₦airaland Forum

Over the years there's been a lot of talk and stories online about how 2Baba's "African Queen" was the 1st Afrobeats music to be used as the soundtrack and theme song of a Hollywood Movie, which was Phat Girlz. The filmmaker Nnegest Likké shares how that came to be as the song marks its 19th anniversary today, April 7
So after the film was in the can and the editing was done, it was time to score the movie and for me to select the songs and music I wanted for each scene. Beside me, giving his cultural and creative input was my Associate Producer and Story Consultant named Moses "Eagle" James, a Nigerian former World Boxing Champion and Olympian.

Moses is an Isoko boy from Delta State. And I mention that because in the movie there’s a scene where the 3 Nigerian doctor characters, Dr. Tunde, Dr. Akibo and Dr. Godwin, take the phat girlz to a big fancy Nigerian party convention and it’s an Isoko Convention. The reason it’s an Isoko convention in the film is because that was a real convention going on at the time in real life and the Isoko Association of North America allowed us to film scenes from our movie at their actual convention. It was such a grand gesture, them allowing our production to virtually take over their convention because shooting a movie interrupted their program. But they were so kind and generous to allow us to do that. So Moses hooked that up at his tribal convention and he was also helping me go through possible music for the soundtrack to find the best Afrobeats songs to match certain scenes. I knew from the start that I wanted to use Danfo Drivers music in the movie so I called the number on the back of their CD and reached their manager named Cornerstone.

I told him who I was and that I wanted to use a Danfo Drivers song in my movie. It was a simple and straightforward business transaction. We agreed on the fee and signed an agreement. I was so excited to have their music in the movie and knew it would elevate the scene I was using the Danfo Driver song for which was the limousine scene when they are all riding in the luxury limo from the hotel to the big Nigerian convention. So with the movie being a romantic comedy, I also needed to find a beautiful African love song to play over the love scenes. But all the Afrobeats songs I knew were fast songs. I didn’t know if there were any Afrobeats love songs. So me and Moses began searching the internet. At the time, that was only Myspace and people’s personal music websites. There was no YouTube or social media platforms because that was in 2005. Well I was searching Myspace for weeks with no luck. But I kept searching because I said there must be at least one romantic Nigerian song out there even if it's an old song. I said God, help me find a song. And he answered my prayer for real.

As I was going through song after song, finally, I stumbled across one that from the first few notes caught my attention. You know those first few iconic notes of African Queen, du-nuh-nuh du-nuh-nuh... I can hear the melody in my head. I was like OMG, this is the song! It was love at first sound!! After listening to the whole track, it was confirmed, this is the song. And it was ‘African Queen.’ Me and Moses both thought it was perfect. When my editor laid it on top of the movie for us to see how it felt, I was literally trembling with excitement because the song was so perfect for the romantic scenes. I said, oh my God, oh my God, Lord I MUST have this music in my movie!

So I called up my Second Unit Director in Nigeria, that’s the filmmaker and TV Producer and Founder of Zuri24 Media, Mr. Femi Odugbemi, who is another person I could not have made this film without.

I said, “Mr. Femi, I heard this song called ‘African Queen’ by some artist named 2Face and I NEED to have this song in my movie as the theme song! It's the perfect love song. This song was made for my film. How can I get it?!

Femi said, “Oh that song is very popular here in Nigeria, it’s a good song for the movie if you can get it.”

He said he would find a number for the artist and call me back. Five minutes later, he called me back with a phone number and said it was the singer's direct number. So I called the number and 2Face answered. I told him I'm a filmmaker from Hollywood calling from America and I heard his song ‘African Queen’ and I wanted to use it in my movie. I was naively expecting him to be as thrilled and happy as I was and just say, “Ok cool, yes, you can use it.”

But 2Face was politely like, “Oh no, sorry, it doesn't work like that. You have to talk to my manager. He’s in the US now.” So he gave me his manager’s number, who at that time was Kenny Ogungbe.

Well, let's just say that after a series of back and forth, suspenseful and nail-biting (for me) negotiations, we were able to strike a deal and I got ‘African Queen’ as the soundtrack.

After the movie came out, that song exploded in America. Not just with African-Americans, with all other races. Even white kids were singing it. The children of our head producer, Bobby Newmyer - a Jewish man and the same producer of Denzel Washington's Oscar-winning movie "Training Day" - were always playing 'African Queen' on their iPods saying it was their favorite song ever.

Everyone was playing it and it was so funny to hear white people singing, “You are my African queen…” Like who are they singing to, lol. But that's the beauty of music. It's universal, across all colour lines and culture. And that song that was already so big in Africa became iconic in America too.

So that's the story of how “African Queen” and also Danfo Drivers’ ‘Danfo Driver’ song melodied its way into a Hollywood movie soundtrack and ushered Afrobeats onto the global stage, exposing it to a whole new audience of billions worldwide.

illicit:
African Queen wey dem don divorce...

🙂

illicit:
African Queen wey dem don divorce...

🙂

internationalman:
Wether una like an or not, 2baba can do no wrong in my eyes..

Season of Natashas. Coincidentally both their opponents are from Akwa Ibom state

AirwavesReport:
Exclusive Investigation Reveals the Hidden Secrets Behind the Turbulent Relationship of Africa's Sweetheart and His Ex-Fiancée"


https://independent.ng/19-years-after-african-queen-the-truth-story-behind-tuface-idibia-and-annie-macaulay/

AirwavesReport:
Exclusive Investigation Reveals the Hidden Secrets Behind the Turbulent Relationship of Africa's Sweetheart and His Ex-Fiancée"


https://independent.ng/19-years-after-african-queen-the-truth-story-behind-tuface-idibia-and-annie-macaulay/

internationalman:
Wether una like an or not, 2baba can do no wrong in my eyes..

Season of Natashas. Coincidentally both their opponents are from Akwa Ibom state

Marc3500:
Wow I never knew how old this song was

muyico:
So this song don tey like dis?? Oboy? I don old small

illicit:
African Queen wey dem don divorce...

🙂

tomju2:
Lol, the divorce didn't affect the song nah

AirwavesReport:
Exclusive Investigation Reveals the Hidden Secrets Behind the Turbulent Relationship of Africa's Sweetheart and His Ex-Fiancée"

So that's the story of how “African Queen” and also Danfo Drivers’ ‘Danfo Driver’ song melodied its way into a Hollywood movie soundtrack and ushered Afrobeats onto the global stage, exposing it to a whole new audience of billions worldwide.


https://independent.ng/19-years-after-african-queen-the-truth-story-behind-tuface-idibia-and-annie-macaulay/