After winning a Grammy for his album “African Giant” on March 15, which he dedicated to Africa, Afro-fusion singer Burna Boy was nominated for the 2021 BET Awards. The Nigerian continues to be successful.
The singer-songwriter Burna Boy does not stop to chain the successes. He already has eleven international prizes and more than a hundred minor trophies to his list. He was now on the front pages of the biggest newspapers around the world.
Last Thursday, the organizers of the BET Awards, a ceremony organized by Black Entertainment Television which recognizes the best African artists, announced the selection of Burna Boy for the second time. On April 10, he was shortlisted for the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) in the “African Artist of the Year” category.
Damini Ogulu, aka Burna Boy, has released five albums and eighteen singles since 2012. The last single, "23", was released on March 23. In this title, he pays tribute to basketball player Michael Jordan. The association of the former NBA star had helped Burna Boy, a teenager, to continue his studies abroad in London, reports Rolling Stone magazine.
The success of a 100% African musician
Burna Boy was born in 1991 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. He had started to compose his own music when he was young, mixing rap, dancehall and reggae. At 20, his mixtapes were already selling in Los Angeles. When he set foot there for the first time in 2011, it was clear that Burna Boy was not an artist like the others. He stayed in the United States for barely two weeks, the time to sign his contract with Atlantic Records. Burna Boy having preferred to make round trips between Abuja and London.
His afro-fusion has evolved a lot since his first album. But since its inception, Burna Boy has made it a point of honor to remain authentic. And this despite the notoriety.
This hard worker stood out for the frequency of his musical releases and his discretion on the celebrity scene. After ten years of music, he won the Grammy Award in the category "Best International Musical Album" for his penultimate album, "African Giant".
Throughout his career, Burna Boy has been the spokesperson for the African community, and especially Nigerian, in the United Kingdom. His attachment to his African roots has remained intact and has made him a legend.
He is also part, along with Tekno, WizKid, Davido and Olamide, of a generation of Nigerian singers who have managed to achieve international success in recent years. And with his recent nomination, his second at the BET Awards, success is not about to soar for the afro-fusion star.