MOBO Awards take a year's break, promising to return with a "bigger, revamped show"
MOBO Awards 2018 are officially off the list for this year's award events, as founder Kanya King has revealed in an official statement that the "Music of Black Origin" awards will return in 2019 with a whole new series of initiatives. The awards ceremony was held in 1996 for the first time when Goldie's 'Timeless' was named an album of the year and Lionel Richie won an honorary award.
While the name suggests that the awards ceremony particularly looks into the works of Black musicians, the ceremony has received a lot of criticism in the past for giving prizes to white artists, including Jamiroquai, Amy Winehouse, Sam Smith, and Jessie J. However, MOBO awards has also managed to bring forth urban genres that are otherwise not recognized by mainstream media.
While speaking to Daily Mail, King said, "There was a huge gap in the market - urban genres weren't recognized by the mainstream media, so there was certainly an element of not knowing quite how to market a black artist." However, over the years things have been brighter, and as King stated, "We established our own unique style of music. UK garage, grime, British hip-hop, dance-hall, dubstep: we developed our own genres as opposed to just emulating our American counterparts."