Ghanaian music group, Asakaa Boys, have expressed their readiness to own the bragging rights as the first winners of the new Ghanaian Drill genre category in the 2024 Recording Academy of the United States popularly known as the Grammy Awards.
The Kumasi-based nine-member group made up of O’Kenneth, Jay Bahd, Kawabanga, Cedi City Boy, Reggie, Kwaku DMC, Sean Lifer, Rabby Jones and Braa Benk, and credited for pioneering Ghana Drill, indicated that it will be an easy pass for them to grab the award next year because they have what it takes to meet the criteria and beat any contender hands down.
It would be recalled that Ghana’s Drill and Highlife music were recently recognised as part of relevant African music styles for the Best African Music Performance category to be rolled out in the 2024 edition of the Grammy Awards.
The Best African Music Performance category is one of the three new slots that have been added to the prestigious awards scheme. The other two are Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Pop Dance Recording.
In an exclusive interview with Graphic Showbiz, Braa Benk, who spoke on behalf of the group which emerged in late 2019, said the news of the inclusion of Ghana Drill only meant one thing for them; to work even harder to be the first act to be named the category’s winners at the upcoming Grammy Awards.
“We are really just humbled by the fact that a reputable award scheme like the Grammys has recognised us and noticed what we are doing. The announcement has been an exciting experience for us and we have been greatly inspired to do more to grab a nomination and subsequently; that is where our focus is now.
“Bringing the award home depends on the effort we put in and how we push our work out there for the world to see our full package. We believe when we put our minds to it and work hard, we can make very good strides. We have been ready for whatever comes our way and there’s no limitation to how far our music could reach,” he told Graphic Showbiz.
Braa Benk pointed out that just because the Asakaa Boys spearheaded Ghana Drill music, did not mean they were closed off to other acts who would want to explore the space of the music type.
“We don’t mind seeing other people from other countries hopping on to this genre because when we started this, our goal was to break barriers and have other people embrace it.
“We know Amapiano music is a South African thing, but we have artistes from other countries hopping on it. Thus, if we have others doing Ghanaian Drill and eventually pick the Grammys, it will still mean a lot to us because what we started in our little space will be going places,” he concluded.