Chicago-based Ghanaian artist Queen Drie has always dared away from convention and chosen a path that values truth. The versatile creative has a theory about authenticity in music. “We’re all pretending to have perfectly created identities that couldn’t be farther from the truth,” she says, and her debut EP “I Hope This Helps” exists to shatter that pretense.
Fresh off her 2023 triumphs—including winning the Afro Artist of the Year Award at the 312 Music Awards, taking the crown at Hyde Park Summer Fest Community Showcase alongside stars like Tobe Nwigwe and Libianca, and opening for Afrobeats queen Tiwa Savage at House of Blues Chicago—Queen Drie took a deliberate but brief hiatus after releasing “Woman” in March 2024. But silence, for an artist like Queen Drie, is never empty but reflection and preparation at the background.
“I Hope This Helps” initially released exclusively on EVEN in July and later on all streaming platforms on August, emerges as both comeback and revelation, a six-track journey through Reggae, Bossa Nova, Afro, Alte R&B, and Hip-Hop that feels less like genre-hopping and more like a natural conversation between the many facets of her identity. With only one feature—fellow Ghanaian rapper, KooKusi on “Tell Me What You Want”—the project maintains an intimate focus while addressing universal themes of authenticity, empowerment, and mental health awareness.
What strikes you immediately about Queen Drie is not just her musical versatility, but the intentionality behind every choice. This is an artist who speaks of Nina Simone’s conviction that “an artist’s duty is to reflect the times,” and who has structured her entire project around that philosophy.
The grace with which she navigates complex topics—from women’s empowerment in African cultures to the intersection of music and mental health—reveals an artist unafraid to use her platform for something deeper than entertainment.
In our latest conversation with the multi-hyphenate creative, Queen Drie reflects on her identity, her influences, and the responsibility she feels as an artist.
GM: Congratulations for putting out a well put thematic project in “I Hope This Helps” but to people experiencing your music for the first time, who is Queen Drie?
Queen Drie: Queen Drie is just a girl with a dream of a better world. A world where our vulnerability is our greatest strength and we’re not pretending to have perfectly created identities that couldn’t be farther from the truth. A world where our women are limitless and respected, norms aren’t skewed and we’re all not afraid to face our minds. A world of free thinkers.
GM: Your EP title, “I Hope This Helps,” is both intimate and universal. What was the pivotal moment or emotion that inspired you to name the project this, and what kind of “help” do you envision your music provides to listeners?
Queen Drie: This project was very intentionally crafted. I didn’t just string some chart toppers together. I’ve recently been diving into the role of music in pivotal human rights movements like Civil Rights and the Black Panther movement and I vividly remember a video of Nina Simone saying “an artist’s duty is to reflect the times” and at the end she poses the question “how can you be an artist and not reflect the times?” I was heavily convicted. I knew the more I focused on making music that was guaranteed to trend, the farther I strayed from myself. I hope this helps me make a choice, similar to Simone to be an artist who embraces the duty to make art that helps, challenges, and convicts in order to heal.
GM: One significant observation from the project is how you hold space for varying genres on the project while still doing rap. As an artist who has lived in both Ghana and the U.S., how do you intentionally blend these sounds, and what does this “fusion sound” say about your identity as an artist?
Queen Drie: I’ll say most African kids have a very expansive music palette. I remember our childhoods consisting of songs from Michael Jackson, BukBak & VIP, Celine Dion, Lil Wayne and later Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. It was quite impossible to create something so rigid that it’s confined to one genre. Also, my goal is to connect with all humans across the world and feel it’s beautiful to make music for connection instead of making it with the goal of fitting them in specific genre boxes.
GM: Essentially, the EP also feels like a dialogue. How do you want audiences to use these songs in their everyday lives?
Queen Drie: I want to cultivate a space where you go not to evade self but to confront it. Kendrick’s God is Gangsta is my theme song in that sense and I wanted to create something that will give people clarity of the kind of artist I am and the ways in which I want to serve them. Awareness is a privilege but it’s not always so pleasant. It comes with conviction and when you’re presented with such spiritual knowledge it’s totally up to you how you engage. Do you dissociate and escape into feeling good all the time or take a hard look at all the ways the young child within you who asked all the whys has slowly softened and accepted norms as truth. It’s complex but I hope by the end of the tape, we can all agree that nothing is the same, and start talking about the ways we can start those quiet rebellions.
GM: Being a thematic project, how did you approach the sequencing of the tracks so the EP comes as a whole body?
Queen Drie: I’ll say the songs arranged themselves. I wrote all the songs within the past year so honestly, the songs unfolded as I uncovered myself. “Nothing is the Same” was always going to be the first song, followed by “Get Up”. However we’re not only dealing with themes here, we’re also juggling different genres so with “Authenticity”, I went back and forth a bit about the placement because I wanted it to be sonically seamless and still thematically relevant. Ultimately I decided that “Nothing is the Same”, so “Get Up” and be an “Authentic” “Woman” who has the capacity to love not passively but in all the expansive ways love allows was the story and thus how i arranged it.
GM: Talking of themes, you’ve openly advocated for a few, most importantly women empowerment and mental health awareness. What experiences or observations inspired the messages, and what do you hope is improved about these topics?
Queen Drie: I’m an assertive woman passionate about the act of learning and of knowledge itself – of self and other. I think womanhood is a fascinating experience and should be discussed and treated as such. I come from a family of very assertive, inspiring and intelligent women so naturally I carry myself with a quiet confidence. However I’ve noticed that in African cultures there’s an expectation of subservience from women that is equated with being a “good woman” and I genuinely find it appalling. I’m assertive, confident, and intelligent. Why should I pretend not to be too much of a woman so as not to make a man feel insecure in his own positionality. I never quite understood shrinking to make myself desirable and I hope to empower our young girls and women to revel in that.
And on mental health, how much time do we have, haha? our minds are wired to absorb our experiences. We store them in the form of thoughts, memories and even in the way we move. I’ve watched artists that inspire me like Lauryn Hill, Kendrick, and Fela Kuti, with full understanding of its power, wield music as a tool for reconstructive thinking. I believe as much as we rely on the arts for escapist practices, we need to understand the intersection of music and the mind and make a conscious habit of exploring music that encourages a space to meet ourselves.
GM: You collaborated with KooKusi, another conscious rapper from Ghana. Why was it important for you to include him on this project, and what did that collaboration mean?
Queen Drie: I’ve always admired and respected Kookusi. He’s been a trusted friend and someone I share a lot of values with. So naturally when I considered “Tell Me What You Want” for the project, his voice was the one I wanted to hear on there. I wanted to hear him from a new perspective, but I also wanted to share with the world what an honest conversation about love looks like. It transcends mere desire or wanting/craving. We’re discussing the slow burn kind of love when it matures from infatuation into genuine care, respect, and knowledge of others.
GM: Looking back at your career so far, what recent developments in the space has impacted your perspective and how you approach music as a business as well?
Queen Drie: I’m all about finding the next idea that can expose me to more, help me be more intentional and pursue this art that I love. Even.biz has shown me that we don’t have to be conventional. We’ve all heard how streaming doesn’t pay unless you’re racking in millions of streams per week and as independent artists who aren’t quite at that level yet, pursuing streams makes the dream of impact quite elusive. EVEN has helped me in ways that I can’t fully dive into right now but I made the EP exclusively available on EVEN for the first month and my community showed up massively and actually bought the project. It was a really great moment because it helped me realize that my art is valued. EVEN had helped me show up fully, take risks and not be afraid to fail.
GM: What’s one feeling, emotion, or realization you hope listeners have the moment the EP ends?
Queen Drie: I hope at the end of the EP, you long for Nothing is the Same because everything hinges on that shared understanding. We’re not living in the same world we lived in when we were running around flying kites in the streets of Accra. The combined forces of technology and information have brought some big changes to our lives that most of us wouldn’t have imagined. In some ways that’s a good thing but in other ways it’s not. I want people to find themselves in the midst of the noise —to always remember their authentic selves in the midst of this rapid change. Nothing is the same, so get up, revel in your authenticity, take your rightful place and hold space for others.
GM: To end on a fun note, who are some of your go-to Ghanaian rappers that you’re currently listening to or would love to collaborate with in the future?
Queen Drie: I’m currently listening to Kojo Cue, Kookusi, Blacko, Fameye, Kojo Trip and Marince. I’ve already worked with KooKusi but I want us to do more haha. For the rest I know it’s just a matter of time and alignment because I love their music.
