That kind of love/hate feeling often explains how the self-proclaimed “African Giant” feels about his country and his continent at large. Most recently, CNN interviewed Burnt Boy twice over a period of four weeks for an episode of African Voice Changemakers.
He makes it clear from the start that he doesn’t like to talk much, at least in English. Most of his answers are concise and sometimes evasive – but one of the areas he expands on is his dream that someday there will be an Africa.
“It’s just a wish, maybe a distant wish,” says Burn Boy, as he sits with his arms crossed in a room adjacent to a soundstage in Los Angeles, where he and his band will be attending a concert the next day. are playing. Rehearsal for the program. “I wish we had passports,” he says, which would have made it easier for Africans to travel outside the continent. “I wish we were treated like one United States, as America is … (suppose) me and you [referring to the American producer] Whether to go to Spain or go somewhere on a commercial flight – let’s see who comes first.”
Anyone familiar with Burn Boy’s music (and may understand the mix of Nigerian dialects he often uses in his songs) will be familiar with his stance on the continent. Many of his songs contain Afro-centric messages, such as the song “Another Story”, which tells of how Nigeria was colonized by the British.
‘United Africa’
The 30-year-old believes that African countries can get the respect they are looking for if they join together. According to him, “The way it is going, it cannot be achieved… We have been falling for a long time, so why not try something new?”
“Where do we get the information that these people are tyrants or something?” he asks. “They very well could be. I don’t know. I wasn’t there. But I do know that these people had these ideas, these people at least tried to do something that would benefit the whole of Africa.” Yes, unlike all the leaders of today.”
an unexpected invitation
Burn Boy never shied away from criticizing along those lines. Which is why he was caught off-guard when he received an invitation from the governor of Rivers State, Nigeria, to be honored in Port Harcourt, the city of his birth. “Of course I was surprised—most of my songs are against the government,” Burna Boy says during our second interview, sounding a little more comfortable sitting in a house in the Los Angeles hills. “You know how they say a prophet is never celebrated in his house? I broke that curse right there, right?” He joins with laughter.
It ended up as a massive homecoming. People flooded the streets of Port Harcourt as his convoy drove from the airport to a government building, where Burna Boy addressed the governor and other state officials.
Perhaps surprisingly for the artist, always outspoken and proudly anti-establishment, official recognition marked a high point in his career.
“Really, I’m not going to follow through on any of this,” Burna Boy said.
“This is the first time I have been in any situation like this or in a government house, so please forgive me for not understanding it,” he told them. “I really appreciate being here and it’s probably the greatest honor I’ve been given since I was born, because it’s one thing to win a Grammy and be appreciated around the world, and then it’s another to be loved.” Is.” It’s about your house.
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