition, The Soundcity MVP Awards is gradually becoming the grandest stage where creatives in the music space are awarded for their creativity and contribution in the promotion of African music to the world.

This year, which reviews works of 2019, had winners that cut across the major regions of Africa. Nigerian mega star musician, Burna Boy emerged the artiste with the most wins of the night with three wins including Best African Artiste; he won in same category last year.

Kenya artiste Khaligraph Jones took home the award for Best Hip Hop, while Prince Kaybee of South Africa received the award for Best Collaboration for his song Gugulethu.

Of all the female nominees, Tiwa Savage and Teni emerged the winners of the night. Savage won in the Best Music Video category for the song 49-99 directed by Meji Alabi, while Teni, who was absent at the awards, took home the award for Best Female MVP.

There were also musical performances from Tanzanian music star Diamond Platnumz, Tekno, JoeBoy, Tiwa Savage as well as Davido who closed the show with his rousing performance.

It would be recalled that for four days last December, XChange 100, a consortium of event promoters led by Tajudeen Adepetu, locked down Eko Atlantic Energy City in Lagos. The platform, which serves as a venue for different events in the busy yuletide season, had all-day lined-up events for the scheduled period of December 20-23.

The shows included Soundcity All-Star Party, The Urban Music Festival, Afrobeat Fest and Olamide Made in Lagos Festival.

Mr Adeputu said it was a daunting task that kept them mostly on their toes.

“You can’t imagine the number of personnel and energy and money expended on a back-to-back four-day entertainment and lifestyle event like this.

“This year, only Tiger Beer gave us seed money, but I had to look for the rest myself,” he said.

When the consortium birthed in 2018, only three events marked the inaugural edition.

It kicked off with a lifestyle award show tagged Spice Lifestyle Honours. As the name suggests, the awards awarded major players in the lifestyle field.

Other events that marked the edition include the Urban Music Festival, Afrobeat Festival, Wizkid VIP Experience, Wizkid Made in Lagos Shutdown and the Soundcity MVP Awards.