Burna Boy apologises for distancing himself from Afrobeats

The Nigerian singer-songwriter is seen as a trailblazer who has helped to bring the genre to a global audience.

But he faced backlash over a 2023 Apple Music interview where he said it "lacks substance" and most artists in the space had "almost no real-life experiences."

Speaking to 1Xtra's Eddie Kadi, Burna says the reaction to his comments made him realize why it was important to have an umbrella term to advance the Afrobeats movement.

Burna, real name Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, made history in 2023 when he became the first African artist to headline a stadium show in the UK.

By that point, he already had a Grammy under his belt and was known for dominating the Official UK Afrobeats chart.

But, he says, at the time he didn't want his music, which he sees as a "mix of elements" to be defined by a single genre.

"I didn't understand why people wanted my music to be inside one box," he says.

"The way I saw it, if you just put everything into Afrobeats, you're now comparing Socrates to Kendrick Lamar because they both said two things that rhyme so they both must be rappers."

Burna says he was "in a dark place mentally" when he made the comments.

"I wasn't the happiest man in the world," he says.

He says the "division" his words caused helped him to "come to terms" with his opinion.

"I got the point of the Afrobeats tag in that moment," he says.

"I totally get it and I apologize for that confusion."

He says he's now content to wear the label, which he reads into on his new album, No Sign of Weakness, released last week.

"I learned to embrace the fact that I will always be different," he says.

"I'm not going to be the favorite but I'm going to be the best."