Nigerian music star Kcee has opened up about the emotional struggles he faced while building his career, revealing that he often felt overlooked despite years of hard work and consistency.

Speaking during a recent conversation on *Afrobeats Intelligence*, the singer said he grew up in an industry that did not always fairly recognize his efforts, even when he was giving his best.

“To be honest, I grew up in an industry that was not fair to me… I was giving my best and the industry was not recognising it,” he said.

Kcee admitted that the lack of recognition, especially in terms of award nominations, deeply affected him at the time.

“The fans were the ones behind me. I did a lot of work, and they were not nominating me for awards. And I cried. I was pained. Right now, whether I win awards or not, I do not care. I prefer the rewards to the awards. It affected everything and not just music,” he added.

Reflecting on his journey, the singer described his hit song *Limpopo* as the major turning point in his career.

“When ‘Limpopo’ came, I was in tears that God had answered my prayers. It took me into the global market straight away. After all the years I worked with Presh, that is the biggest record I have ever done,” he said.

He also revealed that the song brought significant financial success, particularly through ringback tunes, which were highly lucrative at the time.

“‘Limpopo’ gave me a lot of money from ringback tunes. We were making hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said.

Kcee further pointed to his more recent release, *Ojapiano*, as another major success story, noting how quickly it went viral on TikTok.

“When I dropped ‘Ojapiano’ today, the next day it was doing 120,000 videos on TikTok in one day. It happened for seven days,” he said.

Despite the challenges he once faced with recognition, Kcee said his priorities have now shifted, with greater focus on impact, reach, and the support of his fans rather than awards and trophies.