Here Comes The African Giant: How Burna Boy Brought The World To Africa
“Tell ’em Africa we don tire, so here comes the African Giant…”
Today marks 1 month since the release of Burna Boy’s fourth studio album, “African Giant”. Despite being his second album under a major label, this release was significant for the artist and African music on the global stage.
With the album’s name deriving from the artist’s public protest of his name’s placement on the 2019 Coachella poster, Burna Boy maintains his outburst was “for the fact everyone else that’s coming after me shouldn’t have to go through that.” Citing the rise of Latin music, and artist like J Balvin’s prominence on the poster, African Giant can be seen to symbolize the new wave of African music, with success extending beyond the continent and the mainstream success to justify the expected recognition.
The album has since debuted at number 16 on the UK albums chart, making it the highest ranking African album to date, with a nod from Sir Elton John and industry talks of a Grammy nomination.
But how did Burna Boy establish himself as an album artist and achieve crossover success spanning genres and intended audiences, while remaining authentic?
Burna Boy’s global appeal can be attributed to his global influences. With mother and manager Bose Ogulu referencing a young Burna Boy singing “Naughty by Nature — Hip Hop Hooray while other kids were singing nursery rhymes.”
Burna Boy’s exposure to different music and cultures led to him creating his own brand of Afrobeat, which he labels “Afrofusion”. A sound which carries hints of R&B, Caribbean dancehall, UK rap, hip-hop while maintaining the central themes of Love and Hustle which characterize Nigerian music. The fusion of these sounds is evident in the artist’s global breakout banger “Ye”.
The success of African Giant and Burna Boy as a global artist can be attributed to this versatile, yet Burna Boy branded sound and image. He is able to remain true to the Nigerian identity of hustling and relating to the struggle, through tracks like “Dangote”, while following in his idol Fela Kuti’s footsteps with socio-political commentary, evident in “Another Story,” which recounts the founding of Nigeria as a business deal by the British. More notably, among the high-profile collaborations on the album, from Damian Marley to Future, each track remains a Burna song.
On whether his ambition is to crossover, Burna Boy states:
“My thing is more to come and bring people over to my side so they see the other side, so they see something other than what they’re used to, other than their comfort zone.”
On how Burna Boy has brought the world to Africa, Burna’s mother and manager Bose Ogulu states:
“I think it’s not just about African music, I think it’s the whole African culture; and it’s always been here. Now I think it’s the internet, I think YouTube played an important role, getting to not just hear the music, but see how the people live and respond to the music in their own environment”
This is exemplified with Burna Boy’s 2019 hit single with rapper Zlatan “Killin Dem”, which launched the “Zanku” dance to the forefront.
Burna Boy’s crossover shows no sign of slowing down, with his influence growing with each appearance and track release. His ability to do so without compromising his style or sound has the power to set up the artist for long term success in the industry. Since the album’s release he has been featured on GQ, Vogue, Billboard, Essence and appeared on Jimmy Kimmel, Trevor Noah and the Urban powerhouse The Breakfast Club, where he can be seen to greet audiences and interviewers with pidgin English greeting “How far now?” unapologetically positioning himself as an African man.
Burna Boy’s rise, and the increasing popularity of African culture in the U.S mainstream should be treated as an indication of the future. It begs the question of how long African artists will have to fight for recognition in the mainstream media. When and whether African music will have the explosion Latin music had in 2018. And whether record labels and global brands will know what to do with the continents increasing star power.
I look forward to seeing how the Burna Boy and African music story continues to unfold.
Till next time.
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