A week after pop singer, Wizkid, was featured in UK magazine, Fader, dancehall act, Burna Boy talks to the same publication about the politics in the music Industry, his kind of music and his greatest influences.
The Spaceship Entertainment act who just released his sophomore album, On a Spaceship revealed that he does not get awards because people with the powers in the industry do not really like him, while also adding that everything is politics.
According to him, “I don’t get awards because the powers that be don’t really like me. I’m not like everyone else; I won’t do what everyone else does. They don’t like it. Everything is really political and I’m not a very good politician. So I don’t really involve myself in all that. I just drop hit songs, and my fan base keeps increasing.
“It’s political, man. To be honest I don’t really feel like I’m a part of the industry”.
Even with the politics in the music industry, the ‘Soke’ singer affirms that he continues to make meaningful music that actually affects the country and the people.
Hear him: “How many people have dropped a song like ‘Soke’, stating the problems that’s actually going on in the country, and actually stepping up? And at the same time they’re dancing to it in the club but really and truly I’m actually telling you what the f**k is going on – money, no light, wata no dey flow”.
Speaking on his musical influences, Burna who performed wearing only underpants during Felabration 2015 at the Afrika Shrine in Lagos, Nigeria cited Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
“Everything I know I pretty much learned from Fela. Obviously there will never be another person like that. He used music the way music should be used. Music is spiritual. It’s a really spiritual thing. I’ve actually never picked up a pen and pad to write a song. It comes spiritually,” he said
The 24-year-old who was described as “the Nigerian singer putting Africa first” added that his music is a gift to the people.
“My music is a gift. It’s perceived as a gift to the people that love and understand it. I don’t really speak for myself alone; I speak for a bunch of people”.
Born Damini Ogulu, Burna Boy gained national recognition in 2012 after he released the hit single ‘Like to Party’.
While his trophy section might not be full like other artistes’, he is however the recipient of the 2013 Nigeria Entertainment Awards for Best New Act of the Year.
