23-7-2025
Nollywood actress Yvonne Jegede said she reluctantly agreed to appear in 2Baba’s 2004 music video for “African Queen”.
Speaking in an interview on Nollywood Radio, Jegede said did not show any interest when the director of the musical video, which became a world wide hit approached her. But later a friend convinced her to take up the role.
“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,” said Jegede
“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.
“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.”