Legendary Afrobeats singer Innocent Ujah Idibia, popularly known as 2Face, has clarified that contrary to his former bandmate Blackface’s claim that he stole the hit song “African Queen,” the song was a collaboration.
DAILY POST reports that controversies about the authorship of the 2004 release have persisted, following Blackface’s repeated accusations that 2Face took the song from him.
Speaking on a recent episode of the 234 Mzansi Podcast, co-hosted by actor Chinedu Ani Emmanuel (aka Nedu), 2Face said he wrote most of the song but emphasized that it was a joint effort.
He expressed disbelief over Blackface’s continual claims, hoping that his former bandmate would eventually “come to his senses” and accept the truth.
“It’s a collabo. I wrote most of the song actually, but we wrote the song together basically… He [Blackface Naija] will come to his senses one day,” 2Face said.
“African Queen” propelled 2Face to global stardom and helped bring Afrobeats to the world stage.
Following the song’s success, 2Face became the first African artist to win both the MTV Europe Music Award and MOBO Awards, and was also the first African joint winner of the BET Awards.
The song was the first to be played on the MTV Africa channel and featured in the 2006 American romantic comedy film Phat Girlz.
