Mp3bullet.ng presents Nigerian Artists who became successful Solo acts after leaving their group.
Over the years, the Nigerian music industry has seen a lot of its popular music groups break up and its artists go their separate ways to pursue a career as a solo act.
While the breakups of these music groups had impacts on the industry and their fans, the members of these groups still found a way to make lemonades out of lemons.
Here are some of the top Nigerian Artists who became successful solo acts after leaving their group;
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Rudeboy
Known as Paul Okoye, Rudeboy was the one half of the renowned music duo, P-square. Alongside his brother Peter Okoye, they ruled airwaves for almost a decade with their groovy and love-themed songs that had many African households on a chokehold.
While a lot of many Nigerian music groups were breaking up, many didn’t expect P-square to break up as they were literally twin brothers but alas they did.
What started a slight family misunderstanding festered into something huge that end up posting the Nigerian Music Industry their beloved music group.
This separation between the two brothers had many wondering what the next step would be for them but Rudeboy didn’t hesitate in launching out solo with “Fire Fire” and “Nkenji Keke.”
Despite the bitter taste left on many of P-square’s fans’ tongues, this didn’t stop people from accepting his songs.
While the singer has released several hits over the years, his biggest is “Reason with Me” which broke a P-square record on youtube after amassing over 122M views on the streaming platform.
In 2021, he released his debut solo album, “RudyKillus” which has received mixed reactions from fans is doing considerably well on streaming platforms.
2Baba
Formerly known as 2face Idibia, 2Baba first came to the limelight as a member of the R’n’B group, Plantashun Boiz which dominated the industry in the early 2000s with hits and two successful albums: Body and Soul (2000) and Sold Out (2003).
However, in 2004, 2baba left the group to pursue a solo career under Kennis Music where he released his debut solo album Face 2 Face (2004), which established him as a viable solo artist.
His popularity skyrocket with the release of his second album, “Grass to Grace“.
The album’s success was propelled by the success of “African Queen” in the country. The song is considered to be one of Nigeria’s best songs to date.
With over two decades in the Industry, 2Baba has seven studio album and has received several major awards including one MTV Europe Music Award, one World Music Award, five Headies Awards (Hip-hop award), four Channel O Music Video Awards and one BET award for his musical work, four MTV Africa Music Awards, one MOBO award, one KORA award, 3 Afrima Awards, and numerous additional nominations.
2Baba is also one of the Nigerian consistent artists to date, still topping airwaves despite the increase in young bloods in the Industry.
Eedris Abdulkareem
There was a point when Eedris Abdulkareem was one of the Nigerian Hip-Hop major contenders. From 1997 to 2002, he was part of the popular hip-hop band The Remedies alongside Tony Tetuila and Eddy Remedy.
The Remedies were popular for their hits like “Shakamo” and “Omoge” which endeared them to millions of people all over West Africa.
The group split up in 1999 when Eedris Abdulkareem who was the henchman of the crew decided to launch a solo career.
Eedris Abdulkareem’s solo career started off to a glistening start with the release of 3 successful albums with the Kennis Music label imprint between 2002 and 2004.
His solo career was blessed with iconic songs like “Jaga Jaga” which earned him the ire of the Nigerian Government, “Mr Lecturer“, Oko Achewo” among others.
His fortunes however took a downturn in 2004 after a fracas with the American rapper 50 Cent. His subsequent album “King is Back” was released in 2007 under his La Crème record label and he is still has a visible presence on the Naija music scene.
Kcee
Kingsley Chinweike Okonkwo, better known as Kcee started his career in the music industry alongside his former music partner Presh with the two combining their names to form their stage name KcPresh.
The flashy duo won the first edition of Star’s yearly musical contest, Star Quest in 2002. They went on to release 5 albums before going their separate ways in 2011.
After his separation from Presh, Kcee got signed to his brother, E-Money’s label, Five Star Music where he released a number of songs including the 2013 hit, “Limpopo” which gave his career a boost.
He has several hits and two albums to his credit as a solo artist.
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Worthy Mentions
Olu Maintain (Maintain); went on to release two albums- “Yahooze/Maintain Reloaded” a successful effort that spawned the mega-hit single, “Yahooze” and Kentro World(2009).
Faze (Plantashun Boiz); has released three albums since- Faze Alone (2004), “Independent” which spawned several hit singles in 2006 and Originality (2008).
BlackFace(Plantashun Boiz); has only one album to his credit. He also co-wrote 2face’s breakthrough single- African queen.
Tony Tetuila(The Remedies); also did very well on his own with hit songs like “Omode meta”, I’m in love with 2 women” and “My Car” which became a street sensation. He has 5 albums to date.
Mr. P(P-square): Might not have been successful as his brother solo-wise but has been able to release hit songs to his credit. Released his debut album, “The Prodigal” in 2021.