The 35th Annual Wammie Music Awards, presented by The MusicianShip, just wrapped up, and let us tell you, it was straight fire! “The Hitmakers Ball” went down on April 1st at Capital Turnaround, with WUSA 9’s Allison Seymour and Darren Haynes hosting the lit event. The 900-seat venue was completely sold out and buzzin’ with excitement as the DMV’s music scene came together to celebrate the Wammie Winners and flex their ? fits on the red carpet.
The @wammiesdc socials were poppin’ with tags and posts of everyone flexin’ their drip and showing love to the winners. The DMV music fam played a major role in deciding the Wammie winners, with over 1,000 public nominations and around 20,000 votes. The top 5 most nominated awards included Best Music Video, Best Hip-Hop Song, Best Pop Song, Best R&B/Soul Song, and Best Rap Song. In total, 51 Wammie Awards were announced.
The show wasn’t just about the awards, though. There were dope performances from local legends like Grammy-nominated Mumu Fresh, Uptown X.O, Innanet James, and more, reppin’ a variety of genres. The iconic Go-Go band EU, ft. Sugar Bear closed out the show, and trust us, the energy was unreal!
The night also honored some serious game-changers in the DMV music scene with special community awards, including Lifetime Achievement Award, Hitmaker Award, Trailblazer Award, Music Advocacy Award, and Music Educator Award.
The 35th Annual Wammie Music Awards was the peak of WAMMIE WEEK, which had four days of dope events like music industry panels, a reception for finalists, and a documentary film on DC’s legendary Black Fire Records. So, if you missed it this year, make sure to catch the vibe next time around!
Check out the full list of 2023 Wammie Award Winners below and visit the curated Spotify playlist here.
2023 Lifetime Achievement Award: Gregory ‘Sugar Bear’ Elliott
2023 Hitmaker Award: Maimouna ‘Mumu Fresh’ Youssef
2023 Music Advocacy Award: Audrey Fix Schaefer
2023 Trailblazer Award: Tarek ‘Terk’ Stevens
2023 Music Educator Award: Rolyndria Ojo
2023 Music Media Award: Alchemical Records
2023 Do Good Award: Girls Rock! DC
2023 Best Music Studio: Tonal Park
2023 Best Music Venue: Songbyrd Music House
2023 Best Music Video: Perro Sombra – “Perdiendo (Losing)”
2023 Best Country/Americana Album: Melissa Quinn Fox – Melissa Quinn Fox
2023 Best Country/Americana Artist-Group: Melissa Quinn Fox
2023 Best Country/Americana Song: Melissa Quinn Fox – “Dear Self Doubt,”
2023 Best Electronic/Techno Artist-Group: Black Rave Culture
2023 Best Electronic/Techno Song: Mystery Friends – “Between Us ft. Amanda Dove”
2023 Best Folk/Bluegrass Album: Whiskey Before Breakfast – Vol 1: At Home
2023 Best Folk/Bluegrass Artist-Group: Whiskey Before Breakfast Band
2023 Best Folk/Bluegrass Song: Freddy Hall – “That’s What You Do”
2023 Best Funk/Blues Album: The Boneshakers – One Foot In The Groove
2023 Best Funk/Blues Artist-Group: The Boneshakers
2023 Best Funk/Blues Song: Gordon Sterling and The People – “Truth”
2023 Best Go-Go Artist-Group: Junkyard Band
2023 Best Go-Go Song: Junkyard Band – “Love Soul Crank”
2023 Best Gospel/Inspirational Artist/Group2: Saul2Paul Project
2023 Best Gospel/Inspirational Song: Cynthia Angelica – “Grace”
2023 Best Hard Rock/Punk Album: Hammered Hulls – Careening
2023 Best Hard Rock/Punk Artist-Group: Caustic Casanova
2023 Best Hard Rock/Punk Song: Outerloop – “Just Behave”
2023 Best Hip-Hop Album: O-Slice – Goodmorning, Goodnight
2023 Best Hip-Hop Artist-Group: Priest Da Nomad
2023 Best Hip-Hop Song: Riz tha Great – “The Wharf”
2023 Best Jazz Album: Eliza Tebo – Eliza Tebo
2023 Best Jazz Artist-Group: Dominique Bianco
