In Nigerian music history, seldom has an album so beautifully carried several motivations and delivered excellently on each one of them. Twenty years later, it’s one of the standing blocks of the album’s greatness, of which a lot has been said and written about. Still, there’s a lot to be said for the contemporary appeal of the perspective of Face2Face, which is epitomized in two records—‘African Queen’ and ‘U No Holy Pass’—which I consider to be the album’s best songs and also its greatest.  

‘African Queen’ was the first record aired on MTV Base Africa, affirming 2Baba’s place as his generation’s numero uno. Quite tellingly, few of his videos before then were well done. We attribute their appeal to the passage of time rather than visual quality; though it’s also worth remembering that few Nigerian music videos of the early 2000s impressed on those scales. This was however not an issue with ‘African Queen’—impressed over a white background, the artist and his women dressed in colourful outfits which would now be referred to as exotic. As part of the soundtrack of the American movie Phat Girls, the song earned a global reputation that made it one of the biggest songs—from Africa or anywhere else—of its era. Completing the audio-visual cycle before most of his contemporaries mastered their sound, 2Face Idibia was obviously ahead.  

Ehis Ohunyon was a teenager when Face2Face came out, a devoted reader of music publications. An edition of a beloved magazine, HipHopWorld Magazine, dropped just before the release of the album and one of its writers—Efe Omorogbe, who would later manage 2Baba until recently—expressed his doubt in the now-defunct magazine that 2Baba could maintain his popularity coming from Plantashun Boiz. ‘I was mad curious about how the album will fare,’ says Ohunyon, now a veteran music journalist and former music editor at Pulse Nigeria. He adds:

And from the very first single, I kinda knew he was setting himself streets apart from every other person at the time. I never believe that ‘classic’ by way of longevity is stamped on every album that came out in the early days of any genre’s formation. Irrespective, it is earned. And while sound wise, the industry has shifted from what Face2Face represented, its lyrical quality and impact were foresighted to be ahead of time. You can still fit a song like ‘Ole’ into a Fireboy or Lojay album and it will stand out. ‘U No Holy Pass’ can never be dated, and ‘African Queen’ will always be ‘African Queen’.

And for me, the greatest legacy is that 20 years later, 2Baba has not strayed in music and personality from the guy who spoke on that album. He stays a lover boy (despite the controversies), there is a playful side to him and then the consciousness of his messages.  

I cast eyes now to the past, hue-filled images of communal living emerging before me. In those frames there is activity, soft bobbing of one’s shoulders, and in those frames, there is sound, the familiar lilt of 2Baba’s voice. Clean, purposeful, ‘African Queen’ was parents’ favourite, and its acceptability was a propulsive force in the eventual widespread acceptability of Nigerian music throughout that decade. Before 2Baba and shortly after P-Square, local audiences could trust our musicians: that essential pairing of heart and dance was perceived. In an interesting titbit about this album, Chuka Obi, a veteran rapper and advertising executive, mentioned how a popular Alaba marketer simply known as Tjoe bought all the 500,000 printed copies of Face2Face, selling them for N10 more and, through massive demand, selling all of the copies within some hours.  

More than the presence of quality art, it is the knowledge of quality art by the general public that matters. Through this, other artists can be influenced and the bar for criticism raised. Such an influence is found in ‘U No Holy Pass’, a song which reveals the singular perspective 2Baba brings to the Nigerian rhetoric. With a phrase such as ‘no look Uche face’ preceding Ayra Starr’s ‘if I cast, I cast’ 2Baba has long been a champion of individuality. Everyone’s journey is unique to them but at the same time, there are universal markers of love and respect. Approaching the nuance in this perspective are latter records like ‘Only Me’ and ‘Spiritual Healing (Higher)’, both songs which emerge from ‘U No Holy Pass’. The only song on the album whose production abandons measure, there’s an incandescent mood cast, jumpy synths punctuated by alarm bells; urgently calling, the singer has something to say, and he wastes no time in getting to it: 

Some people be acting like they know it all. well, everybody knows that people rise and fall/ Some rise up again just to stand up tall, and wiser and stronger/ No matter how long you live, you cannot learn it all/ You only do your best, because you no go fit do all/ So if you want to criticize me, talk small small, cos you no holy pass my brother’.  

I had to quote that chorus in full; it is rich and continuous. No shortage will there be, of folks postulating the best way to live, of others seeking the philosophy that drives them forward—and still, there’s so much uncertainty and 2Baba says, embrace it all. One considers especially cancel culture, one of the most divisive social movements the world has recently experienced. Obviously, opinions are hot material right now, Nigeria being no exception. On social media, we’re exposed to a million throbbing voices, with pain creaking from so many places. What to do with it all? What does 2Baba, whose music taught so many of us to be expressive, think about this peculiar itch? The second verse of ‘U No Holy Pass’ puts across a perspective that isn’t simply accepted, but one which a certain kind of person leans into as the shifting tides of life and perception happens to them; wisdom becomes waiting:  

Some people when they see a wrong thing 

They will start complaining 

Until the complaining turn into shouting 

Anytime they see a wrong thing 

They continue shouting 

Until the shouting turn to traditional shouting…. 

Slavery will start to set in like Amistad 

Oya, I know say you seen the making 

And them start to do almost anything, for almost nothing 

Cos instinctively dem need surviving  

But the scavengers would bring them all 

They will push them to the floor 

And to collect all the people them belonging 

But like a goat that has pushed to the wall 

We already ready to start to do the fighting 

So me a go run them down, run dem all around  

Me a go chase them outta we town 

I sabi, we go gun down  

Before them go know, them go dey for six feet under the ground.