Lyrical Joe is not hiding his disappointment ahead of this year’s Telecel Ghana Music Awards, insisting his recent body of work has been undervalued.
Speaking on Asempa FM, the rapper disclosed that his name appeared in just one category, Best Rap Performance, a result he finds difficult to reconcile with the effort he put into his music over the past year.
“I was only nominated for Best Rap Performance. TGMA did not try for me. In the year under review, I dropped one of the best albums, ‘I Am’. I really worked hard on it and it’s about the quality of the job as well,” he said.
For him, the conversation goes beyond a single nod. He believes his album I Am had the weight to compete in top-tier categories, particularly Album of the Year, and should have been judged alongside other leading projects.
“It’s a great album, so it deserved to be nominated. It should have been in the Album of the Year category, compared to some other albums in there. If we are talking about quality music, mine shouldn’t be left out and it’s something I was looking forward to,” he stated.
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Lyrical Joe further revealed that his team submitted his work across multiple categories, including Best Rap Performance, Hip-Hop Artiste of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, and Hiplife Artiste of the Year. Despite that spread, only one entry made the final list.
“Mostly, people nominated for Best Rap Performance also get into Hip-Hop and Hiplife Artiste of the Year with the same songs, but I didn’t get into those categories,” he noted.
He also raised concerns about what he considers a recurring pattern in the awards scheme, recalling a similar experience in the past that left his camp feeling overlooked.
“Is there a reason why I can be nominated in this category with people with the same song and they still get nominated in the other categories with the same songs, but I don’t make it to that category? Two years ago, the same thing happened. We questioned them, but they ignored us. I decided not to question again this time because there’s no need if they ignore us the first time,” he questioned.
Nonetheless, the rapper says he is keeping his focus on the bigger picture, choosing to stay motivated as he continues to build his catalogue.
“At the end of the day, they still nominated me, but I believe a time will come and we will be in most categories. I just have to keep working,” Joe further stated.