Social Media Invention of the Year: Norm Kelly. Drake’s favourite Politician used the Meek Mill beef to gain internet notoriety. There’s a link to Rob Ford that makes it make sense. His Twitter timeline is true genius.
Album of the Year: Beauty Behind the Madness. Abel Tesfaye crossed over to the mainstream with some year defining, credible pop songs.
Line of the Year: “Even your boo get a boo ”
Most Humbling Moment: Meek Mill had the hottest chick in the game wearing his chain. And a #1 album. Then he went for the golden boy and it all came crashing. It wasn’t that he tried to challenge one of the dominant rappers of his age- it was the lack of strategy behind it. As Dominic Lawson writes “War without a comprehensive strategy is like playing chess without calculation: possible, but pointless.” He effectively challenged Drake to a fight and failed to turn up. The subsequent meltdowns confirmed what we all thought: He lost.
A word for Ronda Rousey and Godsday Orubebe.
Most Vilified– Yoruba Boys have literally kept the meme industry in business.
Death of the Year: Mad Men. It was a bit of a long winded denouement but after 7 seasons and 92 episodes, Matt Weiner’s brilliant show came to an end. Jon Hamm’s Best Actor win at the Emmy’s underlined the significance of the death of the show and its value as a historical resource was amplified through that famous Coke ad.
Man of the Year: In June, Barack Obama showed us exactly why despite the valid questions that can be raised about his time in office, the adulation that precipitated his Presidency was well judged. After the validation of his health care bill by the Supreme Court and the legalization of same sex marriage by the same court, he was in what in sport parlance is known as “the zone”. He then topped it off by providing one of the great oral performances in Charleston, South Carolina as an eulogy for those killed in the church massacre. His rendition of Amazing Grace also helped give him a humane edge. Did I hear you say “Legacy sealed” ?
A word for the man whose name almost became a verb: Attahiru Jega.
Word of the Year: “tragedy hipster” (Yes, I know it’s two words) Definition: A person who seeks to minimize a tragedy in order to raise the profile of another.
Troll of the Year: Kanye West commanded the headlines at two of the biggest award shows in 2015. He performed with Paul McCartney and Rihanna at the Grammy’s. He then sought to recreate the Taylor Swift VMA’s incident with Beck. In an interview after, he asked Beck to “respect artistry”. Shortly after, in an interview with The Breakfast Club he admitted he hadn’t even heard the album at the time before admitting he’d finally heard it and thought it was worthy.
He was handed an honorary award by BET and gave one of his classic visionary streams of consciousness to follow a bizarre intro from Damon Dash.
At the VMA’s he received an honorary award and then proceeded to take shots at organizers, MTV in his acceptance speech before announcing he’d had a little something to take the edge off and declare a 2020 presidential bid. Kanye in a nutshell.
Most Only in America Thing of 2015: Rachel Dolezal- The NAACP campaigner who it turns out was Caucasian and actually blacking up.
Debate of the Year: #The Dress
Trend(s) that need to go: Funky coloured braids.
20 track Nigerian albums. What classic album had more than 13 songs?
Ex bashing. Ciara and Future’s 2015 hits were basically shots at each other. Petty.
Ad of the Year: Apple Music got it right going with the trinity that is Taraji P Henson, Kerry Washington and Mary J Blige as the faces of its Playlists are the new Mixtapes campaign. It came across as fun and cool while capturing the bond shared by its protagonists.
Don’t Call It A Comeback: Adele, Janet Jackson, Dr Dre, Justin Bieber, Wande Coal and Missy Elliott all made credible returns.
Growing Development: People falling in love with Politicians with Populist views. Donald Trump, Jeremy Corbyn, Ben Murray Bruce and Marine Le Pen being proof.
The Pig Shagger: David Cameron was accused of shagging a pig. Not very Prime Ministerial.
Big Misjudgment: The TIDAL crew miscalculated their launch strategy. That ludicrous fake deep treaty signing could have been done without whilst a more focused pitch would have created a larger debate about the royalty models employed by streaming services. Using upcoming artists as a front could also have furthered the cause. There’s nothing not so rich people dislike than rich people moaning about how underpaid they are. This hot mess earned criticism from the very fans who were supposed to patronize the service.
Shoutout to: Caitlyn Jenner for toeing the path not often taken.
Death to: Jobbers posing as experts who drone on and on reducing everything to Goodluck vs Buhari.
Riley Curry gained our attention with two stellar performances.
Rising Star: John Boyega is talented and charismatic.