Singer Kcee has said he was repeatedly overlooked in Nigeria’s music industry despite releasing successful songs.
In an interview on Afrobeats Intelligence, the ‘Ojapiano’ hitmaker said the industry “was not fair with me,” adding that his efforts were often not recognised during his early years.
Kcee recalled that the industry “failed to acknowledge” his craft while he was still an upcoming artiste. He described the success of his song ‘Limpopo’ as a turning point, saying it felt like divine intervention.
He also said both ‘Limpopo’ and ‘Ojapiano’ did not receive the level of local award recognition he believed they deserved despite their popularity.
“To be honest, I grew up in an industry that was not fair to… and giving my best and the industry was not recognising,” he said.
“The fans were the ones behind me. I did a lot of work, and they were not nominating me for awards. And I cried. I was pained. Right now, whether I win awards or not, I do not care. I prefer the rewards to the awards. It affected everything and not just music.
“When ‘Limpopo’ came, I was in tears that God had answered my prayers. It took me into the global market straight away. After all the years I have worked with Presh, that is the biggest record I have ever done.
“I see myself travelling to Uganda, the United States of America.
“When I dropped ‘Ojapiano’ today. The next day, it was doing 120,000 videos on TikTok in one day. It happened for seven days. And that raised a conversation in the industry like ‘Why is Kcee not sitting at number one on the Apple Store?’
“‘Limpopo’ gave me a lot of money from ringback tunes. We were making hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Kcee first gained attention as part of the duo KC Presh before they split in 2011. He later released ‘Takeover’ (2013) and ‘Attention to Detail’ (2017) and won song of the year at The Headies in 2013.
