African giant, Burna Boy: Entertainment personality of 2019

2019 was a good year generally for the entertainment industry in Nigeria. Major beneficiaries were particularly the music industry where some notable acts saw their artistry take the world stage, with sold out concerts across the world.

A few acts also became the cynosure of world renowned labels, which saw them signing mouth-watering management and distribution deals. One of such hardworking entertainers is Burna Boy, who, in all ramifications, stood tall among his peers in 2019, the year under review.

“He is a fantastic artiste who, through his sheer dint of hard work, has become a success story that should inspire any young aspiring Nigerian artiste. Having watched him find his sound and most importantly, stick to it, while others were making popular music is laudable. Managed by his mother, I am impressed that they have been able to keep the business side  running smoothly too”, Dakino Agumba, a music critic told the Nigerian Tribune during  a chat.

Born Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu on July 2, 1991 and known professionally as Burna Boy, he is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. Damini Ogulu was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. His father managed a welding company and his mother worked as a translator. His grandfather, Benson Idonije, once managed Afrobeat legend, Fela Kuti. It is widely reported that he began making music as a 10-year-old after a classmate at his school gave him a copy of the music production software, ‘FruityLoops’. Armed with these means, he began to create his own beats on an old computer. After he graduated, he moved to London to attend university, but he dropped out after two years and moved back to Nigeria. This marked a period when he began to connect to the music of his native country, having spent most of his youth immersed in American acts like DMX. He delved into the dancehall and reggae music his father listened to, and explored the Afro-beat music preferred by his grandfather (who had also been Fela Kuti›s first manager.

“When you’re young, it’s not something that you’re proud of,” he said. “We watch TV and the only thing you really see about Africa is ‘Help a child’ or some shit like that. I just wanted to listen to DMX. I didn’t really appreciate Africanisms like that.” But as an adult, he reconnected with his roots. “I started knowing more about who I was, where I come from, and where my father’s father comes from. When people are singing my lyrics, you can see the emotion because they can relate to what I’m saying — ‘no money, no life, no water”, he said in an interview.

As a result of his new discoveries, Ogulu created a confluence of genres that would become his signature sound. He would later link up with Leriq, the music producer who together, would churn out Burna›s first hit, ‹Like to Party›.

He rose to prominence in 2012 after releasing ‘Like to Party’, the lead single from his debut studio album L.I.F.E (2013).

Produced entirely by Leriq, L.I.F.E featured guest appearances from 2face Idibia, M.I, Timaya, Olamide, Reminisce and Wizkid. Nigeria Entertainment Today ranked the album 10th on their list of the 12th best albums of 2013. The music of L.I.F.E mirrored heavily from the music of Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade and Bob Marley. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who applauded its production. It was nominated for ‘Best Album of the Year’ at the 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards. In August 2013, L.I.F.E peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart.

To make it in Nigeria’s blossoming Afropop industry, Burna Boy developed a brash persona that he described as being healthily skeptical of industry politics. He also came up with a unique strategy: taking note of its potential market size of over a billion people, he’d decided to concentrate his efforts on Africa. He toured the continent, collaborated with hip-hop artistes from South Africa.

“At the end of the day, if you’re not selling yourself short as an African, everything you thought you needed to pay for will come to you,” he said, exasperated by what he thought was an obvious point. “You have the wave. You are you.”

He was right — and now that he’s cultivated a fanbase impressed with his idiosyncratic take on Nigerian music, Burna Boy was ready to aim beyond Africa. “I’m an international rock star,” he said. “Now the music will travel without passports.”

He released his second album ‘On a Spaceship’ on 25 November 2015. In September 2016, he released the 7-track EP ‘Redemption’.  In 2017, Burna Boy signed with Bad Habit/Atlantic Records in the United States and Warner Music Group internationally. His third studio album ‘Outside’ (2018) marked his major-label debut.

In January 2018, Burna Boy was featured on ‘Sunshine Riptide’, a track from Fall Out Boy›s seventh studio album  titled MANIA. He released his third studio album ‘Outside’ on January 26, 2018.

The album received critical acclaim and was ranked by Pulse Nigeria and Nigerian Entertainment Today as the best Nigerian album of 2018. It won ‘Album of the Year’ at the 2018 Nigeria Entertainment Awards. In February 2018, ‘Outside’ debuted at number three on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart. The album›s biggest single ‘Ye’ ended up atop most Nigerian publications year-end list as the biggest song of 2018.

On October 7, 2018, Burna Boy performed before a sold-out crowd at London›s O2 Academy Brixton. On October 9, 2018, Burna Boy was announced as one of Spotify›s New Afro Hub takeover artiste. The announcement coincided with him being named YouTube›s ‘Artiste on the Rise’ for three months.

On January 3, 2019, he was announced alongside Mr Eazi as one of the artistes performing at the 2019 Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival.

On June 24, 2019, Burna Boy won ‘Best International Act’ at the 2019 BET Awards. In July 2019, Burna Boy was announced as Apple Music›s Up Next artiste. His inclusion into the program was accompanied by a Beats 1 interview with Julie Adenuga and a short documentary. He recorded ‘Ja Ara E’ (Yoruba: «wise up» or «use your head») for Beyoncé›s ‘The Lion King: The Gift’ and was the only guest artiste with their own track on the soundtrack album.

Burna Boy›s fourth studio album ‘African Giant’ was released on July 26, 2019 with critical acclaim. Burna Boy has, in five years, risen to become one of the most sought after entertainment acts out of Africa and arguably Nigeria’s biggest revelation of 2019. It is for these reasons that the Nigerian Tribune finds the versatile act worthy of the title of Entertainment Personality of the Year 2019.