Burna Boy is hitting the world stages with Africa music after dropping his single “YE” in 2018, which became a national anthem in Nigeria and so many other countries around the world. Burna Boy, who recently dropped his Fourth Studio Album “African Giant,” has drastically moved to defined who Burna Boy is to the Africa music industry.
Burna Boy came with different sound years ago, but was not given listening ears by many Nigerians, and also failed to be voted to win lots of award after many nominations.
Burna Boy has been in the Headies nomination list since 2013, and won his first Headies Award in 2019, after many nominations.
Brief Bio of Burna Boy
Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu (aka Burna Boy) was born on 2 July 1991; he hails from Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Burna Boy is a Nigerian Afro-Pop singer, songwriter, and performer. Burna Boy rose to fame in 2012 after releasing the lead single “Like to Party” from his debut studio album, L.I.F.E., in 2019.
Burna Boy was signed to Bad Habit/Atlantic Records in the United States and Warner Music Group internationally in 2017. His third studio album Outside in 2018 marked his major-label debut with the single “Y.E.” becoming the popular request on popular radio and T.V. stations around Nigeria.
Recent Awards won by Burna Boy
Burna Boy single “Like to Party” won Best Pop in 2013 South South Music Awards and Nigeria Entertainment Awards Best New Act of the Year in 2013.
In 2015 Burna Boy won Best Album of the Year for Nigeria Entertainment Awards.
In 2018 Burna Boy’s album “Outside’ won Album of the Year at the 2018 Nigeria Entertainment Awards.
Burna was nominated for various categories in the Sound City M.P.V. Award Festival, where “Ye” was voted as Listener’s Choice, “Ye” also came as Song of the Year, Best Male M.V.P., and clinching the African Artiste of the Year 2019.
Burna Boy was nominated for the B.E.T. 2019 Award, and he won the Best International Act at the 2019 B.E.T. Awards.
Burna Boy was also nominated for the Artiste of the Year in the 2019 Headies award and lots of other nominations. His single from his third studio album “Y.E.” won song of the years, he won the best collaboration with Zlatan Ibile with “Killin Dem” from his fourth studio album, and Artist of the year, after beating Davido, Kizkid, Falz, and Tiwa Savage.
The African Giant also was nominated in the A.F.R.I.M.A. 2019 Award, as he won Song of the Years with “Killin Dem” featuring Zlatan Ibile from his fourth studio album, Best Male Act West Africa, and Africa Artiste of the Year.
The Progression of Burna Boy to the African Giant
Burna Boy was featured on “Sunshine Riptide” In January 2018, a track from Fall Out Boy’s seventh studio album MANIA in 2018. The African Giant (Burna Boy) released his third studio album “Outside” January 26 2018.
The third studio album by Burna Boy was described as a mixtape, and the album “Outside” consists mostly of Reggae, Afrobeats, road rap, and dancehall. It features guest vocals from English musicians J Hus, Lily Allen, and Mabel.
Outside by Burna Boy was supported by six singles:
- Rock Your Body
- Streets of Africa
- Koni Baje
- Sekkle Down
- Heaven’s Gate
- Ye
The Burna Boy’s Outside album production was handled by Leriq, Baba Stiltz, Jae 5, Juls, Chopstix, Steel Banglez, Fred Gibson, FTSE, and Phantom. The album received critical acclaim and was ranked by Pulse Nigeria and Nigerian Entertainment Today as the best Nigerian album of 2018.
The album’s biggest single “Ye” ended up at the top of most Nigerian publications year-end list as the biggest song of 2018. The single “Ye’ be Burna Boy received lots of commendations from lots of legendary Nigerian Artiste.
Ye by Burna Boy was believed to be the song that brought back Burna Boy to the Nigerian Music industry with an ace.
Outside won Album of the Year at the 2018 Nigeria Entertainment Awards. In February 2018, Outside debuted at number 3 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart.
The African Giant
Burna Boy’s fourth studio album “African Giant” was released on July 26, 2019. There was no wait for the fourth album by Burna Boy as “Ye” was still hitting every home, radio stations, T.V. station, and popular events across Africa.
Six singles supported the African Giant album:
- Gbona
- On the Low
- Killin Dem
- Dangote
- Anybody
- Pull Up
Burna Boy began recording the African Giant album in 2018. He told Billboard magazine that the album is his most personal yet.
Burna Boy first revealed plans to release the album in April 2019 and held a private listening session in Los Angeles. Photos and videos from the listening session were shared on social media. African Giant was initially announced as a 16-track album.
The Burna Boy’s “African Giant” has received positive reviews from music critics all over the world. At Meta-critic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 80, based on six reports from the team. Reviewing for Pitchfork, Sheldon Pearce granted the record an 8.3/10 rating and stated that it is “more cohesive, more robust in sound, and significantly broader than his previous music album.
Nigerian singer Damini Ogulu made a robust, electric, and passionate statement at the height of the striking personality expressed from the beginning.
The African Giant arrives on windy days and in the summer, and as a weird version of a groundhog that sees its shadow, the new phenomenal record seems to have been created especially to prolong the season. The mysterious voice of Burna Boy floats above the majestic funk with the serious rhythms mixing dance-hall and Afropop production. The result is the most magical summer soundtrack ever. The African giant is tough (“Killin Dem”), excellent (“Gum Body,”), and reveres the Nigerian and African history (“Giant African,” “Another Story”). The resulting vibrations are grooves and rhythms of the album.
Stay connected for more celebrity updates from our entertainment blog post.
