Damini Ogulu, known by his stage name Burna Boy, an acclaimed international performer in the realms of Afrobeats and Dancehall, has voiced his discontent over what he perceives as insufficient recognition from his fellow Nigerians.
Attributing it to his distinctive vocal style, he contends that his compatriots don’t consider him on par with American music legends.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Burna Boy highlighted how emerging American rappers often receive more acclaim than him in Nigeria, prompting him to address this in his upcoming album, titled “I Told Them…”.
The self-proclaimed “African Giant” observed that American songs once dominated Nigerian media playlists, but the rise of afrobeats has since shifted this landscape.
Burna Boy expressed, “To this day, there’s many Nigerians who can tell you an American rapper who just started their career, and they’ll say they’re bigger than Burna Boy. They don’t understand it. They’ll say, ‘There’s no way someone who talks like me, can even be on the same level as an American artist.”