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Live Review: Burna Boy @ Wintrust Arena, Chicago – February 21st 2024

The Wintrust Arena in Chicago was set ablaze on Saturday night as Burna Boy, the Nigerian superstar, brought his African Giant Tour to the Windy City. Fans from all corners of the city flocked to the arena, eager to witness the Afrobeat sensation in action.

The night started with an electrifying performance by Nissi, who set the mood with a mix of afrobeats and dancehall tunes that had the crowd on their feet from the get-go. Her song selection and infectious energy warmed the audience for the main event.

As the clock struck 9 pm, the lights dimmed, and the arena erupted in cheers as Burna Boy made his grand entrance. Dressed in a vibrant Ankara outfit, he exuded charisma and confidence as he launched into his opening song, “Anybody,” setting the tone for the rest of the evening.

From chart-topping hits like “Ye” and “On the Low” to deeper cuts like “Gbona” and “Dangote,” Burna Boy delivered a diverse setlist that showcased his musical versatility and lyrical prowess. The crowd sang along to every word, creating an electric atmosphere that pulsed with energy and excitement.

Throughout the night, Burna Boy’s live band brought an extra layer of dynamism to the performance, infusing traditional African rhythms with modern sounds to create a truly immersive experience. The synergy between the musicians and the audience was palpable, transcending language and cultural barriers to unite everyone in a moment of musical euphoria.

As the concert drew to a close and Burna Boy took his final bow, the arena reverberated with applause and cheers, a testament to the artist’s undeniable talent and magnetic stage presence. It was more than just a concert for fans in attendance – a celebration of African music and culture, a night filled with joy, unity, and unforgettable memories.

In conclusion, Burna Boy’s concert at Wintrust Arena was a triumph of Afrobeat music and a testament to the artist’s status as a global icon. With his infectious energy, powerful vocals, and magnetic stage presence, Burna Boy delivered a performance that will be etched in fans’ minds for years.

Photos © Keeton Robinson

© Keeton Robinson - Burna Boy @ Wintrust Arena, Chicago - February 21st 2024

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The ‘African Giant’ Challenging Musical Boundaries

With a new album, a solo track on Beyoncé’s Lion King compilation, and a global fan base, Burna Boy is pushing the limits imposed on artists from the continent.

I n January, when Coachella announced the lineup for its annual music festival in California, the Nigerian-born singer Burna Boy—one of only two African artists set to perform—quickly reacted to the placement of his name on the promotional materials . “I really appreciate you,” he wrote in an Instagram Story after the poster reveal. “But I don’t appreciate the way my name is written so small in your bill. I am an AFRICAN GIANT and will not be reduced to whatever that tiny writing means. Fix tings quick please.”

At the time, the Afro-fusion singer’s dramatic response to the perceived slight earned him some light criticism from those (fans included) who thought the Instagram post betrayed an outsized ego, even for a musician. But when Coachella didn’t amend the flyers, Burna Boy doubled down: His label sent press a reimagined festival poster—one that listed his name in place of all the other performers. Soon afterward, he announced the “African Giant” tour and the title of his forthcoming album—you guessed it— African Giant . (Onstage at Coachella in April, he eschewed the ire in favor of crowd-centric ebullience, especially when performing alongside his fellow Nigerian artist Mr Eazi.)

In person, a week before African Giant ’s release, Burna Boy carried himself with all the casual bravado his self-appointed nickname suggests. The singer, born Damini Ogulu, leaned back in his seat as we spoke, pausing often to smoke or flash a diamond-encrusted smile. When I asked about the choice to lean in to the grandiose moniker, he was adamant that the name points to something bigger than his own ego: “It’s just something that I consider a fact, [being] No. 1,” the singer said of his musical standing on the continent as we talked in Brooklyn. “An American artist can come to Africa and rap his English rap with his slangs that we don’t even get, but we say it.”

“Why didn’t he change his language to make us understand him better?” Burna asked me, then returned my response— Because Americans aren’t expected to adapt to different audiences —with a reply that I took to be more self-evident than arrogant: “So why do I have to?”

For all of the jokes about Burna’s braggadocio, the Coachella dustup does point to a larger issue: African artists, even those with followings the size of Burna’s and Eazi’s, are continually underestimated and mischaracterized by American music-industry gatekeepers. Coachella, long considered a launching pad for indie artists’ careers , boasts a remarkably diverse array of musicians each year. Even so, Burna and Eazi were among its first two Africa-based performers, 20 years into the festival’s existence. (The Nigerian singer Wizkid, for one, was slated to appear in 2018, but visa issues kept him from attending .) That delay echoes an industry-wide concern based chiefly on misconceptions about African music.

Burna’s music, for example, is most intuitively categorized as “Afro-fusion,” which encompasses a melange of influences including pop, R&B, dancehall, reggae, and Afrobeat, the latter genre pioneered by the late Nigerian legend Fela Kuti. The 28-year-old Burna often sings in Yoruba and welcomes comparisons to Kuti, whom he cites as an inspiration. (Sometimes he does this quite cheekily: On “Streets of Africa,” a stellar track from his 2018 mixtape, Outside , Burna calls himself “Fela Kuti with the hoes,” a reference to Kuti’s notorious womanizing.) The link between the two isn’t incidental: Burna’s grandfather managed the late singer, whose music—alongside American artists such as DMX, Jay-Z, and Wu-Tang Clan, and Jamaican artists such as Vybz Kartel and Buju Banton—soundtracked Burna’s early years in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

But in the West, Kuti’s Afrobeat has taken on a more nebulous afterlife. American and British music arbiters tend to lazily label much of the modern music emerging from Africa, and especially West Africa, “Afrobeats.” Though the umbrella term has made for easy categorization, it strips African artists of their musical distinctions. “When people say ‘Afrobeats,’ they’re talking about Nigerian pop music. It’s a name that was basically created just to take all of this different Nigerian music and package it together so that it could be digestible and distributable,” Tunde Ogundipe, Spotify’s global lead of African music and culture, told me earlier this week. “Those that coined the term, they don’t really care for accuracy or historical context.”

African Giant implicitly challenges the limits imposed on artists from the continent. Burna’s most cohesive and expansive record to date, African Giant is musically diverse and narratively challenging. It includes features from frequent collaborators such as the 24-year-old Nigerian rapper Zlatan, while placing Burna solidly within a long African musical legacy. The album’s most notable feature, for instance, is from Angélique Kidjo, the 59-year-old Beninese American singer who’s been called “Africa’s premier diva.”

“Different,” the African Giant track on which Kidjo sings, also includes a verse from the reggae exemplar Damian Marley. Still, it was the Kidjo feature that exhilarated Burna. “That’s really the one person where it’s like I personally sought [her] out to make that happen. I looked. I’ve actually looked for her for years,” he said. “When I say years, I mean like 2011. Years .” When an A&R representative at Universal Music Group helped connect the two, the characteristically nonchalant Burna was beside himself: “She’s the first person I’ve spoken to on the phone and I was almost shaking … It’s a big honor to me.”

T he singer’s early years in southern Nigeria were fraught, characterized by what he often glibly categorizes as “street culture.” It’s a shorthand for any number of wayward behaviors (including some run-ins with the law), but his wins feel hard-earned. Nothing about his rise is, as Western publications have erroneously labeled it, a “surprise.”

Outside Nigeria and the continent, Burna’s music first made waves in the United Kingdom, which boasts a large Nigerian and Afro-diasporic population. It’s become a second home to Burna, who resides in London. The U.K. is where his debut studio album, 2013’s L.I.F.E. ( Leaving an Impact for Eternity ), and its energetic single, “Like to Party,” first found a broad audience. In the years since, he’s produced music at a prolific rate, spending countless nights (always nights, he specified to me, laughing at his inability to wake up early) in the studio.

His next two records—2015’s On a Spaceship and 2016’s Redemption —showcased an artist well aware of his lyrical prowess and marketability. With 2018’s Outside , Burna established himself as a formidable musical peer, collaborating with artists such as J Hus and Lily Allen. His dedication to various dimensions of his craft is clear, too: “Ye,” for example, is an eminently sing-along-friendly track that also cleverly positions Burna as an inheritor of homegrown musical genius. At one point, referencing the dreadlocks that fall over his face, he observes people “calling me Lagbaja,” the famed Afrobeat musician who performed in masks.

Lagbaja, like Kuti, looms large over Burna, whose turn toward social storytelling on African Giant draws largely from the lessons of his childhood. “My grandfather had a statue of a fist in the middle of the house, so I had to grow up to that,” he said with a laugh. “He kinda made me dig more into the history of where I come from and all of that.” Of the role music played in that extracurricular education, he noted that sociopolitical change and artistic production have often been symbiotic endeavors: “When something happens in Africa, an artist will sing about it and stuff. We have all the records; we have everything. Free Mandela records and all that.”

On African Giant tracks such as the M.anifest-assisted “Another Story,” which begins with a radio dispatch explaining Nigeria’s colonial history, Burna readily steps into the role of national storyteller. “I’m 28 years old. In my country, that’s considered very young. It’s almost like the youth don’t matter to the up-and-ups,” he said, referring to the nation’s elders. He wants to infuse his music with lessons about the past in part because, as he told me, “everybody that’s in power has been there since we gained independence in 1960.” He continued: “Why would you blame the youth for not knowing certain history? You can’t blame them or call them dumb [when the elders keep the history to themselves] … As they say, knowledge is power. So I just felt the need to kinda let people of my age group and younger in on some little history that I am [pretty] sure that almost 90 percent of us have no clue about.”

H ours after we spoke, Burna took the stage a few miles over, at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. In front of several thousand people, he sang and danced with an energy that appeared unaffected by the punishing heat. Summarizing his onstage magnetism is difficult, but Burna himself managed to. At one point, he asked the crowd who the “real lion king” was, a cocky reference to the release that very day of the CGI remake of the film—and to the fact that he has a song, the only solo song by an African performer, on the Beyoncé-curated album that accompanies the movie .

Watching him perform, hypnotizing concertgoers with almost impossible ease, I was reminded of what he’d said to me earlier: “Going onstage—that’s my joy. You know like when you’re in school and you’re just waiting for the bell to go off so you can leave the class and go and play outside? That’s me in life.”

That exuberance infuses African Giant , too. The album incorporates a potent emphasis on national record-keeping while maintaining the sultry, atmospheric quality that Burna’s early records established. Tucked among odes to Nigerian defiance, for example, African Giant includes a standout collaboration with the Jamaican dancehall artist Serani and the American R&B singer Jeremih, and a woozy R&B bop with the British singer Jorja Smith. The project showcases Burna at his strongest: versatile, melodic, and confident. It’s the product of a musician who’s ready to be taken seriously beyond his core demographic without sacrificing the influences that shaped him.

African Giant also includes collaborations with two mega-popular American rappers, the Los Angeles–bred YG and the Atlanta phenom Future. Listening to the tracks, it’s hard not to think about the speech Burna’s mother, Bose Ogulu, gave after he won Best International Act (an admittedly dubious category) at the BET Awards earlier this year. Accepting the accolade in his stead, “Mama Burna” drew a direct through line from Burna’s music to that of the other artists in the room. “Thank you very much, BET. Thank you, Africa, because that is the constituency for which we got noticed in the first place,” she said. “And the message from Burna, I believe, would be that every black person should please remember that you were Africans before you became anything else.” (Burna samples her speech on “Spiritual,” the album’s final track. African Giant literally ends with her words.)

For Burna, a rapidly expanding platform in the United States and Europe has meant not just commercial success, but also an opportunity to highlight the connective tissue that spans varying genres of black music. He’s ready to collaborate with the Jamaican reggae singer Koffee , who covered “Ye” with near-perfect Yoruba tonality—and whom he called his “spiritual little sister” when we spoke. He mused that he’s excited about “the reconnection of the black race.” The ambition is a lofty one, but Burna feels it all coming together. Or as he said about having Future and YG on tracks that signal a distinctly Nigerian sound, “It’s almost like bringing my brothers home.”

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Burna Boy Announces “The African Giant Returns Tour”

Burna Boy has announced plans for a major headline tour. “The African Giant Returns Tour” begins August 9th at Rebel in Toronto and then travels through San Francisco, plus additional international dates. In addition, the Nigerian Afro-fusion singer and songwriter – whose just-wrapped “African Giant Tour” saw him light up Coachella with a fiery big band live set – will be among the headline acts performing at the upcoming Interswitch One Africa Music Fest, set for August 10th at Brooklyn, NY’s Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk.

Burna Boy released his new single ‘Anybody’ Friday, June 14th. In this song, we see his trademark display of star energy, literally and figuratively. In what may be the most personal song we have heard from the afrofusion artist in recent months, ‘Anybody’ addresses respect, growth, reputation, and, more importantly, recognizing who you are and taking charge. The music comes from a place deep within the artiste, chronicling his journey to where he is today, while addressing paying his dues and rightly so.

A 2019 BET Award nominee for “Best International Act,” Burna Boy is among contemporary African music’s brightest stars and creator of an enigmatic new genre he simply dubs “Afrofusion.” Born Damini Ogulu in Port Harcourt City, Nigeria, the gifted singer-songwriter has released a long series of EPs, singles, mixtapes, and albums including 2018’s extraordinary OUTSIDE. The award-winning collection proved Burna Boy’s U.S. breakthrough, debuting at #3 on Billboard’s “Reggae Albums” chart, fueled in part by the blockbuster single/video, “Ye.”

BURNA BOY – THE AFRICAN GIANT RETURNS TOUR 2019

AUGUST 9 – Toronto, ON – Rebel 11 – Montreal, QC – L’Olympia 16 – Edmonton, AB – Union Hall 17 – Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre 28 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues 29 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern

SEPTEMBER 4 – Denver, CO – Summit 8 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues 10 – Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theatre 13 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts 15 – Washington, DC – The Fillmore Silver Spring 20 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore

OCTOBER 20 – Brussels – Palais 12 24 – Amsterdam – AFAS Live

NOVEMBER 3 – Wembley – The SSE Arena 6 – Manchester – Albert Hall 9 – Leicester – O2 Academy

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Burna Boy Announces African Giant Tour

The announcement that Burna Boy and Mr Eazi would take their talents to Coachella, was followed by a rant everyone now considers laughable where Burna raised his concerns with his name being penned on the festival posters in small fonts. He continued to state his place as an African giant and demanded respect. Since then, the term African Giant has become the butt of many jokes. Burna continues to show he does have a sense of humor as he announces his American tour tagged the African Giant Tour.

While it looks like more dates will be added, Burna is currently scheduled to hit the stage eight times in seven different cities including Boston, New York City and San Francisco throughout April.

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African Giant Burna Boy Announces ‘Twice As Tall’ Tour Dates

Nigerian standout Burna Boy announces his “Twice As Tall” world tour set to kick off in May of this year.

The African Giant have had a successful 2019, with the release of his highly welcomed album African Gaint album, bagging Grammy Nominations and whole list of other achievements,and now he set to go on a world tour making stops at more than a few festivals, including the Broccoli City fest in Washington D.C, Philly’s Roots Picnic, Paris’ Lollapalooza, the UK’s Glastonbury, and even Montreal’s Osheaga set.

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CHECK OUT BURNA BOY TWICE AS TALL WORLD TOUR DATES

May 7th – Atlanta, GA – Roxy

May 9th – Washington, DC – Broccoli City Festival*

May 13th – Los Angeles, CA – Palladium

May 16th – San Francisco, CA – Masonic

May 18th – Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo

May 20th – Denver, CO – Summit

May 22nd – Minneapolis, MN – The Fillmore

May 23rd – Indianapolis, MN – Egyptian Room

May 28th – Boston, MA – House of Blues

May 29th – New York, NY – Coney Island Amphitheater

May 30th – Philadelphia, PA – Roots Picnic*

May 31st – Cincinnati, OH – Bogarts

June 3rd – Miami, FL – Fillmore

June 6th – Houston, TX – NRG Arena

June 7th – Dallas, TX – South Side Ballroom

June 28th – Somerset, UK – Glastonbury Festival

June 30th – Oslo, Norway – Kadetten Festival

July 2nd – Belfort, France – Les Eurockeennee Festival

July 3rd – Ericeira, Portugal – Sumol Summer Festival

July 4th – London, UK – Wireless Festival

July 10th – Rotterdam, Netherlands – North See Jazz

July 12th – Liege, Belgium – Les Aredentes

July 16th – Bern, Switzerland – Gurten Festival

July 18th – Ferropolis, Germany – Melt Festival

July 18th – Almere, Netherlands – Oh My Festival

July 19th – Paris, France – Lollapalooza

July 31st – Montreal, Canada – Osheaga Festival

August 15th – Gothenburg, Sweden – Way Out West

August 29th – Antwerp, Belgium – Fire Is Gold

August 30th – Oberhausen, Germany – Hype Festival

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Rapper Snow Billy Claims Legendary DJ Kay Slay Died Of AIDS

DJ Kay Slay Allegedly Died Of AIDS

A former friend of DJ Kay Slay is spreading a very disturbing rumor about him – saying that he knows what truly killed the legendary NYC DJ. This former friend is telling people on Clubhouse that Kay Slay “died of AIDS.”

Snow Billy, is a former friend of Kay Slay and NYC rapper who once managed Tekashi 6ix9ine. He went on Clubhouse yesterday and told his listeners, “DJ/rapper Kay Slay had full blown AIDS.”

Officially, Kay Slay’s family released a statement at the time of his death – saying that the legendary DJ passed away after a long bout of Covid-19. The family did not reveal any other comorbidity that may have contributed to his death.

We are not able to confirm the veracity of Snow Billy’s statements – and it doesn’t appear that he has any evidence to back up his claims either.

But even without any evidence, Snow Billy’s ‘AIDS’ rumor is spreading like wildfire all over social media.

Listen to the hundreds of people on Clubhouse discussing the rumor that Snow Billy started. We’re not posting the audio here, because it contains a lot of bad language, and many questionable assertions.

Texas Man Punched In The Face After Telling Child To Be Quiet At A Restaurant

<>Man Punched In The Face After Telling Child To Be Quiet At A Restaurant

According to reports gathered A Texas man was punched in the face by a parent after he reportedly told their child to “be quiet” at a taco restaurant.

The Brownsville Police Department is currently searching for a man who punched the reported victim on Easter Sunday at the Taco de Marcelos restaurant.

In a statement, police said: “the male subject got up from the table and started assaulting another customer. The male subject then exited the location and left the area.”

“The only other detail we can release is that the victim told the suspect’s child to be quiet because they were trying to eat. And the subject got mad and went over there and started punching the victim.”

The suspect is reportedly still on the loose and no one has come forward with his identity

Investigator Martin Sandoval said the victim had “a couple of bruises” but appeared to be fine despite the unexpected attack. In a video clip provided by police, the suspect appears to be a white male wearing a red T-shirt, black shorts, and sneakers.

However, the public has not reached out to the police about the suspect’s identity.

DaBaby “Shot Home Intruder in the Leg” at North Carolina Estate

According to reports circulating the internet, there was a shooting at DaBaby’s estate in North Carolina earlier today and DaBaby was home when the incident happened.

Around 7:45 p.m. on April 14th, Troutman Police officers went to the home on Stillwater Road after receiving a call about a shooting at the rapper’s estate. When officers arrived, they found a person with a gunshot wound that was not life-threatening to their “lower extremities,” Troutman Police Chief Josh Watson told  The Charlotte Observer.

DaBaby was inside the home at the time of the shooting, Watson said, adding that the person was shot on the football field outside of the home. The identity of the injured person was not revealed.

TMZ now reports citing law enforcement sources that DaBaby was the one who shot the intruder. The rapper reportedly exchanged words with the person and soon after shot him in the leg. DaBaby then called 911 and has been cooperative with cops.

WSOC TV reports that someone called 911 and told the dispatcher, “I shot him in his leg.”

“OK. And why did you do that?” the dispatcher asked.

“He’s trespassing on my property,” the man told the dispatcher. “(Inaudible) about my name. I don’t know what he’s here for. What he’s here to take. What he’s here to do. He’s neutralized until you guys get here.”

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• Angélique Kidjo at the South Bank Centre
• Yemi Alade performs at Iconic Le Trianon
• African Giant
• Starboy Fest takes Afrobeat shooting out of this world
• Wizkid headlines the Royal Albert Hall’s first Afrobeats concert
• The Savage Tour
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• Burna boy shuts down the o2 arena uk
• Davido at the O2 Arena
• Wizkid at AfroRepublik
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• Human Radio Concert
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• Behind the Scenes
• Sounds of Africa Exhibitions

Burnaboy The African Giant Tour

Over 12,500 music lovers were thrilled to the eccentric performance of the African Giant, Burna Boy at the SSE Wembley Arena in London.

Hosted by Nigerian comedian, Basketmouth, the African Giant Tour Returns, which was held on Sunday, November 3rd, 2019 was a sold-out epoch concert.

However, In a true Burna Boy’s fashion, his entrance on stage left fans on tenterhooks. Burna emerged from the jaws of a 20-foot gorilla to a nostalgic Fuji instrumental blend of Yoruba sounds, eliciting loud cheers from the crowd.

Futhermore, He was lifted out with a harness and glided 20 feet high over the audience to his opening track, African Giant.

The ‘Dangote’ crooner treated his fans to a catalog of his hit songs, and fans had a good time singing along, creating a charged atmosphere with an energy that matched Burna’s amazing performances.

Moreover, His performances were aided by his 7-man band, ‘The Outsiders’, his choir, ‘Burna’s Angels’ (dressed in all-white trendy outfits) and an 8-piece string orchestra.   Read more

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African Giant

Best New Music

By Sheldon Pearce

Rap / Pop/R&B

August 1, 2019

The music spread across West Africa’s many cultures have been frequently miscategorized, lumped together under the racist “world music” banner, or altogether ignored. There are still mix-ups surrounding Fela Kuti ’s Afrobeat and the current umbrella pop genre Afrobeats. Somewhere in between the not-so-ambiguous space of that “s” is Nigerian cross-pollinator Burna Boy . His grandfather was Kuti’s manager, his dad introduced him to the music of deejay Super Cat and dancehall great Buju Banton when he was a kid, and a girl he liked at 10 gave him his first Joe CD, initiating a love of America R&B and subsequently rap. He is a musical omnivore who left Nigeria to live and learn in London but never strayed too far from home.

Burna Boy is one of West Africa’s brightest rising stars, and he has long been poised for a crossover moment here in the States, but his position on the Coachella billing earlier this year illustrated a disparity between who he is in Africa and who he is in America. “I am an AFRICAN GIANT and will not be reduced to whatever that tiny writing means,” he wrote on Instagram. The memo was loud and clear: Africa will not be marginalized. When his mother accepted, on his behalf, the award for BET’s Best International Act (an ill-defined category that reinforces just how noncommittal we are as a society about most non-white imported music), she reminded an audience full of black musicians that they are part of a larger whole: “The message from Burna, I believe, would be that every black person should please remember that you were Africans before you became anything else.”

This idea of tracing all blackness back to the wellspring is the crux of Burna Boy’s new album, African Giant ; his mother’s words, sampled from the BET speech, are the last ones spoken on the album. Burna’s compositions are all based in something he’s dubbed Afro-fusion—blending pop, American hip-hop and R&B, Jamaican dancehall, and hard UK rap with Nigerian music—and he puts Africa at the root of that expanding lineage while also pushing the more traditional sounds forward. The album is a splendid hour of jams, both personal and political, that never sacrifices its bewitching groove even when it’s dressing down corrupt officials. African Giant is more cohesive, more robust in sound, and significantly broader than his previous music. He siphons external sounds to enhance the shape and texture of his homegrown slappers.

Last year’s Outside made a play for Western audiences in the wake of Burna’s cameo on Drake ’s More Life . There’s still a sense of that here but the hybridist isn’t making any concessions for such audiences. The music reaches across the diaspora because his sound has a unifying power. It starts with Africa first, then extends outward. While he used English frequently before, here he sings primarily in Pidgin, Yoruba, and Igbo and pulls guests from all over into his distinctive polyrhythmic world: Nigeria’s Zlatan and Ghana’s M.anifest, Angélique Kidjo , reggae legend Damian Marley and dancehall singer Serani, Jorja Smith in the UK, across the Atlantic with Jeremih , YG , and Future . He described leading the latter two into Afro-fusion as “bringing my brothers home.”

This musical Garveyism produces two of African Giant ’s most massive moments. On “Show & Tell,” Burna meets Future halfway, exchanging tough talk as the flavor of his melodies seeps into the rapper’s Auto-Tune. The buoyant sway has all but taken hold when suddenly the song bottoms out into something darker and unpredictable. The Jeremih and Serani-assisted stunner “Secret” melts swaggering Naija pop into an R&B slow burner, the washed-out guitars rolling over Burna as he drifts into a refined falsetto.

Elsewhere, Burna is at his best either holding it down at home or tracing African influence beyond its shores. He trades blows with Zlatan on “Killing Dem,” each hyping up the other. He secured a guest appearance from premier African diva Angélique Kidjo on “Different” with Damian Marley, in which they sing about the similarities and disparities of black suffering. Burna and Marley’s verses mirror each other, structurally and melodically, rising and crashing, building to a surging Kidjo coda. In his lyrics, Burna uncovers how rampant corruption inspired personal study. “Differently intelligent … Different studying of my roots and origin/Tell my truth in melodies.”

While Burna Boy takes his position within the expansive and nuanced musical legacy of Africa, he probes Nigeria’s turbulent history. He can’t really be an African giant without speaking truth to power, after all, and he spends much of the album breaking down the narratives that have surrounded Nigeria since it gained independence in 1960. No sequence embodies this better than the two-pronged economic evaluation of “Wetin Man Go Do” and “Dangote”; the brutal nature of a life making ends meet is put shoulder-to-shoulder with the unrepentant drive of billionaires (the song is named after the Nigerian business tycoon Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa). If the Nigerian elite won’t stop amassing wealth, Burna suggests, then he can’t slow down in his pursuit of money either. He comes off both impressed by their appetites and anxiously aware of an expanding fiscal imbalance. In instances like these, Burna Boy juggles roles as an everyman, local griot, global ambassador, party-starter, and occasional badmon with ease.

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Album Review: ‘African Giant’ is the creative alignment of Burna Boy's journey

African Giant is effortless creative excellence from an artist in his element.

Creativity, imagination, evolution and growth are core parts of human personality as they are core parts of artistry.

Recommended articles.

These factors determine the differences in personality as they determine excellence/stages of artistry.

The Journey

Some artists peak early. Others come up and down throughout their careers. A few are late bloomers and a select ones - like Burna Boy - have undeniable talent, but they struggle to truly realize it until they cut the clutter. Initially, Burna struggled to justify why many rated him so highly, but he never stopped putting in the work.

Now, Burna Boy is like a cat with nine lives on the third of those nine lives. However, he never really died on each of his two previous lives. On the first of those two lives, he released his debut album, L.I.F.E before descending into an ocean of drama that hampered his progress. He didn’t die, he just remained ‘there.’

On the second of those lives, he released a few projects and set off on a path to self destruction. Again, he fought and survived. Now on his third life, he had to fight for it by keeping his emotion in check and putting that same emotion into the music - keeping the conversation about the music.

'Emotion' is an important trait to Burna Boy that has seen him become a 'combatant' and a 'survivor' throughout his career.

Emotion is why he lashed out at and combated fans at every turn. Emotion is why he reacted rashly to his fellow artists who criticized him. Emotion is also how he recognized how counter-productive that path was. Again, he combated that self-destructive tendency and again, he survived.

He released Outside. It was critically acclaimed as it was commercially successful. Still on his third cycle, Burna Boy has released his 7 th  project, African Giant.

The three traits of emotion, combative tendencies and survival carry greater meaning on African Giant and coexist on the album for topics addressed and the manner in which they are addressed. Together, they produce excellence and positivity.

Even on the infamy that inspired his album title, emotion made him combat Coachella. Again, he survived, but he also thrived. African Giant is now the title of his best creative curve. A successful tour is named the African Giant Tour and an excellent album is named African Giant. A different career level is heralded.

For the first time, Burna Boy brings these three major traits that have defined his career into one career-defining album. The difference this time is that Burna brings his fans into his world to learn about his inner workings could also help liberate them. Ergo, he unintentionally projects these three key traits as material to his audience.

On African Giant, emotions inspire topics of love and gratitude, while combative tendencies pique on activism and pan-Africanism. On his motions, Burna Boy also read out his manifesto on his hopes for his people - Africans.

He assumes the role of their activist and fights for more than self or career. He finds his higher calling which only showed traces on Outside. Equally, he delivers bangers.

Here is a review of African Giant;

Burna, the activist and social commentator 

No other song exemplifies Burna Boy as a combatant than ‘ Another Story’ which features Ghanaian rapper, M.anifest. The track opens up to the dark deal of 1900 , which saw Nigeria sold to the British Government for 865,000 Pounds Sterling by the Royal Niger Company - now known as Unilever.

Echoing the pain-filled rhetoric of Stereoman, Burna sings his pain like an angry combatant, “E dey pain me gah gah ooo…” Also singing about the lack of change since our independence in 1960, Burna talks about how colonialists warp history and tell idealist lies in place of a crooked history.

The combatant in Burna Boy rises up from the lo-fi production on title track, ‘ African Giant. ’ He begins by singing, “ Tell them Africa we don tire, so here comes the African giant. Plenty people don try am, you can’t test the African giant…”

It is both a call to arms and a cry for help that places Burna himself as the poster boy of the fight against oppression of all kinds. Some will call it megalomania, but in a continent lacking heroes and even willing protesters, it’s good to see someone rising up.

‘Wetin Man Go Do’ tows that line. But this time, it discusses a familiar tale to Burna - survival. Cut from the early 2000’s dancehall majesty, the beat houses Burna’s take of Nigerian inner-city struggles. He talks about parenting and dreams with a core pain felt through his voice.

‘Dangote’ documents the average Nigerian dreams of wealth and it is more social commentary than activism. With Kel P at the production helm, Burna Boy sings in first person through the eyes of the average Nigerian dreamer.

The electronic guitar riffs seem like Burna Boy’s equivalent of Fela’s saxophone. On a beat that could be mistaken for a regular club track, Burna talks about depth of corruption as a precursor to Nigerian suffering and oppression on ' Collateral Damage.' He sings “ We are our own problem ,” discusses police brutality and even name checks Alamieyeseigha.

On possibly the best song the best song on the album, Burna Boy underlines all negative shades to the word, ‘ Different ’ on reggae fusion. With the the help of legends, Damian Marley and Angelique Kidjo, Oluwaburna paints the the other side of ‘ideal’ that Nigeria is subjected to on a daily.

When Burna Boy  won the BET Award for Best International Act, his mom accepted the award on his behalf and read a resounding pan-African manifesto to black-folk all over the world. It resonated and garnered a choral endorsement in claps and shouts - the cry of an oppressed demographic. She reminded black-folk of its power and home.

The power of that message is reinforced. It’s not doom, gloom and fights for Burna Boy. ‘Spiritual’ saw him also celebrate the power of blackness. He sings, “ All my people spiritual…” Although we get an unexpected saunter to sex-ed talk.

‘Destiny’ is a tale of gratitude, but social commentary, nonetheless. Burna does not hold back, he attains a shade of the Nigerian dream and shows gratitude.

Burna, the lover boy

It is no news that Burna Boy found love in the form of beautiful, British rapper, Stefflon Don. African Giant witnesses Burna in his unfettered lover boy clothing. ‘ Omo’ is an ode to Steph, the woman who has called Burna Boy her husband. She’s also the woman Burna refuses to speak about and acts like a flustered teenager about.

One of the best songs on the album, ‘ Gum Body’ documents what might have been his first encounter with Stefflon Don. The R&B fusion/synth pop song features a wicked drum roll as well as a rude melodies. Let the record show that Jorja Smith took this song into another realm with what would ordinarily seem out-of-place. Well, it was not.

‘Secret’ is maybe a confirmation of Stefflon Don’s consistent statement that Burna is her husband as is first verse on ‘ Pull Up.’ It will never be more apparent than on the last line of Serani ’s hook. Make no mistake, the smash hit, ‘ On The Low ’ is a song about sex. What’s love without sex, right?

Burna Boy is good. His pen is a cloak that makes sex look like love.

Burna, the party starter

Who can blend politically charged chatters with emotion and party bangers? Not a lot of them. But one of them is Burna. ‘Anybody ’ is a vitriolic call of a no-nonsense giant enjoying his peak as he calls people to ‘Gbese!’ Even more importantly, Burna promises to break bottles if needs be.

If Jay Z raps that, “ F*** all this Shawn Carter s**t, N***a, Hov… ” to remind the cool cats of his more unsavoury traits on ' Bam, ' the final part of ‘ Anybody ’ is Burna's version of just that and so is ‘ This Side’ which majorly aims to use violence as a protective cloak.

The biggest Nigerian song of 2019 is the Zlatan- assisted ‘ Killin Dem .’ No, it is not a polemic on Nigerian politics. It is Nigerian song rich on street lingo and adlibs. This is the gbedu to cure your craze. ‘ Gbona ’ is self-appreciation that many will deem vain. But if you can’t be your own hypeman, who will?

First off, afrobeats doesn’t see this level of imagination and songwriting from its acts. Burna transcends that stereotype and breaks out of it with ease.

Ladies and gentlemen, Burna Boy has a sound. Before African Giant dropped, it was supported by six singles that seemed disjointed. Well, they’re not. When you listen to the album, you will realize one common denominator; a sonic cohesion to all the singles.

Yes, they’re different subgenres, but there’s a uniform sonic approach to all the beats and that’s where Burna currently finds himself. A purveyor of sonic cohesion above the mainstays of his generation. The sound is what I call ‘ Afrovibe fusion ,’ a mixture of Fela ’s afrobeat melodies, afrobeats, vibes, reggae and dancehall.

Even when Burna changes genres and beat pitches, the sound remains identifiable. As such, the production on African Giant is simply exceptional.

People will fault the project’s length, but Burna Boy carried it. The only track that sticks out is the questionable Future collab on ‘ Show and Tell.’ I wager that the album is this long because Burna Boy tried to cater to three markets; Africa, the UK and the US with the album broken down into three parts.

Some of the final few tracks seem tailored to America, and everything before track 17 are split between the UK and Africa. While the track list is bloated, it aided segues and transition. But topically, the positioning of ‘Destiny, ’ a song about gratitude sticks out - especially as it comes before ‘Spiritual,' a song about power.

Here is the truth, Burna Boy ’s African Giant is the best Nigerian album 2019 will see. It is difficult to see any Nigerian artist topping this album. The A&R is unparalleled.

This is the album people thought Outside was. However, it is also the perfection of the journey that Outside pioneered. The emotive undertone to this album stands outs. It is a balanced work of art from an artist at his creative zenith.

At the root of the album is a common emotion; love. That’s why Burna fights, that’s why he appreciates and that’s why he’s grateful. 

Ratings: /10

•   0-1.9: Flop

•   2.0-3.9: Near fall

•   4.0-5.9: Average

•   6.0-7.9: Victory

•   8.0-10: Champion

Pulse Rating: /10

Tracklist: 1.8/2

Content and Themes: 1.9/2

Production: 2/2

Enjoyability and Satisfaction: 1.9/2

Execution: 1.8/2

9.4 - Champion

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Sold Out: Burna Boy African Giant Tour

The African Giant returns to Manchester to start the UK leg of his African Giant Tour 2019 after selling Arenas in the US this year and the Brixton last year in grand style.

The Nigerian Afro-fusion singer and songwriter  – whose just wrapped-up “African Giant Tour in the US ” saw him light up Coachella with a fiery big band live set – will be among the headline acts performing at the upcoming Interswitch One Africa Music Fest, set for  August 10 th  at Brooklyn, NY’s Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk.

Burna Boy released “The African Giant Album” July 27th 2019 . We see his trademark display of star energy, literally and figuratively. In what may be the most personal album we have heard from the Afrofusion artist in recent years, ‘African Giant Album’ addresses respect, growth, reputation, and, more importantly, recognizing who you are and taking charge. The music comes from a place deep within the artiste, chronicling his journey to where he is today, while addressing paying his dues and rightly so.

A 2019 BET Award Winner for “Best International Act,” Burna Boy is among contemporary African music’s brightest stars and creator of an enigmatic new genre he simply dubs “Afrofusion.” Born Damini Ogulu in Port Harcourt City, Nigeria, the gifted singer-songwriter has released a long series of EPs, singles, mixtapes, and albums including 2018’s extraordinary OUTSIDE. The award-winning collection proved Burna Boy’s U.S. breakthrough, debuting at #3 on  Billboard ’s “Reggae Albums” chart, fueled in part by the blockbuster single/video, “Ye,”

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This diagram shows what happens during a total solar eclipse

• A total solar eclipse will be visible from Texas to Maine on Monday.
• This cosmic event occurs when the Earth, sun, and moon align perfectly.
• One diagram shows how a total solar eclipse works, and why it darkens the sky in the middle of the day.

A total solar eclipse will turn afternoon skies dark from Texas to Maine on Monday.

During the eclipse, the moon will cross between the Earth and the sun, completely blocking out the sun's light. If you're in the moon's shadow, the sky will go dark for about three to four minutes, depending on your location.

It's the climax of a cosmic dance between our planet , the moon, and the sun.

What causes a total solar eclipse

During a total solar eclipse, three key conditions happen at the same time: The moon is in the "new moon" phase; the moon crosses the plane of the Earth's orbit ; and the moon is at its closest point to Earth in its orbit.

When those conditions are just right, the Earth, sun, and moon line up. This diagram shows how that looks:

Then, if you're in the path of totality — which is basically the center of the moon's shadow, called the umbra — the moon appears to obscure the sun.

If you're in the penumbra — the outer region of the moon's shadow — you'll see a partial solar eclipse , where the moon appears to partially overlap the sun.

A total solar eclipse happens somewhere on Earth about every 18 months on average. It's rare for one to occur in any single place, though, because of the complex movements of the Earth and moon.

The moon orbits Earth every 29.5 days, while Earth has its own orbit around the sun. The moon's orbit is tilted about five degrees, which is large enough to keep its shadow off the Earth and the Earth's shadow off the moon most of the time.

There are two points — called nodes — where the moon's orbit crosses the Earth's plane. In the diagram above, the moon is lined up on a node.

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The moon aligns with the nodes and the sun about twice per year, which is how we get eclipses. A solar eclipse happens when the moon is between the Earth and sun. A lunar eclipse happens when the moon is on the other side of the Earth, farthest from the sun.

What the total solar eclipse will look like

In the path of totality on Monday, where the moon's umbra falls over Earth, the total solar eclipse will have 10 distinct phases , each with different amounts of the sun visible from the ground.

The phenomenon kicks off with what's called first contact, when the moon starts to pass across the sun. After about an hour, the moon will almost completely mask the sun, and you'll start to see a bright light radiate out of the sliver of remaining sun, known as the "diamond ring."

Then the moon will fully eclipse the sun, turning the sky dark in the middle of the day.

During totality only the sun's outermost atmosphere, called the corona, will be visible glowing around the dark disc of the moon.

After that, the moon will continue to travel across the sky to form another crescent. The eclipse ends when the moon ceases to cover the sun.

Types of solar eclipses

There are three types of solar eclipses .

Total solar eclipses, like this one, occur when the moon appears to completely cover the sun. If the moon only somewhat covers the sun, that's a partial eclipse . Many people who are near the path of totality, but not in it, on Monday will see a partial eclipse.

The third type, an annular eclipse , occurs when the moon is too far from Earth to fully block out the sun from our perspective. The outer edge of the sun remains visible as a bright ring around the moon.

A total solar eclipse is considered the most spectacular. Globally, only about a third of all solar eclipses are total.

The next total solar eclipse in the contiguous US will be in 2044.

How to watch the eclipse

If you plan to watch the eclipse, make sure you are wearing ISO-certified eclipse glasses . These are 1,000 times darker than regular sunglasses. Without them, staring at the sun could damage your eyes.

The only safe time to look at the eclipse without glasses is during totality.

Leanna Garfield and Anaele Pelisson contributed to an earlier version of this post .

Watch: Why the sun has two giant holes, and what that means for Earth

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