Once again Weekly Music Commentary features another Nigerian artist. If you didn’t know before, by now you understand the African country continues to deliver artists who are thriving on the world stage. Burna Boy, definitely is one at the top of the list. The young singer, songwriter, rapper and dancer has enjoyed the rise of an eight year music career. A career that seems poised to continue to rise even more in the next few years. Featuring Burna Boy this week however, gives me an opportunity to write about his career, as well as his second Grammy nomination. There has been much conversation about the Grammy award nomination process with the announcements this year. This week we will look into the successful career of Burna Boy, as well as his two Grammy award nominations.
Damini Ogulu (Burna Boy) was born July 2, 1991 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. His father managed a welding company and his mother worked as a translator. His grandfather Benson Idonije once managed Fela Kuti. Ogulu grew up in southern Nigeria and began making his own beats using FruityLoops. For some of you reading out there who think FruityLoops is a breakfast cereal, allow me to explain what it is. FL Studio (until 2003 known as FruityLoops) is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by the Belgian company Image-Line. It uses the principle of repetitive looping in order to create music. I still use the program to record as it offers flexibility of instrumental and step recording. Utilized with other recording programs, I find FL Studio quite effective.
Burna Boy attended Corona Secondary School in Agbara and relocated to London to further his studies He later studied Media Technology at the University of Sussex, followed by Media Communications and Culture at Oxford Brookes University.
Burna Boy would began a professional recording career with a pair of mixtapes: Burn Notice and Burn Identity in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Those releases led to his debut album release in 2013 titled L.I.F.E. The album sold 40,000 copies on the first day of its release. Aristokrat Records later sold its marketing rights to Uba Pacific for ₦10 million. The album’s release was preceded by five singles: “Like to Party”, “Tonight”, “Always Love You”, “Run My Race” and “Yawa Dey”. L.I.F.E was produced entirely by Leriq and features guest artists such as 2face Idibia, M.I, Timaya, Olamide, Reminisce and Wizkid. Nigeria Entertainment Today ranked the album 10th on its list of the 12th Best Albums of 2013. The album’s music draws heavily from the music of Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade and Bob Marley.
It was no doubt at the very start Burna Boy had delivered a big hit. The young star also garnered much acclaim from music critics as well as a nomination from the Nigerian Entertainment Awards of 2014. In February 2015, he founded the record label Spaceship Entertainment eight months after parting ways with Aristocrat Records. Burna Boy released his second album On a Spaceship on November 25, 2015.
This period in Burna Boy’s career was significant because he would press ahead to become a mainstream artist. He was featured on “Sunshine Riptide”, a track from Fall Out Boy’s seventh studio album MANIA. He released his third studio album Outside on 26 January 26, 2018. Although the album consists mostly of Afrobeats, dancehall, reggae and road rap, it features guest vocals from English musicians J Hus, Lily Allen and Mabel.
Burna Boy’s fifth studio album, Twice as Tall, was released on 14 August 2020, executive produced by Diddy and Mama Burna Bose Ogulu. The album became his highest-charting project, debuting at number 1 on the Billboard 200. On The 24th of November 2020, Burna Boy Album ‘Twice As Tall’ was Nominated under the World Music Album category in the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards alongside other entertainers like Antibalas, Bebel Gilberto, Anoushka Shankar and Tianariwen. This is the second year in a row that the singer is getting a nomination in this category.
I can only imagine that Burna Boy is happy to have another album of music recognized by the music industry. His grandfather is very happy with the nomination. “I hope that this time, Burna Boy will clinch the Grammy. I feel encouraged and on top of the world. All the artistes in his category have their unique qualities but at the end of the day, one artiste must emerge the winner. I am hopeful that by the grace of God, it will be my grandson. It was his sister that informed me of the Grammy nomination. When we spoke on the phone, he called me a special name has for me and said, ‘We have made it again’. I then prayed for him.”
As happy as Burna Boy and his family are for gaining the nomination, there are many artists who are quite upset that they, or others they deemed worthy did not gain a nomination. I have talked with some who feel that the Grammy award process is very flawed. I feel that there’s a need for perspective.
If the Grammy’s are flawed, when did they become flawed? The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959, to honor and respect the musical accomplishments by performers for the year 1958. We are looking forward to the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards early next year. Throughout the years there have been numerous artists who have felt slighted that they did not receive an award or nomination. What does that mean?
Similar to the Oscars for motion pictures, the Grammy award nominations are voted on by members of the music industry. Media companies registered with the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and individual members of NARAS (artists and other professionals working in the industry who meet certain criteria) may enter recordings for consideration. Entries are made online and a physical copy of the work is sent to NARAS. Once a work is entered, reviewing sessions are held, involving more than 150 experts from the recording industry, to determine whether the work is entered in the correct category.
The resulting lists of eligible entries are circulated to Voting Members, each of whom may vote to nominate in the general fields (Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist) and in no more than nine out of 30 other fields on their ballots. The five recordings that earn the most votes in each category become the nominees, while in some categories (craft and specialized categories) there are review committees in place that determine the final 5 nominees. There may be more than five nominees if there is a tie in the nomination process.
One of the complaints about the Grammy process is a need to be more transparent. I can understand that. However, I can’t understand how the process can be more flawed than the others. I’m sure there is an amount of favoritism, but that is present in any award procedure.
I feel that the Grammy award is different because the votes come from members of the music industry. Other awards are based on sales or popularity among music fans. There is nothing wrong with those awards, but there is something special about being recognized by your peers. That’s one reason why Burna Boy and his family are excited. Another reason is they understand that the award pushes Burna Boy closer toward mainstream stardom.