KCee: Why I Made ‘Cultural Praise’

Nigerian singer and songwriter, Kingsley Chinweike Okonkwo, popularly known as Kcee has explained why he made his latest gospel album, Cultural Praise.

In a chat with Pulse, the Five Star artiste revealed that he made the album to go back to his “roots”. Even though the singer was discouraged by many, he stated that he went ahead to release it anyway.

“I thought to myself that Nigerians could love this. Especially since we are a religious nation. So I called Okwesili Eze Group to come record with me. We recorded Vol. 1 in one take. I told my producer that I wanted the raw sound, with no digital effect. Everything you hear on the beat are raw instruments,” he said.

“Everybody tried to discourage me; my team, OneRPM, my manager… everybody. The only person that believed in the idea was my brother, E Money. The length was definitely a problem. I know that the current generation has a short attention span, but I chose to do it, anyway.

“I made Cultural Praise to go back to my roots, but I also feels like it came at the end of a year when people like Larry Gaga, Davido, Umu Obiligbo, The Cavemen and Basket mouth released quality albums with strong Igbo elements,” KCee added.

“I also think the pandemic weighed people down a lot and they needed something to believe in anyway. I don’t know how I got to put that together, but I’m glad I did.”

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After the huge success of the music project, KCee released Cultural Praise Vol. 2. Speaking on why he has drastically changed genre lanes over the years, the Limpopo crooner said:

“I have been making music for over 20 years. My first album with Presh was Gospel because that was the path that birthed us. I also met Presh in church and my dad was a Pastor who record stores. Then I moved into rap and then into Afro-pop because I wanted to make money and I have seen and done it all.

“These days, I make music to satisfy my conscience and for my artistic side, not necessarily for hits.”