The musician Burna Boy called “my childhood hero”
Burna Boy has been at the forefront of the Afrobeat movement for the past decade and has effortlessly propelled himself into the limelight in the last five years. The Nigerian singer and rapper has brought a lot of attention to his country and the continent of Africa as a whole.
Since the early-2000s, music from outside the US that managed to break into the Billboard Hot 100 was from the Caribbean and Latin America, primarily due to the existence of these communities inside the US.
From Sean Paul to Daddy Yankee, the focus was all on the Caribbean. However, with the rise of the internet, music from Korea and Africa has managed to gain some traction in America, and Burna Boy, alongside hit-makers such as Wizkid and Tems, have surpassed many homegrown US MCs.
Although Burna Boy is a club artist who makes music for the mainstream, he often attempts to shed light on the issues affecting his country of birth. In 2020, while the death of George Floyd was dominating the news cycle, Nigeria’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad was wreaking havoc on the country. With the government unit physically abusing citizens and engaging in corruption, Burna Boy was asked during an interview with Music Week whether he believes it’s important to relay these issues in his music.
Explaining how he has and does it on a regular basis, the rapper responded, “These things are happening not 10 minutes away from where my house is. If you listen to ‘20.10.20’, it explains everything. The world can see, the world can hear. No matter how those responsible try to cover things up, the world can see, and that’s all I care about.”
He added, “It’s the quickest [song I’ve done], but it’s the most necessary. The situation is a lot bigger than me. I try to make sure the right light is shed in the right places.” However, one question was particularly intriguing. Prior to the explosion of artists such as Wizkid, Tems, Rema and Burna Boy, there was one Nigerian musician who shook the world with his funk, jazz and Afrobeat fusion projects. Fela Kútì.
Fela Kútì is one of the most renowned Nigerian artists of all time and is the nation’s equivalent of Bob Marley. His music sent waves across the world throughout the 1970s. However, many are calling Burna Boy the new Fela Kúti due to his global impact.
During a GQ interview, the Nigerian native responded to this claim and slapped it down quickly, claiming that it is a ridiculous notion as Fela Kútì pioneered an entire genre on his own. Speaking about Kuti, Burna told GQ, “I don’t think anyone in their right mind would compare me to Fela!” He continued, “Fela is my inspiration and my childhood hero, so if you think comparing me to Fela is honourable, it’s actually not. It actually makes me feel weird. Fela was Fela, and if it wasn’t for Fela, there probably wouldn’t be any me, so I don’t understand the comparison”.
It makes sense that Burna Boy vehemently dismissed these comparisons as, without the internet and highly equipped, expensive studios, Fela Kútì done more for Africa concerning music than anyone in history.