Kcee: How The Industry Ignored Me, Kept Me Off Award Nomination

Kcee has spoken about the emotional wounds caused by years of being overlooked in Nigeria’s music industry.

In an interview on Afrobeats Intelligence, the ‘Ojapiano’ hitmaker revealed that despite creating several chart-topping tracks worthy of major awards, he was “repeatedly sidelined” because, in his words, “the industry was not fair with me”.

The singer, born Kingsley Okonkwo, recalled how the industry “failed to acknowledge” his craft during his rise as an upcoming artiste.

He described the moment his song ‘Limpopo’ went viral as a divine breakthrough, adding that “God answered my prayers”.

Kcee, however, noted that neither ‘Limpopo’ nor the globally celebrated ‘Ojapiano’ received the local award recognition they deserved, despite their massive reception.

The constant rejection, he said, took a deep emotional toll, leaving the fans as his only consistent source of support.

“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 gained recognition as part of the duo KC Presh. The group saw moderate success before splitting in 2011.

The singer unveiled his debut album ‘Takeover’ in 2013. He followed up with his sophomore project ‘Attention to Detail’ in 2017.

He has received recognition for his talent. In 2013, Kcee snagged the Headies Song of the Year award in 2013.

He also won the Hip Hop World Revelation award at the 2014 Headies.

Source: Instablog

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