Burna Boy Adds Another BET Plaque To Award Kitty

Drops Wonderful, First Single Off Twice As Nice Album

Afro-fusion sensation, Damini Ogulu, better known as Burna Boy, again won the 2020 BET Award for Best International Act, making it his second time winning the category. Last year, he was nominated alongside Mr Eazi, AKA, Dave, Giggs, Dosseh and Aya Nakaruma.

Burna Boy, who was nominated this year alongside fellow Nigerian singer, Rema, beat the likes of Innoss’B (DR Congo), Sho Madjozi (South Africa), Stormzy (United Kingdom), Dave (United Kingdom), Ninho (France) and S.Pri Noir (France) to claim the highly coveted award.

This year’s awards, which held virtually at the L.A. Live, Los Angeles, United States, in the early hours of Monday, with American comedian, Amanda Seales, as host was due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was simulcast via CBS.

The ceremony paid tributes to Kobe Bryant, Little Richard and featured performances by Alicia Keys, Chloe x Halle and Megan Thee Stallion among others.

In his acceptance speech, Burna Boy spoke on African development, saying, “Second time and I appreciate it. I will like to use this opportunity to say that sometime around 1835, there was admission to turn the nation of Africa into a dominated nation. Now is the time to return and go back to the royalty that we were because in order for black lives to matter, Africa must matter.”

Meanwhile, the African Giant singer recently released a brand new vibe, titled Wonderful off his upcoming album, Twice As Nice. The new hit is a song that makes the listener proud to be black and African, as it engages from deep within.

Indeed African, the song reminds the listener that wherever you are, as you hustle and go about your business, when all goes wrong, you can always come back home and start all over again because home is where the heart is.

In the new offering, Burna goes poetic when he says the motherland is home, because ‘my mother is at home’ and home is where the family is.

Music no doubt is a language that transcends all code and barriers of country, region or continent. Hence, Africa is a continent of rhythm and sounds; of movement and synergy, hence this samba-sounding track has encapsulated these features that represent the pure African sound.

Burna Boy said, “Seeing the wonders of my music, interacting with people while touring makes me realise that I’m blessed that my music is universal, blessed that people react to my music whether they understand it or not.”

He continued: “The COVID-19 pandemic forcing people to stay home, when they didn’t plan for it, made me reflect on the wonder of just being home and being able to survive under such dire circumstances.”

The new single is available on all music platforms for streaming and download.

Born July 2, 1991 in the oil rich Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt, where he had attended a Montessori International School, Burna Boy moved to Corona High School, Agbara, Lagos, for his secondary school education.

He emerged on the Nigerian music space with his fusion of dancehall, reggae, Afrobeat, and pop in 2010 as one of Nigeria’s fastest rising stars, dropping his first record, Shobeedo (Freestyle) in 2011, which was followed shortly by Burn Notice and Burn Identity.

However, he came to the limelight in 2012, after releasing Like to Party (May 31, 2012), which video he subsequently released September 5, 2012 to the excitement of many music lovers. The video was shot by Squareball Media, and till date it is considered as Burna Boy’s breakout song/video.

He debut album, Leaving an Impact For Eternity (L.I.F.E) was released August 12, 2013 under Aristokrat Records, which he separated from in 2014. Eight months after parting ways with Aristocrat Records, precisely February 2015, he founded the record label, Spaceship Entertainment, where he released his second album On a Spaceship on November 25, 2015.

His seven-track extended play (EP) Redemption with lead single Pree Me was released in September 2016. In 2017, he pen a international deal with Bad Habit/Atlantic Records in the United States and Warner Music Group.

In January 2018, Burna Boy was featured on Sunshine Riptide, a track from Fall Out Boy’s seventh studio album MANIA (2018). The same year, he released his third studio album titled Outside on January 26.

A a mixtape, Outside consists mostly of Afrobeats, dancehall, reggae and road rap, featuring guest vocals from English musicians J Hus, Lily Allen and Mabel. It was supported by six singles: Rock Your Body, Streets of Africa, Koni Baje, Sekkle Down, Heaven’s Gate and Ye.

The year 2019 was a defining moment in Burna Boy’s career, as he won Best International Act at the 2019 BET Awards, and was announced as an Apple Music Up Next artiste.

His fourth studio album African Giant was released in July that year; it won Album of the Year at the 2019 All Africa Music Awards and was nominated for Best World Music Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.

He was announced alongside Mr Eazi on January 3 2019, as one of the artistes to perform at the 2019 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. He won four awards at the Soundcity MVP Awards Festival, including African Artiste of the Year, Listener’s Choice and Best Male MVP.

On March 21, 2019, Burna Boy released a four-track collaborative EP with Los Angeles-based electronic duo DJDS, titled Steel & Copper. With combine elements of dancehall, reggae, Afropop and trap, the EP blended Burna Boy’s upbeat melodies with DJDS’ slinky trap beats.

He won Best International Act at the 2019 BET Awards on June 24, 2019, and was announced in July that year as an Apple Music Up Next artiste. His inclusion into the program was accompanied by a Beats 1 interview with Julie Adenuga and a short documentary.

His fourth studio album African Giant, which he started recording in 2018, was released on July 26, 2019. The album was supported with singles like: Gbona, On the Low, Killin Dem, Dangote, Anybody and Pull Up.