What Went Down At The #SAMA25 Nomination Ceremony

Shot by Matt Nkofo, Edited by Misa Narrates

The South African Music Awards have made their nominations for the 25th annual SAMA Awards Ceremony. An organization that often gets critiqued for not showing enough love to artists who operate in and around the hip-hop/rap genres made a change this year. As many of our Twitter following saw, we live-tweeted the nominations and noted the fact that hip-hop and its counterparts were well represented. Here are a few of the nominees below!

.@TheSAMAs have announced the Best Pop Album nominees!

We published the @tresorofficial track featuring @akaworldwide, "Electric Night," on #SlikourOnLife a few months back.

Congratulations to the nominees! pic.twitter.com/8SV7LqUNoL

— SlikourOnLife (@slikouron) April 25, 2019

For our #SlikourOnLife fam, the category you most care about is the hip-hop album award. @TheSAMAs have announced that at the #SAMA25 nominees are @akaworldwide @emteethehustla_ @HipHopPantsula @KidXSA @Nasty_CSA pic.twitter.com/oqKTYTw818

— SlikourOnLife (@slikouron) April 25, 2019

Heyyy @ANATII we see you fam! The #Iyeza music man is nominated @TheSAMAs for the #SAMA25 award show! pic.twitter.com/S6ebnXTRgF

— SlikourOnLife (@slikouron) April 25, 2019

Heyyy @ANATII we see you fam! The #Iyeza music man is nominated @TheSAMAs for the #SAMA25 award show! pic.twitter.com/S6ebnXTRgF

— SlikourOnLife (@slikouron) April 25, 2019

Hip-Hop is always made stronger when it's participants collaborate and make use of more than one genre.

Congratulations to the #SAMA25 nominees for the Best Kwaito/Gqom/Amapiano album pic.twitter.com/RMfR2kApX8

— SlikourOnLife (@slikouron) April 25, 2019

Shoutout to our February #SOLCOVERSTORY face, @Sjava_atm for his #SAMA25 nomination pic.twitter.com/gOrqtRVjFX

— SlikourOnLife (@slikouron) April 25, 2019

Heyyy @ShoMadjozi!

Her "Huku" music video is nominated @TheSAMAs #SAMA25 award show pic.twitter.com/Yy2rqU7Qa6

— SlikourOnLife (@slikouron) April 25, 2019

Related to hip-hop, @akaworldwide and @Nasty_CSA are both up for the Best Produced Album at the #SAMA25 award ceremony pic.twitter.com/UR6ZpLz5W2

— SlikourOnLife (@slikouron) April 25, 2019

Hip-Hop bagged a couple of nominatios in the Best Engineer category @TheSAMAs for the #SAMA25 award show pic.twitter.com/OdQ212Fq6m

— SlikourOnLife (@slikouron) April 25, 2019

Yeyi! @TheSAMAs showed love to hip-hop in the Remix Of The Year category!

The #SAMA25 nominees are out, can you spot your faves? pic.twitter.com/HDkYKDYcgZ

— SlikourOnLife (@slikouron) April 25, 2019

Hip-Hop is always made stronger when it's participants collaborate and make use of more than one genre.

Congratulations to the #SAMA25 nominees for the Best Kwaito/Gqom/Amapiano album pic.twitter.com/RMfR2kApX8

— SlikourOnLife (@slikouron) April 25, 2019

Iyahhhh @ShoMadjozi for Newcomer Of The Year for the #SAMA25 awards! pic.twitter.com/ZlWIUVuB8l

— SlikourOnLife (@slikouron) April 25, 2019

@ANATII & @Sjava_atm are repping the culture in a big way at the #SAMA25 awards! pic.twitter.com/9eATSe71AA

— SlikourOnLife (@slikouron) April 25, 2019

Limpopo truly has a champion @TheSAMAs because @ShoMadjozi is up for Female Artist Of The Year! #SAMA25 pic.twitter.com/NEQI5U7drw

— SlikourOnLife (@slikouron) April 25, 2019

Y'all know how much we raved about #Umqhele and now @Sjava_atm is up for Album Of The Year for the #SAMA25 awards pic.twitter.com/AZQk7CrAP6

— SlikourOnLife (@slikouron) April 25, 2019

The nominations elicited much celebration from the crowd in attendance. 25 is a big year for any organization, and in the spirit of noting their past and how far the SAMAs have come, the organization took guests to the Alberton Civic Center for the nomination ceremony. Artists, like Mshoza, Skwatta Camp, Rouge, Moonchild Sanelly, and more, took the stage to entertain guests that evening. One of the most memorable performances of the evening belonging to Moonchild. Maybe it was that she brought the same festival energy to a less "festival like" environment, or it could be because the song she performed, "Makhe," is just that dope. Her 'hop off stage and perform in the crowd' routine might be a little difficult to pull off depending on the venue, however, she managed to make the crowd come alive during her set.

Call it a bias if necessary, but seeing Skwatta Camp back on stage, albeit with a few missing members, was nostalgic and sweet. However, at the same time, the overdone use of nostalgia at the SAMAs could arguably be considered "laying it on thick." Nevertheless, we can't negate that having an organization like the SAMAs is important for our music community. For the time being, viewers will have to wait for the actual award ceremony to find out who will be announced as winners in their category. This year, like many in the past, will see South African musicians trek to Sun City or the annual SAMA award ceremony. So far, the show's host and performers have yet to be announced, however, we're sure you have a few suggestions. Let us know what you think in the comments below!