On September 15th at the Junction Mall in Accra, the Vodafone Icons train made a stop to enable the Tema squad have their day in the sun, this after the Dansoman and Nima crew have had their turn.
At about 8:15pm, before eager fans and veteran hiplife artist and ragga man Samini, notable YFM Breakfast Show host Ms Naa and acclaimed music producer Appietus; the show produced by the e-Volution crew was set in motion.
Nessacute would open things up. Appearing in in a white sneaker, faded jeans pant and black sleeveless top over a weave, Nessa set about to perform Rihanna’s ‘Man Down’ song. The performance was inconsistent albeit her smile remained constant even charming. Her delivery was smooth in one breath and turbulent in another.
For Samini, there was strength in her voice but she had to stay in key. For Ms Naa, Nessa had good mic handling as well as good pitch adding she had vim and rendered a great performance. Appietus however reckoned Nessacute couldn’t crescendo although she has a very good baritone voice reminding the damsel to stay in key while singing.
At about 8:15pm, before eager fans and veteran hiplife artist and ragga man Samini, notable YFM Breakfast Show host Ms Naa and acclaimed music producer Appietus; the show produced by the e-Volution crew was set in motion.
Nessacute would open things up. Appearing in in a white sneaker, faded jeans pant and black sleeveless top over a weave, Nessa set about to perform Rihanna’s ‘Man Down’ song. The performance was inconsistent albeit her smile remained constant even charming. Her delivery was smooth in one breath and turbulent in another.
For Samini, there was strength in her voice but she had to stay in key. For Ms Naa, Nessa had good mic handling as well as good pitch adding she had vim and rendered a great performance. Appietus however reckoned Nessacute couldn’t crescendo although she has a very good baritone voice reminding the damsel to stay in key while singing.
Appearing in a black boot, black pant, black turtle neck top and black hat, Nii Vanderpuye emerged on stage calmly without giving away the pleasant surprise he intended to unleash on us. Nii had great attitude, a great start and grooved to the song he rendered. Considering his choice of song wasn’t popular, his performance was the more impressive given he owned it infusing Reggie Rockstone’s ‘Keep Your Eyes on the Road’ tune sampled from Alhaji K. Frimpong’s ‘Kyenkyen Bi Adi Mawu’ song.
In the end, Samini, Ms Naa and Appietus were all nodding and bouncing in their seats.
Appietus rendered when asked by show host Adjetey Anang what he made of the performance; “beautiful, he did very well.” Ms Naa revealed the song Nii performed was from British singer Jacob Banks who is noted for his soulful, funky singing adding “you are the man of the night.” Samini was impressed he tasted a little Reggie, a little K. Frimpong in his performance adding “you were in key from start to finish, great job.”
The next to mount the stage was Bogo Blay. When his name was mentioned, the fans went ecstatic and for good reason as blakkpepper soon found out. Robed in raffia hat and pink flowered native print, Bogo used the African print ropes as leg and footwear in an Afro Moses style and stunned the gathering with his original content and rap type.
Bogo had mastered the art of rapping in Twi with a northern Ghana accent. He is a story teller and when in his element, he’s unstoppable and irresistible. It’s easy to see then why Bogo is in his own league. A check by blakkpepper on him revealed he admires the late Terry Bonchaka greatly and given Terry’s love for African prints and attachement to his roots, it’s easy to see the strong African presence in Bogo’s craft.
After a thunderous applause from the audience, Appietus remarked; “nice one, rapping like a northerner who can’t speak Twi well, you made it. With the rappers I’ve seen on this show, this is unique.” Samini was so stunned so asked: “Bogo, are you a northerner?” When Bogo replied in the negative, he submitted, “This is genuine. You are a man of lyrics.”
“You are memorable; you came on stage, composed, confident and delivered,” was how Ms Naa put it.
Okukudam had his heart in the right place but perhaps delivery undid him. Appearing in a black jacket with a dash of red, black trouser with white ‘Timbs’, Okukudam called for social inclusion and a need to safeguard the future of young ones. Riding on Sark’s ‘Hand to Mouth’ beat, he informed the gathering that he’s been a street boy once and so knows the perils young ones face out there thanks to poverty. His rap however needed tightening; it was not mind-blowing and certainly not orgasmic. Not even bringing a few young ones on stage for dramatization could sway the judges.
Samini opened the judging noting Okukudam’s rap wasn’t tight adding “it appeared you wrote this rap in a short while and your timing was suspect.” For Appietus, Okukudam’s message was on point but delivery was bad. He observed Okukudam was imitating Sarkodie which was disastrous but Ms Naa disagreed on the imitating Sarkodie part declaring however that “I don’t think you imitated Sark but when a rapper doesn’t ride the beat, it’s a like a singer singing off key.”
Bubbly Serwaa would take stage appearing in a red gown, black heel and a pony tail. Serwaa is endowed but delivery not so convincing. She performed Sista Afia’s ‘Slay Queen’ song. Attitude was there, she loves to dance clearly, has a voice but oversexualized her act. When it concluded Appietus submitted Serwaa was screaming in the mic adding “I had to put my hands on my ears, it was that bad.” Ms Naa acknowledged Serwaa has a powerful voice and while she looked regal was disappointed she opted to sing about slay queens.
Samini admitted he loved Sista Afia but the choice of song didn’t work for Serwaa. “You should have chosen a better song to suit your voice and musical gift,” he urged the plump lady.
Nana Abrah was next to perform, appearing in a blue jeans with a white top and black stripes rounding things up with a brown shoe and a guitar. Abrah does have a noticeable voice and reminds one of David Blunt; the ‘You’re Beautiful’ singer. The audience enjoyed his offering even though the song wasn’t popular.
“Love your voice. This is a cool nice worship song. You did well,” was Appietus’ massage. For Ms Naa, “beautiful song but performance lacked courage,” adding Nana Abrah could have done more, felt his performance was not daring enough and too lackadaisical. Samini observed Abrah didn’t use the guitar much although he appeared on stage with it. He cautioned, when an artist sings and strums the guitar at a go he must be good at both and when not ready for both guitar strumming and stellar singing, there’s a choice not to be distracted by a guitar.
The well rounded Bennada will take aim at the audience and judges. Coming along in a red hugging gown, Afro hair and attractive earrings, her powerful voice sliced through the night in rendering ‘You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman [1967]’ originally done by fallen music star Aretha Franklin.
Samini recalled growing up listening the tune and was pleasantly surprised Bennada in a relative small body frame could possess such a powerful voice. He added “don’t let anybody stop you from singing.”
Ms Naa revealed the song was an Aretha Franklyn original also done by Mary J. Blige adding with Aretha having recently been laid to rest, this was a good farewell. She also touched on Bennada’s appearance stating “you looked gorgeous.” For Appietus; “this is a powerhouse; you hit the notes and ranges. This is the best tribute to Aretha.”
The last to perform and round things up for the night was Afi-Lola. In her black shorts over a black net stockings and black shoe accentuated by a black strapless top with silver trimmings, Afi-Lola looked like a made star already except the singing went north.
Ms Naa opined that Beyoncé just released that song (‘Ego’ ft. Kanye) just to make some quick cash puttying Kanye on it adding such a song could not bring out the best in her. She found Afi-Lola’s performance not to be entertaining pointing out that her pitch was too low.
Samini reckoned Afi-Lola using a lower key to execute a falsetto and still failing to pull it off was unfortunate. He reminded her chosen tune was a hiphop song although Beyoncé is a singer, requiring a certain skill to perform.
“It was flat, it hurt listening, it was sad and it was not exciting. It was like carrying a camera say to a kitchen with you cooking and singing,” was how music producer Appietus put it summing up an evening to forget for Afi-Lola.
With the competition getting keener, evictions are set to begin narrowing the choices to the top leaders of the Tamale, Kumasi, Takoradi, Dansoman, Nima and Tema crews who will proceed to the next stage till an ultimate winner emerges to scoop the GHS100,000 recording contract at stake.
For fans eager to see their preferred candidates emerging victorious, they just have to buy a Vodafone sim card if they are already not on the mobile service and follow the following steps:
You can vote with Vodafone only.
Dial *4353#
Choose location
Choose Contestant
Choose how much you wish to vote for the contestant
The more fans vote, the greater the chances are for the contestants to win.
The Vodafone Icons “Rep Ur Hood” edition airs on Saturdays at 5:30 pm on TV3 and on GhOne TV at 8 pm. It also features on Adom TV on Sundays at 5 pm.
This year’s format aims at discovering talents from communities and neighborhoods whilst grooming them to exhibit their talents to be screened on television.
Vodafone has introduced a unique offer dubbed Icons Offer to enable Vodafone-X customers to connect to various platforms for all the action, gossip and relevant information from this year’s edition.
The product offers 1.2GB of browsing data and an additional 800MB for Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Customers can also make free calls to all Vodafone X numbers and send SMS to all Vodafone numbers with a100% bonus on all recharges for 7-days at GHS10.
The last to perform and round things up for the night was Afi-Lola. In her black shorts over a black net stockings and black shoe accentuated by a black strapless top with silver trimmings, Afi-Lola looked like a made star already except the singing went north.
Ms Naa opined that Beyoncé just released that song (‘Ego’ ft. Kanye) just to make some quick cash puttying Kanye on it adding such a song could not bring out the best in her. She found Afi-Lola’s performance not to be entertaining pointing out that her pitch was too low.
Samini reckoned Afi-Lola using a lower key to execute a falsetto and still failing to pull it off was unfortunate. He reminded her chosen tune was a hiphop song although Beyoncé is a singer, requiring a certain skill to perform.
“It was flat, it hurt listening, it was sad and it was not exciting. It was like carrying a camera say to a kitchen with you cooking and singing,” was how music producer Appietus put it summing up an evening to forget for Afi-Lola.
With the competition getting keener, evictions are set to begin narrowing the choices to the top leaders of the Tamale, Kumasi, Takoradi, Dansoman, Nima and Tema crews who will proceed to the next stage till an ultimate winner emerges to scoop the GHS100,000 recording contract at stake.
For fans eager to see their preferred candidates emerging victorious, they just have to buy a Vodafone sim card if they are already not on the mobile service and follow the following steps:
You can vote with Vodafone only.
Dial *4353#
Choose location
Choose Contestant
Choose how much you wish to vote for the contestant
The more fans vote, the greater the chances are for the contestants to win.
The Vodafone Icons “Rep Ur Hood” edition airs on Saturdays at 5:30 pm on TV3 and on GhOne TV at 8 pm. It also features on Adom TV on Sundays at 5 pm.
This year’s format aims at discovering talents from communities and neighborhoods whilst grooming them to exhibit their talents to be screened on television.
Vodafone has introduced a unique offer dubbed Icons Offer to enable Vodafone-X customers to connect to various platforms for all the action, gossip and relevant information from this year’s edition.
The product offers 1.2GB of browsing data and an additional 800MB for Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Customers can also make free calls to all Vodafone X numbers and send SMS to all Vodafone numbers with a100% bonus on all recharges for 7-days at GHS10.
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