Hiplife star Mzbel has lamented not winning an award despite her 20 years labour in music.

“I have been in the industry for 20 years, I’ve never received any award,” she said.

With 2004’s Awoso Me, the singer and rapper’s debut album, she became a household name and, in fact, was at a point the most prominent female artiste in pop music. 

When her career peaked, Mzbel was loved in Nigeria, Liberia, Ivory Coast, and Kenya, among others.

According to the Ghanaian music star, however, she felt appreciated more by these international nations than her home country.

Mzbel diagnosed the problem behind the oddity, noting it was an issue with her branding. She pointed to poor PR and wardrobe. Were it possible to have a second chance, she noted, she would do better.

“I am not blaming anybody. I think it is the branding. If I were starting music today, I would put more effort in my branding. The branding wasn’t put together well. I was just put out like that, no proper branding. I would go on radio and say anything, put on any outfit, go where I am not supposed to,” she said.

Mzbel pushed back on the rumour she had retired from music. She said she had a song rebuking bad friends which was soon to be released.

Daring and blunt in speech, Mzbel contributed some of Hiplife’s most memorable hits, and is best known for her raunchy music and seductive dressing which challenged the status quo of the early 2000s in conservative Ghana. Her hits include 16 Years, Yopoo, Awoso Me, Bra Fiifi, Edey Be, etc.