burna boy - finally a rockstar

Burna Boy / amped illustration

This week in focus makes it exactly one year since Burna Boy released the most celebrated, internationally acclaimed Album out of Nigeria - Outside, in 2018. We look at this admirable journey of twelve months later, which drove Damini Ogulu to cement his spot amongst the hottest Superstars that are regarded as A-Listers in the Nigerian music industry.

Atlantic records took the risk of handing him a record deal, that was aimed at propelling him to become a crossover artiste; like the experiment been shown years before by RCA to the projects of his counterparts (Wizkid & Davido). The rollout of the body of work was quite different & impressive, and for the first time in his 7-8 years career, Burnaboy was equally ready, excited & willing to lose the higher percentage of his personality that makes him volatile and hindered the execution of the projected results set out by his handlers and backroom staff. So, it was all about the art & hard work now. And Burna Boy was ready to conquer the world in retrospect to how Nigerians would finally give him the much-needed respect he deserved. He set out majorly with the release of the first single on the album Heaven’s Gate (feat. Lily Allen, to actual superstardom and the accorded bragging rights.

The vibrant & energetic young man was not only a force to be reckoned with last year, but he had the biggest song out of his home country, the best album and at a point became the only competition to the current suspects of the current Afro pop era in Wizkid and Davido, and the amazing part of it was that he wasn’t even a Pop sensation. He was just doing what he was comfortable with, in his own form of Neo-Afrobeat genre & movement. The content of such movement, became bops and got the people going, to show love to this beaming Rockstar. The excellent singles followed suit as he created the infamous Producer & Recording artiste Synergy, when he teamed up with Kel-P to create an unforeseen body of work that was made up of about 12 songs with records that can fade out the tracks off the Atlantic records studio album. The rare talent was finally recognized, celebrated by many and Burna Boy owned the final months of 2018.

There’s arguably no formula to this music thing, if it’s going to work from the onset, the signs will always be there. Damini was the orchestrator of the bumps he had on the come up with his problematic persona. It is however, the best feeling to identify your mistakes and stay grounded to get the best out of your input. He finally admitted to the wrongs and did what was necessary, for all the hard work he put in, from the release of his Burn Series Mixtapes, Pre-Aristokrat Era released albums to going independent and now. It was time for the rest of Nigeria to catchup to this living legend, for what he is worth and how golden his entire discography is.

The gatekeepers finally gave him the much-needed spot beside the Famous Two, which patiently took seven years to come to light. It’s January 2019, the much-awaited glory of awards are finally in the bag, but marking the first fruit of this incredible journey of “12 months” is catching the eyes of Premium Beer Company “Star Lager” to hand him a mouthwatering endorsement deal as the pioneer Brand Ambassador of their establishment.