Yvonne Jegede, the Nollywood actress, has revealed the story behind her appearance in the iconic 2004 music video for 2Baba’s hit song ‘African Queen’.
During a recent interview on the Nollywood on Radio podcast, Jegede disclosed that she initially had no interest in being a video vixen.
She said she was solely focused on her acting career, adding that her participation in a few music videos was purely circumstantial.
The 41-year-old actress said at the time, she wasn’t even familiar with 2Baba’s solo work after his departure from the Plantashun Boiz.
“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,” she said.
Jegede said it wasn’t until a conversation with a friend that night that she had a change of heart.
“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?” she said.
“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.
“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 said the second time she featured as a vixen in a music video for singer Djinne was like a favour to a friend.
“But doing ‘Ego’ for Djinne 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 added.
“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. 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.”
During a recent interview on the Nollywood on Radio podcast, Jegede disclosed that she initially had no interest in being a video vixen.
She said she was solely focused on her acting career, adding that her participation in a few music videos was purely circumstantial.
The 41-year-old actress said at the time, she wasn’t even familiar with 2Baba’s solo work after his departure from the Plantashun Boiz.
“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,” she said.
Jegede said it wasn’t until a conversation with a friend that night that she had a change of heart.
“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?” she said.
“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.
“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 said the second time she featured as a vixen in a music video for singer Djinne was like a favour to a friend.
“But doing ‘Ego’ for Djinne 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 added.
“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. 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.”
