S’African artistes in love with Ice Prince

 

ICE PRINCE

Winning the Best International Act award at the BET Awards event places Ice Prince a step above his peers, writes AKEEM LASISI

Los Angeles broadly smiled on Nigerian singer, Ice Prince, on Sunday when he emerged winner of the BET Award in the Best International Act – Africa category.

The artiste’s achievement affirms that he is not a one-song star. Also, it shows that he has continued to attract the attention of music fans across Africa long after his debut album had set him up for stardom.

While another Nigerian star, Tuface Idibia, who was also nominated in the same category, was not present at the awards event, there was an indication that the judges were bound to eventually smile on Ice Prince.

When he first appeared at a reception held for the nominees on Friday, he was hailed elaborately and caught the attention of a good number of stakeholders. But the first indication that he had earned some respect on the music scene, especially in Africa, was the way his South African counterparts at the BET Awards rated and spoke about him.

In separate interviews with our correspondent on Friday, Toya Delazy and Donald, who were also nominated in the Best International – Africa category, described him as an interesting musician.

Both of them indicated interest in collaborating with him, an offer that he described as being inspiring during a chat with our correspondent.

“Africa is moving on at the moment when you consider the quality of the outputs of our artistes,” Delazy said.

“As for Ice Prince, I am very happy to meet him here. I believe it is good to have been nominated in the same category with him. I like his flow and he is one of the Nigerian artistes I like to collaborate with.”

Even the Ugandan group that was also nominated in the category, Radio and Weasel, said it would explore the possibility of doing something with Ice Prince.

Reacting to these gestures, Ice Prince said he felt highly honoured.

“It is awesome to be at BET awards for the second time,” Ice Prince said. “It is nice to be in this environment. And I feel blessed to hear that these people want to collaborate with me.”

The biggest honour, however, came his way when he was announced the winner on Sunday. The singer that lost out to Wizkid and Sarkodie last year said he has been inspired to do more for himself and his fans.

In his reaction to Ice Prince’s feat, the Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Viacom International Media Networks Africa, Alex Okosi, said it was a deserved recognition for the singer.

“It is thrilling to see an African artiste of the calibre of Ice Prince being duly recognised alongside the biggest artistes in the world at the BET Awards.

“We are delighted that all of the African nominees have been able to enjoy the BET Awards and the BET Experience while benefiting from this fantastic promotional platform in the world’s biggest music market,” Okosi said.

Hosted by actor and comedian Chris Tucker, BET Awards ’13 saw Hollywood’s biggest stars come together to celebrate the accomplishments of their peers in music, sports and film, at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles.

The biggest winner on the night was Kendrick Lamar, who took home three awards: Best New Artist, Best Male Hip Hop Artist and Best Collaboration for ‘Problems’ with A$AP Rocky, Drake and 2 Chainz.

Miguel took home the trophy for Best Male R&B/Pop, artist while Rihanna scored a win for Best Female R&B/Pop artist. Nikki Minaj was voted Best Female Hip Hop Artist.

The BET Awards ’13 kicked off with an electrifying performance by Chris Brown. He performed a medley of hits, including his current single, ‘Fine China’, and a special performance of ‘Don’t They Know’, with vocals from Aaliyah.

Another major performance of the night began with Justin Timberlake presenting R&B legend, Charlie Wilson, with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

India Arie opened the moving tribute to Wilson with ‘There Goes My Baby’, while Jamie Foxx blessed the crowd with the fans’ favourite ‘Yearning For Your Love’.

The legendary Stevie Wonder then took the stage and energised the audience with the funky ‘Burn Rubber On Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)’.

Wilson joined Timberlake, Snoop Lion and Pharrell for 2003’s ‘Beautiful’’, a hit-song that reintroduced Wilson to a new generation of fans, along with astute rendition of ‘Signs’, ‘You Dropped A Bomb On Me’ and ‘Girl You Knock Me Out’.