PRODUCER and DJ Black Coffee had a night of glory on Saturday when he won his biggest award yet.
The artist – whose real name is Nkosinathi Maphumulo – put Mzansi on the map by winning the Best International Act: Africa Award at the BET Awards held in Los Angeles in the US.
The celebrations, called the BET Experience, started on Wednesday and have been taking place throughout the week. An emotional Black Coffee, who said he had not prepared a speech, thanked all those who had supported him over the years.
“In the words of Lupita Nyong’o, every dream is possible,” he said after he was announced as the winner.
The awards ceremony on Saturday was hosted by singer Jidenna and model and TV actress Eva Marcille.
Black Coffee was nominated alongside Cassper Nyovest, Nigerian star WizKid, AKA, Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz, Mzvee from Ghana and Serge Beynaud from Ivory Coast.
All the nominees were invited on stage just after Black Coffee accepted his award and only two other nominees, AKA and WizKid, refused. This led to AKA later being criticised on social media.
In response he tweeted: “Look, Black Coffee and me don’t really dig each other but I respect him and his art. I acknowledge him for the pioneer he is.”
Since the category was introduced six years ago, none of the Mzansi nominees has claimed the prize until now. The main awards ceremony was held last night and hosted by Tracee Ellis Ross and Anthony Anderson of the TV show, Black-ish.
- Catch the awards premier tomorrow on BET (DStv channel 129) at 7pm.