by Demola Rewaju

And this is why Burna Boy excites me: he has a refreshing voice that stands out. He reminds me a lot of Dbanj when he came many years ago with a very strong music personality voice that stood him out on every track he sang but Burna is different from Dbanj: he has lyrics that go beyond everything we hear in the market today.

The first time I ever heard of him was about a year or two ago through one of my tush friends. He kept on singing this song that I would later find out was ‘Like to Party’, Burna’s signature tune that gave him a foothold in the overcrowded music industry that Nigeria has. I listened to the song later but could barely hear what he was saying – not a first for our artistes but whenever you manage to hear a phrase or a word, it’s usually mispronounced or part of some terrible lines.

Burna is different though: whenever you can hear what he’s saying, you know he’s making sense. By the time another artiste would sing the song to a soft rock/pop beat, we could hear more of what he was trying to say in the song. His follow-up ‘Tonight’ was huge – airplay on BET then he dropped ‘Run My Race’. Before he released his first album, he had got signed to a telecoms company as an ambassador and suddenly, everyone knew who Burna Boy was.

It’s rare to feature with Wizkid on a song and put your signature on it like the track was paper made for your autograph; that is exactly what Burna did on their song ‘Jah’s Love is Real’ – I could barely pick out Wizkid’s voice. Ever since hiphop heads went to town about how Qwon almost ‘killed’ Nas on that moment of silence song before Nas rallied in his second verse on the song, I’ve listened more intently for stuff like that. Wizkid has always managed to put himself on every track with much finality – you would always hear it was him. 9ice too could do it but by the time Versus came out, it was obvious he couldn’t hold his own against such a wide array of artistes and ended up sounding like each person he featured; Tiwa Savage gave him some leeway on the song she featured on and 9ice managed to hold his own with K1 de Ultimate on the track ‘Health is Wealth’ but fumbled seriously on most other tracks.

And this is why Burna Boy excites me: he has a refreshing voice that stands out. He reminds me a lot of Dbanj when he came many years ago with a very strong music personality voice that stood him out on every track he sang but Burna is different from Dbanj: he has lyrics that go beyond everything we hear in the market today. His style shows much planning – this is an artiste with a clear idea of where he wants to be and where he wants to go.

I still don’t know enough about him and I haven’t got his album just yet but it’s a matter of time before I review it here. For now though, this boy called Burna Boy looks promisingly different from his mates I’ve seen in recent times.

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