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Rema brings down the roof at MTV Video Awards, his rousing speech
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The singer gives a shoutout to Don Jazzy, Wizkid, Davido in VMA acceptance speech
Nigerian superstar Divine Ikubor, known professionally as Rema, has made history by becoming the first-ever artist to win the “Best Afrobeats” award at the VMAs, and he did so with his rousing acceptance speech in which he gave a shoutout to Don Jazzy, Fela Kuti, Wizkid, Davido, and others.
Since breaking into the mainstream, Rema has become one of the biggest artists in Nigeria whose music is taking Afrobeats to a global audience.
Rema won the Best Afrobeats award at the 2023 VMAs, which were held on September 12, 2023, after beating out Davido, Burna Boy, Wizkid, Ayra Starr, Libianca, Fireboy, and Asake.
During his acceptance speech, The Mavin superstar gave shout-outs to the musicians whose work has contributed to the evolution of Afrobeats.
Rema honoured the pioneers of Afrobeats at the VMAs after delivering a stunning statement at the 16th Headies Awards on September 3, 2023.
“This means so much seeing Afrobeats grow this big and me representing Afrobeats tonight,” Rema said.
“I am so happy… shoutout to the people who opened the doors for me. Big shoutout to Fela who started Afrobeats in the first place. 2Baba, Don Jazzy, D’Banj, D Prince, Runtown, Timaya, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Davido. And I want to give a huge shoutout to the new generation of Afrobeats. We are here to take it to the rest of the world.”
Watch the video below:
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‘Calm Down‘ which is the first Afrobeats song to surpass a billion streams on Spotify rocketed Rema to global fame and positioned him as a front-runner to take Afrobeats to greater heights internationally.