African Queen blessing and curse 2Baba
Nigerian music legend 2Baba has opened up about his iconic 2004 hit song African Queen, describing it as both a blessing and a burden in his career.
He said the song was a major blessing because it launched him into the spotlight, earned international recognition, and helped define the Afrobeats love-song genre. At the same time, 2Baba admitted that its extraordinary success became a kind of curse: it set a high bar for all his later work and its shadow made his subsequent songs feel as though they would always live in its wake.
In a documentary series on the rise of Afrobeats called Journey of the Beats, he explained that while he is proud of the song’s legacy, it also became the “yardstick” against which his other music is measured.
2Baba’s thoughts highlight how a single blockbuster hit can transform an artist’s career opening doors and creating acclaim, but also adding pressure and shaping expectations in ways that can be difficult to manage.
