walking upstream…
2Baba
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Innocent Idibia grew up in Jos on a household diet running from Boney M and ABBA to Bob Marley and Fela Kuti, and by the late 1990s he was fronting the Lagos trio Plantashun Boiz under the stage name 2Face, adopted in 1996. One of the first groups fusing hip-hop, R&B and reggae into a distinctly Nigerian sound, they broke up in 2003; going solo the next year, 2Face built Face 2 Face around "African Queen," a hit that carried the emerging sound abroad even as its authorship became a lasting dispute with his old bandmate Blackface Naija. He kept refining the mix — reggae's warmth, Afrobeat's bite, hip-hop's drive — through name changes from Tuface to Tu-baba to, by 2016, 2Baba, settling into the elder-statesman role Nigerians now grant him: "baba," a sign of respect for someone who's been there and done that.
the sound in question
2004
African Queen2Baba
walk the tributaries ↓
Bob Marley1970s · Reggae / Roots reggae / Ska
Asked what he grew up on, 2Baba described a house stacked with Boney M, ABBA and the Jackson Five, then narrowed it to one name: "Bob Marley was my favorite, you know, and I guess that's the basis of most of my music, reggae." No interview ties a specific Marley song to a specific 2Baba record — the debt he names is foundational rather than a single traceable transplant, reggae itself, filtered through Marley, as the frame he built everything else on top of.
listen: upstream & here
1974
No Woman, No CryBob Marley
2006
True Love2Baba
listen forMarley's "No Woman, No Cry" unfolds at a walking pace, its organ swell and unhurried vocal turning heartbreak into comfort. "True Love," from 2Baba's second album, borrows that same patience — a loping reggae pulse under a plainspoken devotion lyric, produced by his brother Hyacinth Idibia. No source connects the two songs directly; what carries over is the temperament Marley's records taught a generation of Nigerian singers to reach for.
Fela Kuti1970s · Afrobeat / Funk / Highlife
Fela Kuti was one of the local heroes 2Baba named without hesitation: "Fela was particularly interesting, because of the reggae influence, and the things they said in reggae music back in the day... talking about the ills of society and all that kind of stuff." The debt went past admiration — on 2013's The Ascension, 2Baba built "Jeje" around a piece lifted from Fela's 1985 record "Army Arrangement," according to TheCable's roundup of artists who've sampled the Afrobeat pioneer.
listen: upstream & here
1985
Army ArrangementFela Kuti
2013
Jeje2Baba
listen for"Army Arrangement" rides Fela's long-form Afrobeat groove — insistent horns circling over a hypnotic bassline that barely resolves. "Jeje" pulls a piece of that groove into a tighter, radio-length pop frame, the borrowed elements surfacing under 2Baba's vocal rather than driving a fifteen-minute vamp. Listen for where that rhythm sits in the mix — Fela's engine, downsized to fit a different era's attention span.
Majek Fashek1980s · Reggae / Juju / Rock
Majek Fashek eclipsed even Marley as 2Baba's hero: "Growing up a little bit further, Majek Fashek came about and he became my favorite." The relationship outlived nostalgia — in 2016, Majek brought 2Baba in to guest on "No More Sorrow," a reworked version of Majek's own 1991 hit "Holy Spirit." Billed as Majek Fashek featuring 2Baba, it's the rare case of a named influence handing a record back to the artist he shaped.
listen: upstream & here
1991
Holy SpiritMajek Fashek
2016
No More Sorrow2Baba
listen forThe original "Holy Spirit" rides Majek's reedy, half-sung wail over a spare, unhurried reggae-rock lope built on gospel-inflected chords. "No More Sorrow" keeps that same loping tempo and devotional lyric, updated with cleaner production, and sets 2Baba's voice alongside Majek's rather than replacing it — listen for the two vocal textures, one older and rougher, one smoother, trading the same melodic line.