Burnaboy born Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu on the 2nd of July 1991 began his journey into becoming a global superstar that he is today in 2010, after he was involved in a gang-related stabbing in London that left one person dead. He was therefore tried as a minor and found guilty and sent to jail. But like all story that starts off bad, things always find a way to work out and in the case of Burnaboy, things were no different. After serving eleven months out of his sentence, Burnaboy was released on parole for good behaviour but he disregarded the terms of his parole and moved back to Nigeria in order to pursue his music interests, after which he dropped his debut song “life to party”, in 2013. The song was nominated “best R&B single” at the 2013 Headies award ceremony.
The afro-fusionist who started making music in a tree house in the pipelines of Port Harcourt in Nigeria since he was ten, doesn't care when and where he makes music, “wherever it comes it comes” he says. Though it is surprising to say that in Burnaboy's early youth, he didn't take any interest in the Afrobeat music that he sings today. The ‘ye’ crooner grew up fascinated by DMX, he also listened to naughty by nature, a group he idolized in his younger age to the point that he'd stand on top of tables in markets and different places singing naughty by nature.
According to Burnaboy's interview with breakfast club power in 2019, he said as he grew older, he started becoming in-tuned with who he is and his reality which is that; he is an African man, who is from Africa, lives in Africa and he had to connect to his home. Imbued with different cultures as boy who had travelled the world, burnaboy explored hip hop, R&B, dancehall and reggae(one that his father was particularly fond of) and afro-beats favored by his grandfather, who was the first manager to the afro-beat pioneer ‘Fela kuti’.
After exploring these genres, he made a mishmash of them which he calls an “afro-fusion”, what a grandiose of talent!. And so, with the help of LeriQ as a producer, burnaboy released his debut music “like to party” at the age of 22, marking his rise to fame as the song gained credibility from Nigerians who wondered “who is this kid!?”.
After recording and releasing four other singles, He released his first album L.I.F.E in 2013, in which he featured fellow artists in the likes of; Wizkid, Tuface Idibia(currently known as 2baba), Timaya, Olamide, M.I and Reminisce. The album drew people closer into appreciating Burnaboy's talents, as it was nominated for ‘Best Album of the Year’ at the 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards and was also placed at number 7 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart in August 2013.
In 2015, Burnaboy's local buzz became eminent as he quickly rose to the ranks of the most talked about artist in Nigeria especially after his second album release ‘on a spaceship’. Afterwards the afamed artist decided to part ways with both his record label and music producer, leriQ. The reasons for the separation are unknown but there are rumors that, it was due to burna Boy’s lifestyle and his mother’s deep involvement in his career but who could know for sure?. The ‘Ye’ crooner went on to release “Rock your body” and a couple other singles in 2017 under the production of ‘Juls’ as a producer. By 2018, burnaboy Aka oluwaburna had started gaining recognition globally after releasing the singles ‘Heaven's Gate’ aided by Lily Allen, which he followed up by dropping his third album ‘outside’ around the same year. But all this was just the beginning to Burnaboy's story.
The global superstar whose aim is to unite Africa through his music, performed at Coachella in the early hours of Monday, April 15, 2019, where he performed some of his hit tracks like; Ye, Dangote, Tonight, Soke, On The Low, and killin Dem, which he excited fans with his famous and impressive Zanku moves. Burnaboy never rests as he followed the performance with his fourth album ‘African Giant’ which he released around the same year. The album enlisted hit songs like; Anybody, Gbona, Dangote, Featured songs from YG and Future. ‘African Giant’ received lots of positive reviews and was nominated in the global music album category in the 62nd Grammy award ceremony.
Burnaboy's success as a global superstar was marked in 2021 when he won a Grammy for the ‘global music award’ with his fifth album ‘Twice as tall’ which he release during the quarantine and lockdown periods of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The album featured other artists; Youssou N'Dour, Souti sol, Chris martin, Stormzy and Naughty by Nature.
Burnaboy, has sure come a long way from the 19 year old who dropped out of college to make music in his home country. When asked by ‘BBC news Africa’ why it was important for him to make music in Nigeria despite the challenges, the global superstar replied saying “at the end of the day it is my home, the fact that I did it here doesn't mean that it was conducive -- if we had leadership that cared about the youths and certain infrastructures were in place then I wouldn't be winning a Grammy in 2020, I would have won it in 2013 or 2014” he says. “Not like I planned it, just that I knew I should stick to doing what I’m doing. It’s almost like climbing steps -- you keep going up”.
With the same goal in mind to unite nations with his music, Burnaboy aims to perform in a stadium in china. And that would be huge!!!.
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Hello @raybaby Thank you for sharing , keep posting quality contents on #campusconnect and Most importantly support and join #club5050 program .
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