Burna Boy’s African Giant is Good Work but is the Title Befitting?
Iyke Bede
No doubt, Burna Boy’s bravura at expressing his artistry has earned him a place in the stars. This distinguishing factor sets him apart from his contemporaries in a similar manner when compared to afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. For his recent album, ‘African Giant’, he samples the latter on a handful of tracks. While leaning on the already designed template, he breaks new ground in the international markets with his musical style.
Released on Friday, July 26, 2019, the 19-track set (skit inclusive) is one of this year’s most anticipated albums. With the ‘African Giant’ moniker, the album title did not come much as a surprise to his core fans. Arguably, the title was hinted in January this year when he expressed dismay for Coachella’s hierarchy play with fonts — a situation where less impactful acts are printed in smaller fonts with those considered ‘big acts’ printed in fonts that can be seen from a mile away. At the time, his name appeared in small fonts signifying his minor role at the festival. Burna didn’t take this insignificance lightly. This lack of proper recognition prompted a social media update where he crowned himself an African giant, one not to be taken for granted. The ‘African Giant’ project samples a lot of afro centric elements, especially in the afro beats genre. Expectedly, it followed similar fashion like his past releases; only this time, more unapologetic. The album manages to chronicle a narrative of identity, ambition, activism and love. At one point, it is a source of giddiness. At another, serves as an awakening for personal growth and nation building, but more specifically, it embodies Africa tenets that help the local audience buy into his ideologies. Also, it saves a spot for the international audience to observe and reassess their perception of Africa.
The album suffers a bit in the area of instrumentation. On the course of rotation, many track bears semblance to each other, a factor that may nudge an average music lover to skip tracks. However, upon repeated listens, this flaw is blurred out.
Save for tracks like ‘On the Low’, ‘Killin Dem’, and ‘Gbona’ that have enjoyed massive airplay prior to the album’s release, one’s expectation of better songs may be dampened. Surprisingly, tracks like ‘African Giant’, ‘Destiny’, ‘Secret’ and ‘Omo’ are impressive offerings too. Even more impressive is the recently performed track on the Jimmy Kimmel Live Concert Series, ‘Anybody’. It has a ring to it that places it as the ‘next big thing’. Albeit, the album’s arrival to the music shores bearing old singles stands a chance to be a big gainer in sales following its release. Having the likes of Damian Marley, Angelique Kidjoe, Future, Jeremih, YG, Serani, and up-and-coming R&B sensation, Jorja Smith, is no small feat. It proves his songs’ wide reach globally. While there was a lot of fanfare around his international collaborations, the product of those unions isn’t the album’s saving grace. With many foreign acts, one would be forced to conclude that the album, in order to gain appeal to the global audience will adopt mainstream pop culture. Somehow, it manages to retain a good portion of its afro vibe, thus implying that Burna manned the creative direction to reflect his need of preserving his artistry and identity through these sonic landmarks.