OPINION: Burna Boy, Wizkid and Nigeria

BY OLUSEGUN ADENIYI

It’s strange but I actually fell in love with Burna Boy before I even knew his name or what he does for a living. Stranger still is that I was attracted by his promotion of alcohol, which I don’t take. Okay, some of my friends would argue that Star Lager beer doesn’t fall into the category of alcohol because it’s a ‘beverage’. I won’t argue with that. Whenever the ‘shine shine, come to the brighter side’ advertisement featured in the course of the European Champions League football match television broadcast, I would smile and say to myself: I love this young man. Until I could match the face with the name and began paying attention to his international media, I actually thought he was from Nollywood!

I still cannot claim to be very familiar with his music (those who know me are quite aware I am of the Old School, more at home with Odolaye Aremu, Haruna Ishola, Christy Essien-Igbokwe, Salawatu Abeni, Sunny Okosun, Bongos Ikwue et al), but I make sure I read anything written about Burna Boy, as well as his interviews. I even follow his controversial duels in the toxic Nigerian social media landscape. I am aware that the song track, ‘Destiny’ from his 2019 album ‘African Giant’ was included in the playlist at the inauguration of the United States President Joe Biden in January.

Last October, TIME Magazine named him among the 2020 ‘Next Generation Leaders’.

Four months earlier in June 2020, he featured in ‘One World: Together at Home’—a benefit concert curated by Lady Gaga and put together by several artistes to support the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “savvy and modern but undistracted by obvious crossover moves”, the Grammy nomination sums up Burna Boy’s music as “seamlessly blending styles and genres and fearlessly fuelling the fire heating the melting pot of pop, Afrobeat, dancehall, reggae and more,” while his ‘Twice as Tall’ was extolled as “a masterclass in the vibe and hustle that have made Burna Boy an international musical force”. It therefore came as no surprise when last Sunday in the United States, he won his first Grammy in the ‘Best Global Music Album’ category.

I join millions of our people to congratulate the ‘African Giant’! It is even more heart-warming that he was not the only Nigerian who shined at the 63rd Grammy Awards. Wizkid also did. His duet song, ‘Brown Skin Girl’, with Beyonce won the ‘Best Music Video Award’.

Beyond the fact that I have on different occasions found myself ‘Pakurumo-ing’ while driving when the melodious track is played on radio, I can also not claim to be into Wizkid’s music. But as a student of the Nigerian entertainment industry, I know quite a bit about ‘Star Boy’ and others by following their stories in the media.

For a young man who chose his career path from age 11 with the ‘Glorious Five’, a group he co-founded with church friends, Wizkid has really done well. Not only is he one of the biggest names in African Music, he also boasts of no fewer than 4.7 monthly listeners on Spotify, with many local and international awards to his credit.

That the Nigerian music scene is replete with emerging global superstars is no longer in doubt. For instance, Davido is featured as a singing actor (appearing as himself) in the recently released American comedy, ‘Coming 2 America’, a sequel to the 1988 ‘Coming to America’ starring Eddie Murphy. The ‘Koroba’ song by Tiwa Savage is also featured in the same movie. And then you have Yemi Alade and other artistes who bestride the African continent, using their talent and creativity to project a more positive image of Nigeria.

In a recent piece, I wrote of the contradictions of a nation where military officers were heads of state, governors and federal ministers in their thirties and professionals were appointed federal permanent secretaries in their twenties. Yet people in those age brackets are now practically excluded from crucial decision making in all spheres of our national life. The achievements of both Burna Boy and Wizkid are therefore worthy of celebration because they are by dint of their personal efforts. At 29 and 30 respectively, either of the duo can claim to be a face of the new generation of Nigerian youth who excel despite all odds. Not failed ‘Ta ta ta’ governors who gallivant all over the place, claiming to be seeking the presidency as a Nigerian ‘youth’!

Meanwhile, there is a needless debate on social media about who is the first Nigerian to win a Grammy. Some give the record to the late Michael Babatunde Olatunji. The reputable drummer, who died in 2003, was part of the group whose album, ‘Planet Drum’, won the Grammy Award for ‘Best World Music Album’ in 1991—the year the award was first given. It is also on record that Olatunji left Nigeria in 1950 and was already at the time an established American, renowned for his literary works, including teaching. That of course does not diminish his Nigerianess but Burna Boy and Wizkid were ‘made in Nigeria’ before exporting their craft to the international stage.

We savour their achievement and that of other compatriots in different fields of human endeavour, including literature, science and technology. But we must interrogate why it is easier for our people to more easily excel as global citizens than within their local environment.

In fact, given the rate at which people of Nigerian descent are recognised and elected/appointed into important positions abroad, we need to look not only at the reward system for creativity in our country but also the recruitment criteria for leadership.

These are some of the things holding our country back from peace and prosperity. Bottom-line: We must begin to enthrone meritocracy by looking for qualities that transcend ethnicity, religion etc. so that the best of us can lead the rest of us, in the interest of all.