LAGOS, Nigeria(VOICE OF NAIJA)- Nigerian Afrobeats star Kcee has shared his story about feeling ignored by award organizers in the Nigerian music industry, revealing that the lack of recognition once brought him to tears despite his success with fans.
In a recent interview with Afrobeats Intelligence, the singer explained how, early in his career, he struggled with being overlooked by industry gatekeepers. Even though his songs were popular with listeners, he said the same energy did not come from award bodies.
“I grew up in an industry that wasn’t fair to me. There wasn’t any attention given to me at any moment. I was doing a lot that the industry wasn’t recognizing,” he said.
However, as time passed, Kcee said his mindset changed. Instead of focusing on awards, he now values the support he gets from fans and the global reach of his music. He described this shift as choosing “rewards” over traditional recognition.
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“The fans were the ones who were behind me. I did a lot of work; they were not nominating me for awards. And I cried; I was pained. Right now, when I win awards, or you don’t nominate me, I don’t care. I prefer the rewards to the awards,” Kcee stated.
Meanwhile, the singer pointed to his hit song ‘Limpopo’ as a major turning point. The track which was released in 2013 pushed him into the international spotlight and gave him the breakthrough he had long hoped for.
“So, when ‘Limpopo’ came, oh, I was in tears. I was like, no, God has answered my prayer. He took me to the global market straight,” he said.
In addition, Kcee highlighted the recent success of ‘Ojapiano,’ which quickly went viral on TikTok. According to him, the song gained massive attention within days, with thousands of user videos created organically. The song which he described as his biggest hit, blends Igbo cultural Oja flute music with South African Amapiano beats and was released in 2023.
“After all the years I’ve worked with Presh, that’s like the biggest record I’ve ever done. I dropped ‘Ojapiano’ like today, the next day, it was doing 120,000 videos on TikTok in one day. And it happened for seven days non-stop. That’s organic. The white people were vibing to it,” he added.
