MTN UG Hip Hop awards return for the 2021 edition.

12 April 2021
  • Hip Hop continues to be the preferred music genre in Uganda among the youth.
  • MTN, through the Pulse platform supports the growth of the music genre because it allows youths to express themselves without fear or limits. This is what MTN Pulse is all about.
  • The awards feature the Pulse Nation Cypher challenge that allows undiscovered talent to showcase their abilities in an online rap battle that will see the winner recognized on the night.

 The MTN UG Hip Hop awards, the annual event that recognises and celebrates growth in the music genre in the country are back with the 5th edition 2021 scheduled to take place on 16th May 2021.

MTN Pulse has kicked off this year’s edition with the release of nominees for the various categories that will then be awarded at the award ceremony. Voting for the hip hop stars is now officially open exclusively on the MTN Pulse microsite www.pulse.mtn.co.ug/vote.

Hellen Kirungi, the MTN Youth Segment Manager noted that Hip Hop remains a popular genre of music in Uganda among the youth, which informs MTN’s continued support towards its growth.

“Hip Hop is a music genre that continues to take centre stage in Uganda among the youth. Many young people have taken it up and are doing very well for themselves. Hip hop allows them to express themselves and be who they want to be without limits. This is what we are about at MTN Pulse. We are about creating a community of likeminded people who want to live life without fear or limits and that’s why we are happy to be part of these awards every year,” Kirungi said.

This year marks the fifth year that MTN Uganda has backed the Hip Hop industry organise these awards. In 2020, MTN sponsored the first televised rap battles that saw several rappers pitched against each other in battle categories that included battles on the street, free style and in the forest, among others.

Kirungi noted that the 2021 awards will feature the Pulse Nation Cypher competition that will allow new and undiscovered talent to showcase their abilities in an online rap battle.

In the Pulse Nation Cypher challenge, participants will be required to download the MTN Pulse Cypher beat from the microsite under the Pulse tube, record a one-minute video of them rapping to the beat for one minute with the mention of MTN pulse Nation at least once, and then upload the video on the MTN Pulse microsite.  Participants will be required to rally their fans and friends to go to www.pulse.mtn.co.ug to vote for them by liking their video. The video with the highest engagement gets to win 1,000,000 UGX on the Awards night. The 1st Runner up will walk away with 800,000, 2nd runner up with 600,000 and 400,000 to the pulser in the 4th position.

Hellen continued to say that from previous years, there has been immense talent realisation among the youth that was kick stated by these Pulse Cypher competition a case in point is Racheal Rey, Ghetto Upgrade, and many more to come.

UG Hip hop awards organizer, Afsa Umutesi said that with MTN’s support, the industry has continued to record steady progress with Hip Hop artists getting favourable airplay on local radio and television stations.

“Hip Hop artists continue to shine out there. If you listen to the top ten most requested songs on radio today, six of them will be Hip Hop artists. We are happy with this progress and would like to thank MTN for standing with us for five years in a row now,” he said.

It’s easy for youth to become MTN Pulsers by simply downloading the Pulse App, available on both google play and iOS play stores. The MTN Pulse app is an interactive platform where everything about the Pulse Nation lives including the funkiest content and offers from MTN Uganda. Simply download the MTN Pulse app and take over the world. You can also learn more about the Pulse Nation on the MTN Pulse microsite.

The wards categories this year are:

  • Album of the year
  • Male artist of the year
  • Female artist of the year
  • Rookie of the year
  • Inspirational song of the year
  • The collaboration of the Year
  • Rap Fusion of the Year
  • Video of the year
  • Best Producer
  • Diaspora Artist of the year
  • Eastern Uganda artist of the year
  • Northern Uganda artist of the year
  • Western Uganda artist of the year
  • Central Uganda artist of the year
  • Lyricist of the year
  • Hip-Hop Deejay of the year
  • Mixtape of the year
  • Hip-Hop media personality of the year
  • Sweet Sixteen
  • Lifetime Achiever
  • Hustler of the year
  • SPECIAL AWARDS

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