Kcee released the music video of his Ojapiano remix with One Republic in March 2024, but that isn’t the gist. The gist is that the Nigerian singer said he spent $150,000 (approximately ₦212 million) to bring the video to our screens.
₦212 million is not small money, so we had to watch this visual to see why it costs more than an average Richard Mille wristwatch.
Let’s get into it.
The video opens with a bull skull, which I took to mean two things: a ranch or a “danger zone”. The next scene proved my first theory because it featured a bunch of idle cowboys and cowgirls with hard faces.
The frowning cowboys and girls stare at Kcee as he drives into their area, comes out of his car and presents an old tube vintage TV set to a guy who looks like the ringleader of an upcoming cartel.
I thought I was about to see a drug deal for a moment, but instead, the guy turns on the TV and “Ojapiano remix” begins playing supernaturally. I say “supernaturally” because the TV isn’t plugged into any source of power known to man. As if that isn’t impressive enough, the old-school (AKA black and white) TV starts showing Kcee and Ryan Tedder in very bright colours.
After a few seconds, the others gather to watch, and some take dancing positions.
At this point, I’m confused. One Republic isn’t a country music band or group of cowboys, so why is Kcee meeting cowboys?
Also, the white folks watching Kcee on the TV are on one side, but the all-black women dancers remain on the other side. The reason for this segregation is unclear. But let’s move on.
In the next scene, Kcee appears in a stable. But he’s the only one there. Where are the horses? If they wanted a stable scene so badly, why didn’t they make it look finer in a “too-good-for-horses” way. I mean, they had$150,000 to spend.
The video continues with Kcee and the dancers dancing and dancing. The others watching the performance on TV did so for the remaining two minutes of the video until the music video ended abruptly.
I have so many questions, but the one that confuses me most is why Kcee presented the TV to the cowboys. What did that symbolise?
For a song about being a boss man and money spender, the “Ojapiano remix” music video feels more like a lacklustre countryside adventure. Maybe the $150k included his flight costs to America because nothing else in the visual supports that claim.
I’ll conclude by saying: “Ojapiano” should have been left as it is —a street anthem without 18 seconds of Ryan Tedder’s vocals and its overpriced music video.
