TGMA 2017 Throwback: The night M.anifest ruled Ghana's biggest music stage

Ghanaian rapper M.anifest recently revealed that he has not filed for a TGMA nomination since 2017.

While his reasons remain unstated, it is worth revisiting what made that year so significant, because in 2017, M.anifest didn’t just show up at Ghana’s biggest music awards night; he owned it.

The build‑up to that moment had been brewing for over a year. In 2016, he released 'Nowhere Cool', a critically acclaimed album that cemented his reputation as one of Ghana’s most thoughtful and technically gifted lyricists.

But it was his very public rap feud with Sarkodie that truly captured national attention, producing one of the most talked‑about diss tracks in Ghanaian hip‑hop history.

'God MC', M.anifest's sharp response to Sarkodie at the height of their feud, became a national phenomenon and was shared across social media and played on radio stations across the country.

2017 was the last time I filed for a nomination - M.anifest

It earned him a nomination for Hip-hop Song of the Year at the 2017 Vodafone (now Telecel) Ghana Music Awards.

That was just one of five nominations he picked up that year.

He was also in contention for Album of the Year for Nowhere Cool, Best Rapper of the Year for 100%, Hiplife/Hiphop Artiste of the Year, and Best Music Video of the Year for W'ani Aba featuring Bisa K'Dei.

On the night itself, M.anifest delivered a charged performance to an ecstatic crowd and walked away with two of the biggest prizes on offer, Hiphop Song of the Year and Rapper of the Year, a clean double that confirmed his status as the standout rap act of that cycle.

The evening also produced one of its more memorable off-script moments.

Actor-turned-politician John Dumelo, who was embroiled in a scandal at the time over a V8 vehicle gift, drew laughter from the crowd when he jokingly promised to gift M.anifest a V8 in celebration.

Nearly a decade on, that night remains one of the defining chapters in M.anifest's storied career, and perhaps the reason why his decision to step away from the awards circuit since then has continued to spark curiosity.

ID/EB

Check out some videos from the TGMA nominees night below: