Nigerians knock Burna Boy for ‘demarketing’ Nigeria, afrobeats

A popular singer, Damini Ogulu, aka Burna Boy, is not a stranger to controversies. As a matter of fact, some argue that it has become a second nature for him.

During the week, the Grammy Award-winner made the news again for the wrong reasons. In an interview with Zane Lowe of Apple Music, the singer stated that most Nigerian songs lacked substance. He had said, “You hear most Nigerian songs, or I’ll say African (songs)…I don’t even know what to say; Afrobeats, as people call it, is mostly about nothing. There is no substance to it. Nobody is talking about anything. It’s just an amazing time; but, at the end of the day, life is not an amazing time. No matter how nice of a time one is having now or had at some point, one is still going to face life. I feel music should (carry) the essence of the artiste. The artist is a person, who has good, bad and great days.”

However, his comments did not go down well with many who felt the singer was fond of speaking ill about Nigerians and their music.

A fan, Ochogwu Otobo, wrote on Facebook, “Pride goes before a fall. I won’t be surprised if I look around tomorrow and I can’t find Burna Boy.”

Lummy Hussy wrote, “Dear Burna Boy, what life is to you is not (what it is) to someone else. You cannot use your life to caption (sic) all other artistes. Life experiences differ and are relative.”

Another Facebook user, Oseni Okpanachi, wrote, “If you take music out of these artistes, what you will see is ignorance without dimension. The so called music they even make and brag about is nothing to write home about.”

An Instagram user, Khennyyappy wrote, “Typical Nigerian…rise to stardom and throw your people under the bus.”

Coded Pictures wrote, “Somebody should tell Burna that music has no rules. It is an art…very baseless argument.”

K Pumping wrote, “You don’t have to pull people down just because you feel you are great.”

OG Whyteish wrote, “I do not care about the whole interview, this dude just threw his whole nation under the bus, just so he could sound intelligent…”

Demo Uk wrote, “Which substance does his biggest song, ‘Ye’ have? Music is art. It can come in any form and appeal to different audiences.”

Meanwhile, this is not the first time the singer has been accused of being condescending towards Nigerians. Earlier in the year, the singer was roundly criticised for arriving late at his show in Lagos and insulting the sensibilities of guests who had waited hours for him to show up. While speaking on stage during the show, he had said, “I just showed up to show I still love you guys. If not for Seyi Vibes, I would have gone home. But, I’m still here with you all, even though you all said I killed someone at Cubana (nightclub), and you guys also said my mum danced for Fela. I still love you; that’s why I am here. If you don’t love me, God will punish you.”