- Recall that Burna Boy had in 2023 said Afrobeats has no lyrical depth or substance and distanced himself from the genre.
Nigerian singer, Burna Boy, has apologised for the denigrating remarks he made about Afrobeats, Nigeria’s most popular music genre.
Recall that Burna Boy had in 2023 said Afrobeats has no lyrical depth or substance and distanced himself from the genre.
The remark sparked controversy as he came under fire from Nigerians who saw his utterance as an affront to the genre of music that catapulted him to stardom.
But in a recent interview with BBC’s Eddie Kadi, the ‘Ye’ crooner said the statement was born out of ignorance as he was oblivious to the significant and lofty place Afrobeats occupies in the African music landscape.
He stated that he didn’t realise at the time that African artists need Afrobeats as an umbrella genre to thrive.
He explained that he chose to call his style of music Afrofusion because he didn’t think he could fit into the Afrobeats category in the early days of his career.
The Grammy award winner stated that he has now realised that African artists have to be united and not divided along genres, to grow the continent’s music.
He apologised for his controversial remark, claiming he was in a “dark place mentally” when he made the statement.
He said, “I didn’t understand why people wanted my music to be inside one box. 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…
“I didn’t realise we needed an Afrobeats tag as an umbrella to go anywhere. I totally get it now and I apologise for that confusion”
