“I grew up in an industry that was not fair, ” —Kcee speaks on awards snub

Nigerian singer Kcee has opened up about the emotional struggles he faced in his music career, saying he often felt ignored by the industry despite putting in years of hard work and consistency.

Speaking in an interview on Afrobeats Intelligence, the singer reflected on how difficult it was dealing with what he described as a lack of fairness in how his efforts were recognized.

“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.

According to him, the pain was not just about fame or awards, but about feeling overlooked even while his fan base continued to support him strongly. He admitted the experience affected him deeply at the time.

“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,” he added.

Looking back, Kcee described his breakout hit Limpopo as a major turning point in his life and career. He said the success of the song felt like a long-awaited answer to his prayers after years of struggle in the industry.

“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,” he said.

He also revealed that the song was not just a creative milestone but also a financial breakthrough, especially through ringback tunes, which were a major revenue source at the time.

“‘Limpopo’ gave me a lot of money from ringback tunes. We were making hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said.

Kcee further pointed to his recent viral hit Ojapiano, which spread rapidly on TikTok and sparked industry conversations about chart performance and recognition.

“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?”

Despite past disappointments with awards and nominations, he says his focus now is more on impact, financial success, and how far his music travels globally rather than trophies.