Entertainment

Burna Boy: African Giant Standing Twice As Tall

Published

4 years ago

March 19, 2021

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

The previous weekend was a classic one for the Nigerian entertainment world. It was there and then in far away Los Angeles, United States of America that Nigeria’s Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu aka Burna Boy, picked up a well deserved Grammy award as the event hosted its 63rd edition. The Grammy is traditionally billed as “music’s biggest night”.

The pleasure did not end with the award, but also saw Wizkid, winning with Beyonce for their efforts in the album Brown Skin Girl.

Burna Boy won the Best Global Music Album category while Wizkid won the Best Music Video for his song with Beyoncé; Brown Skin Girl, from Lion King: The Gift album.

Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy was also a winner on the song.

The Best Music Video award is given to the artist, video director and video producer.

Burna Boy, a nominee for a second consecutive year, won with his Twice As Tall album.

Born on July 2 1991 in Port Harcourt, Burna Boy, is a singer, songwriter, rapper, and dancer, and arguably Africa’s biggest and most successful artists at the moment.

Burna Boy had a humble upbringing where he was initiated into the world music early in life. Apart from his father, who managed a welding company, his grandfather, Benson Idonije, once managed Fela Kuti. His mother Bose Ogulu would later become his manager.

While growing up, the young Burna began making his own beats using FruityLoops even while he was attending Corona Secondary School in Agbara (Ogun State). He later relocated to London to further his studies. He studied Media Technology at the University of Sussex, and later Media Communications and Culture at Oxford Brookes University.

His impression in the music world started with the release in August 2013 of his debut studio album L.I.F.E, following his second mixtape Burn Identity (2011). 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”.

In 2012, his rating shot up with the release of “Like to Party”, the lead single from his debut studio album L.I.F.E (2013). In 2017, Burna Boy signed with Bad Habit/Atlantic Records in the United States and Warner Music Group internationally. His third studio album Outside marked his major-label debut.

Prior to carting away an award at the 2021 Grammys, Burna Boy had in 2019, won Best International Act at the 2019 BET Awards, and was announced as an Apple Music Up Next artist.

When his fourth studio album, African Giant, was released in July 2019, it won Album of the Year at the 2019 All Africa Music Awards, and was nominated for Best World Music Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. He was awarded the African Artist of the year at the 2020 VGMA’s. In 2020, his album Twice as Tall was nominated for the same category at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, making him the first Nigerian with back-to-back nominations at the Grammys.

And to cap it up, in 2021, he won the Grammy award for Best World Music Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards; obviously the first Nigerian to achieve such feat.

Burna Boy describes his music as Afro-fusion, a genre that blends Afrobeat, dancehall rhythms, reggae, American rap and R&B. August Brown of the Los Angeles Times said Burna Boy’s sound is “savvy and modern but undistracted by obvious crossover moves.”

As for his love life, it’s still unclear whether he is dating Stefflon Don or Jo Pearl, but he is a toast and an inspiration among the young.

Entertainment

Okoroji Promises Unforgettable COSON Week

Published

3 weeks ago

December 12, 2024

Admin

Former President of PMAN and now, Chairman of COSON, Chief Tony Okoroji, has declared that the COSON Week scheduled to take place between May 25 and May 31, 2025 will be truly unforgettable.

Chief Okoroji made the declaration in his address to the just concluded Annual General Meeting of Nigeria’s No 1 copyright collective management organization, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), at which the 2024 royalty distribution of a whopping =N=465.5 million was approved.

These are the very words of the well-known master planner and producer of remarkable events: “one of the many important decisions taken by the COSON Board at its meeting of November 6 was the approval for the hosting of a master-blaster edition of the iconic “COSON WEEK” in May 2025.

The Board also directed that every step should be taken immediately to begin the mobilization of all “mobilizables” to ensure that COSON WEEK 2025 is, in every way, unforgettable”.

Continuing, Chief Tony Okoroji, the creator of the famous Nigerian Music Awards that played host to Presidents, Governors, Ministers, Ambassadors and stars from around the world, said, “COSON Week is the flagship week of our great society, during which we roll out wall-to-wall high-profile events to entertain, to inform, to communicate, to educate and to project an unassailable brand.

COSON week 2025 will bring joy to many. We will deploy the events of COSON Week 2025 to tell Nigerians that despite the difficulties we face, all is not lost. We will use COSON Week 2025 to propagate the importance of creativity and entertainment to the economic and socio-political well-being of Nigeria”.

Chief Okoroji went on to say: “We are now at the planning stage of COSON Week 2025. We intend to mobilize all “mobilizables” as ordered by the Board. As we enter the new year, we will begin to unfold the different events, the venues and their specific attractions. One thing I can assure you is that COSON Week 2025 will be truly unforgettable. Please, fasten your seat belts!”.

Entertainment

Pop Singer Davido Congratulates Ghana’s President-elect, Mahama

Published

3 weeks ago

December 9, 2024

Eric

Famous musician, Davido, has congratulated John Dramani Mahama, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), on winning the December 7 elections.

In a post shared with his millions of followers on X, Davido, whose real name is David Adedeji Adeleke, celebrated the news with a simple yet joyful post.

Mahama, who was president of Ghana between July 2012 and January 2017 has also been congratulated by his main opposition Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia

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In a concession speech delivered on Sunday, Mr Bawumia, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, stated that internal data from his party indicates that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has secured victory in both the presidential and parliamentary polls.

“Let me say that the data from our own internal collation of the election results indicate that former President John Dramani Mahama has won the presidential election decisively,” Bawumia said.

Entertainment

Jay-Z Tops Forbes’ Greatest Rappers of All Time List

Published

4 weeks ago

December 5, 2024

Eric

Forbes has named American rapper, Sean Carter aka Jay-Z, as the greatest rapper of all time.

The publication recently released its 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time list, celebrating the best in the hip-hop world.

Jay-Z topped the list, followed by Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, J. Cole, and Tupac at numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively.

Drake, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Nas, and Eminem complete the top 10.

Also on the list are Andre 300 (11), The Notorious B.I.G (12), Missy Elliott (13), Chuck D (14), A$AP Rocky (15), Lil’ Kim (16), Tyler, the Creator (17), Snoop Dogg (18), Ghostface Killah (19) and Common (20).

Popular names in hip-hop like 50 Cent, Ice Cube, Juice WRLD, Lauryn Hill, Dr. Dre, Queen Latifah, Busta Rhymes, Future, Childish Gambino, Bad Bunny, Pusha T, Cardi B and Young Thug, rank at number 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 40, 46, 48 and 49, respectively.