by Phil Chard

It was all glitz, glam and the regular dose celebrity posturing as we gathered at Johannesburg's Constitution Hill for the first half of the MTV MAMA announcements. Attendees got to see performances from Nathi, Shekinah, Riky Rick, Mi Casa and Lizah James while the Major League DJz and PH did their thing on the decks.

In total 50 nominees from 18 countries were announced in 9 categories

The original Starboy (cough cough… Weeknd) Wizkid got 3 nominations for Best Male, Best Collaboration and Personality of the Year. AKA (South Africa), Cassper Nyovest (South Africa) and Sauti Sol(Kenya) all got 2 nods.

The category we all care about was Best Hip Hop where Emtee, Riky Rick, Olamide, Ycee, and Kiff No Beat were nominated. Clearly the biggest omissions were Cassper Nyovest, AKA, Kwesta, M.I, Franko, Sarkodie and E.L. E.L probably has the strongest case coming off of his 5 wins at the VGMAs earlier this year. M.I had an incredible come back to music and Cassper has had an incredible year with Refiloe, coupled with #FillUpTheDome and the onslaught that is Family Tre Fridays.

Ghanaian duo and Starboy signees R2bees also got a nod in the Best Group category where they will face off against Kenya’s Sauti Sol, South Africa’s Mi Casa, Navy Kenzo from Tanzania and Togolese duo, Toofan.

The second round of nominations, comprising 7 additional award categories, including Artist of the Year, Best Female, Listener’s Choice, Best Breakthrough, Best Francophone, Song of the Year in partnership with Google, and Video of the Year,will be revealed at the Hard Rock Café, Lagos, Nigeria during Road to MAMA – Lagos 2016 (2 October 2016). No nominations will be revealed for the MTV Base Reimagined award, and MAMA Legend.

MAMA 2016 NOMINATIONS (PART 1)

Best Male

AKA (South Africa)

Black Coffee (South Africa)

Diamond (Tanzania)

Patoranking (Nigeria)

Wizkid (Nigeria)

Best Live

Cassper Nyovest (South Africa)

Eddy Kenzo (Uganda)

Flavour (Nigeria)

Mafikizolo (South Africa)

Stonebwoy (Ghana)

Best Group

Mi Casa (South Africa)

Navy Kenzo (Tanzania)

R2bees (Ghana)

Sauti Sol (Kenya)

Toofan (Togo)

Best Collaboration in partnership with Absolut

AKA feat. Burna Boy, Khuli Chana & Yanga – "Baddest" (South Africa/Nigeria)

DJ Maphorisa feat. Wizkid & DJ Bucks - "Soweto Baby" ((South Africa/Nigeria)

Nasty C feat. Davido, Cassper - "Juice Back Remix" (Nigeria/South Africa)

Patoranking feat. Sarkodie – "No Kissing" (Nigeria/Ghana)

Sauti Sol feat. Alikiba - "Unconditionally Bae" (Kenya/Tanzania)

Best Hip Hop in association with MTN

Emtee (South Africa)

Kiff No Beat (Ivory Coast)

Olamide (Nigeria)

Riky Rick (South Africa)

Ycee (Nigeria)

Best Pop/Alternative

Desmond & The Tutus (South Africa)

LCNVL (South Africa)

Shekinah (South Africa) / Kyle Deutsch (South Africa)

Timo ODV (South Africa)

Tresor (DRC)

Best Lusophone

C4 Pedro (Angola)

NGA (Angola)

Lizha James (Mozambique)

Nelson Freitas (Netherlands/Cape Verde)

Preto Show (Angola)

Personality of the Year in association with DStv

Caster Semenya (South Africa)

Linda Ikeji (Nigeria)

Pearl Thusi (South Africa)

Pierre Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon)

Wizkid (Nigeria)

Best International

Adele (UK)

Beyoncé (USA)

Drake (Canada)

Future (USA)

Rihanna (Barbados)

Tickets for the MTV Africa Music Awards Johannesburg 2016 are on sale now priced ZAR 250 (standing only) via www.ticketpros.co.za, at Ticketproretail outlets or dealers at http://www.mtvbase.com.

MTV Nominayshin Parry - Curated tweets by PhilChard