Last month, fans of MTV Base enjoyed a specially curated playlist tagged ‘Queens Of Base’ The playlist, which featured on MTV Base every Saturday in August was used by the entertainment platform to celebrate leading Black female musicians across the world.
Obviously, Black female musicians across the world have been making remarkable strides in and outside the music industry but oftentimes, they do not get the accolades they deserve, and was the rationale for the Queens Of Base initiative .
In Nigeria, superstars like Tiwa Savage and Yemi Alade have continuously demonstrated that they can go toe to toe with their male counterparts and come out standing tall. They are selling out shows across the world, racking up streaming numbers, performing on global stages alongside some of the biggest international music stars, and just generally being iconic.
Yemi Alade who won the Peak Talent Show in 2009 is unarguably one of the most popular artistes out of Africa. She was the first female African artiste to hit one million subscribers on Youtube, and up until 2018, her video for ‘Johnny’ was the most viewed music video by a Nigerian musician on Youtube.
Tiwa Savage has also been blazing the trail since she came into the limelight with her debut single, Kele Kele in 2010. From being the first African female ambassador for Pepsi to being the first female artist to win best African act at the MTV Europe Music awards and the first African female artist to sell out London’s Indig02 venue, Tiwa has had a lot of firsts in her career. At 40, the superstar continues to defy norms and prove to millions of women all over the world that it can be done.
Through Queens of Base, MTV Base further reinforced the fact that it is time to give female superstars the love and attention they deserve.
The playlist, which aired on MTV Base (Dstv channel 322 and Gotv channel 72) every Saturday in August featured big names such as Nigerian superstars Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade, Teni, and Niniola, as well as, South African music queens Sho Madjozi, Busiswa and Moonchild, among others.
