Nollywood actress Yvonne Jegede has opened up about how she unexpectedly became part of the classic 2004 music video for 2Baba’s hit song African Queen.
In a recent appearance on the Nollywood on Radio podcast, posted on YouTube, the actress revealed that being a video vixen was never part of her plans, as she was focused solely on building her acting career.
She said her appearances in music videos were simply by chance and not something she actively pursued.
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“When the director of African Queen first called, I bluntly just said, ‘no, I am not interested.’ And then, much later that same day, because they were supposed to film the next morning at about 9 a.m., he (the director) said, Okay, let me know if you change your mind,” Jegede recalled.
At the time, Jegede said she wasn’t even familiar with 2Baba’s solo music after he left the Plantashun Boiz group.
“And Tuface had just broken out of the Plantashun Boiz, and I had not heard any of his solo songs. So, I did not know what African Queen was; I wondered, what is African Queen, and which song is that?”
“And a friend of mine and I were speaking later that evening, and it just popped in my head, and I was like, hey, Michael, somebody said I should come and do one stupid thing, and I just said African Queen, the guy just screaming, I love that song, go and do it.”
That conversation led her to call the director back and agree to join the shoot.
“And I said, okay, let me call the director. And I did, and that very night, he gave me the address, told me what to do, and how to get my hair prepped for the shoot. I got the address and went.
“And lo and behold, I saw that legend Tuface, for the first time, I am like, ‘Ooh, so this is real’. But no, I did not want to be a vixen after that. I just wanted to act; I kept telling everyone, ‘I just want to act.’”
Jegede also spoke about her appearance in another music video, Ego by Djinee, saying that too was unplanned and more like a favour.
“But doing Ego for Djinee at the time was more like doing something for my friend. And he was the director of Ego, who was also shooting music videos for Styl Plus at the time. So I was supposed to be in the video for Olufunmi, but I was late. I was stuck in traffic,” she explained.
“So I missed that one, so that would have been part of my CV, but yeah, I missed that. But no, after those two, I just did not want to do anything dancing; I just wanted to act.”
Reflecting on her journey in Nollywood, she said acting has been rewarding.
“But really, you had a double-edged approach to film. And you could have chosen any one of them. Now that you have chosen acting, you want to act. Has it been fulfilling so far? I mean, that you’ve come this far in your career. You’ve seen a lot, you’re one of those who have seen a lot and are still seeing. Is it fulfilling enough? It has been fulfilling, I am not going to lie. It has been.”
Watch her speak below…
The post Yvonne Jegede Shares Untold Story Behind 2Baba’s ‘African Queen’ Music Video Appearance appeared first on Information Nigeria.
