“The message from Burna, I believe, would be that every black person should please remember that you were Africans before you became anything else.” He takes this idea a step further when we speak.
I can't name them in one go.”Īt the end of the final track on African Giant, “Spiritual”, you hear a quote from the acceptance speech Burna Boy’s mother gave when she accepted his BET Best International Act award last year on his behalf.
There are so many songs : ‘Army Arrangement’, ‘Coffin For Head Of State’, ‘Buy Africa’. I learned lessons from him, good and bad, from his experiences and music. “We've always been rebels, me and my whole family, so it's just kind of who I am.” Burna Boy’s grandfather was Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti’s manager, with his mother later taking on the role, and the artist’s presence in his life has clearly influenced him, from his advocacy for black power to his music. “I didn't grow up the same way that 90 per cent of my peers did,” he says. As much as his songs uplift and inspire its listeners to dance with their infectious beats, sun-soaked production and his powerful but comforting vocals, they are also deeply defiant, from their non-conformity to a single genre to his often political lyrics. Seeing things like that motivates me to go on.” It’s no surprise that his music has found a home at demonstrations, himself previously calling it “protest music”. “That is one thing that really gives me a sense of happiness, pride and accomplishment. “Now is the time to rise up, teach and take our rightful place in the world.”Įven though Burna Boy has not been at the protests himself, his music has been, soundtracking resistance in places such as London, where a video of protesters dancing to his track “Ye” went viral. It brings hope that we're not hopeless people.” It all comes back to the idea of relearning and rebuilding. “It’s all fallen into place in this one year. “It is something that brings me so much joy to see, because this is something that couldn't have been accomplished in 20 or 30 years,” he says of the movement and the increased solidarity it has created among black people globally. As Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the world in response to police brutality in America, Burna Boy has watched from afar. The phrase “History is written by the victors” comes to mind, an adage that has been repeated and shared widely as Western society reckons with its pervasive problem with racism and reevaluates its past. At the end of the day, everyone was taught someone else's reality.” No one was taught any knowledge that actually teaches them about themselves. None of us were taught or ever given the knowledge that would actually help us. “There's no topic that you've actually been educated on. Everything we think we know is wrong, he insists.
BURNA BOY OUTSIDE ALBUM SONGS LIST FULL
The vibes are important, but it’s the education of his listeners that Burna Boy is most passionate about – or the reeducation, the process of unlearning and rediscovering what truly matters, that he believes is the key to unlocking our full potential. “He kind of just freestyled the song within an hour.” So, as Burna Boy himself puts it, from Twice As Tall you can “Expect Burna Boy to be doing what Burna Boy does: educating and bringing the vibes at the same time.” It was just us jamming.” It wasn’t long before Burna Boy was ready to get into the booth. Randy was on the keyboard, I was playing the bass and he was just vibesing the melody for an hour.
“I was like, ‘It’s the drugs,’ but it turned out to be way better than what we were originally doing. They were supposed to be working on another song, but Burna Boy and Valentine wanted to start fresh when things weren’t falling into place. We got in the studio, they hotboxed the room – I don’t even smoke, but it gets me intoxicated,” he says, laughing. Jae5 worked on Twice As Tall’s “Bank On It”, after collaborating with Burna Boy on his third album, Outside, and his features with J Hus and Dave, and recalls working on the track with him and Randy Valentine. More heavyweight features come in the form of Coldplay’s Chris Martin on the impassioned, reggae-influenced track “Monsters You Made”, but producers such as LeriQ, Telz, P2J and London’s own Jae5 have ensured the Afro-fusion flavour still runs through. Despite the external input, his sound hasn’t changed since last year’s astronomically successful African Giant.
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