After two years of not participating in the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards, Stonebwoy is back on the list of nominees.

In the new list released by the organisers, Stonebwoy made his comeback appearing in the Reggae/Dancehall Song of the Year category.

Two of his hit songs were nominated for the category - '1Gad' and 'Greedy Men'. He is going against KiDi (Touch It), Samini (Picture), Larusso (New Gen) and Epixode (Odeshie).

Stonebwoy has also been nominated for the Reggae/Dancehall Artiste of the Year award.

He is up against the 2021 winner Epixode, Samini and Larusso.

This comes a year after the VGMA board lifted the ban it placed on Stonebwoy and Shatta Wale in 2019.

The duo were banned indefinitely from participating in the VGMAs after an altercation between them marred the 2019 edition.

For the first time in the then 20-year history of the Ghana Music Awards, organisers failed to announce the winner of the ‘Artiste of the Year’ category due to the brawl.

During a press conference, the organisers stated that the two artistes breached the code of conduct of the scheme.

Mark Okraku-Mantey, who was a member of the Board, at the time, explained that the Board has the right to dismiss or disqualify any nominee who misbehaves or brings the Awards into disrepute.

The former rivals were also stripped of the awards they won on the night and asked to return the plaques they were given. 

In 2020, Charterhouse organisers of the award scheme enforced the ban placed on Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy. The duo did not make it in that years’ nominees list and all the works they featured on also did not make it to the list.

But in 2021, the Board decided to lift the ban.

In a statement released by the Board of the VGMA, they noted that although lifting the ban made Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy eligible to participate in the event, the two opted not to join the competition that year.

Stonebwoy revealed that this decision was taken without any prior consultation with either of them, casting doubt on the true purpose of the VGMA as an award scheme.

Meanwhile, Shatta Wale is yet to make the list.

It is also unclear why Stonewboy chose this year for his return. A rep for Stonebwoy did not immediately grant Joy Entertainment’s request for a comment. He indicated that an official announcement would be made in due course.