A BRIEF BACKGROUND ON BURNA BOY
Someday around the month of June in 2012 I stumbled upon a song on radio that got my attention and changed my views about the Afro fusion genre (Afrobeats) of Nigeria. At the time I couldn't really point out the features or elements of the song that made it stand out from the different and numerous sounds of that period, but I just knew that it sounded different from the many other Afro fusion jams. It was like the beginning of a one-man musical renaissance in the Nigerian Afro fusion world. Maybe it was the vamping and highly-riverbed Rhodes organ, the very elementary bass line, the simple harmony or maybe it was just the liveliness and honesty (I can tell much about a singer from the tone of his voice) in the baritone voice of Damini Ogulu A.K.A Burna Boy. The song was “Like To Party”.
On the 31st of May, 2012 Burna Boy (detailed biography here on Wikipedia) stormed the Nigerian Music scene with his single “Like To Party” produced by Sony Music Entertainment-signed Eric Isaac Utere (LeriQ). I would label Burna Boy the master of the Afro fusion genre because of his one most important quality as a musician which is versatility -- in fusion, your greatest asset as a musician should be versatility. Burna Boy has the ability to fuse numerous kinds and forms of music into his own sound as an African musician. Apart from Afro fusion, another term that would best describe Burna Boy's kind of music is “Experimental” as he has experimented (I use "experimented" because he hardly sticks with them) with adding elements from music genres like Trap, Rap, EDM, Reggae, Ragga, Highlife, Fuji, Juju, Apala, Afrobeat and a host of music from other world cultures, to his sound (which is skeletonized by the Afrobeat style of Fela Kuti and the Jamaican Reggae and Ragga music). This fussing and integrating of numerous musical elements from various musical styles into his own musical style makes Burna Boy’s sound very irresistible, not only to the Nigerian music fans but music lovers world over who have stumbled upon Burna’'s music. Also the general diction of Burna Boy's music is gotten from the Nigerian pidgin English, the Yoruba language of western Nigeria and the Jamaican patois. This renders Burna’s music widely acceptable and I call him “King of Hybridity.”To have a first hand feel of Burna's sounds, take a listen to some of his songs, especially from the “Outside” album which I am going to try to review here. It is also worthy of note that Burna Boy's grandfather was the manager of the Afrobeat legend, Fela Kuti.
THE ALBUM
“Outside” is the sixth studio album by Burna Boy. It is a thirteen-tracker album with some very explicit lines. Burna samples Fela Kuti’s “Sorrow Tears And Blood” in the track “Ye”; and in some other tracks makes reference to Fela Kuti in his lyric which only testifies how much an influence Fela is to his sound and style of music. I would give a 7/10 score to this album in terms of liveness and danceability. The general audio quality and production is top notch and better than Burna Boy's previous albums (especially the first album). The production team adapts a rather simple approach to harmony in most of the recordings and this only allows the album to speak fluently even to the least sophisticated listener. The mixing and mastering is top notch both in terms of creativity and technicality. The vocal(s) sit perfectly well in all the mixes and I also commend Burna for the brilliant use and mastery of his baritone vocal as there is no case of very obvious pitch correction effects, which oftentimes kills the liveliness and feel of studio recorded music. The bass is treated just appropriately and the amount of reverb on the vocals is just enough to add more life to the music. The stereo is not excessively wide or thin, just well spread. The general sound of the album is clean.
Track 1: More Life
It was reported by the media that Burna Boy and Drake met in London and Drake shared his vision of collecting music from different parts of the world to create a playlist with Burna Boy. Burna immediately jumped on this opportunity and submitted five tracks (including “More Life”) to Drake. For some reasons only “More Life” made it to the playlist, even though it was used as an outro to the track “Get it Together” on that playlist. “More Life” is a 1 min 33 sec song which I assume Burna placed as number one in his album for the sole reason of communicating his most valuable asset which is his musical versatility. The jam is a moderate tempo jam, still danceable with very mild instrumental. The one beautiful thing about this song is the underneath brass instrument playing the exact same melody Burna is singing in the chorus section of the song. This adds more power and life to Burna’s vocals, also helps turn the melody of the chorus section of the song into a very memorable one and also brings independence to the instrumental (a quality most musical instrumentals lack), while also making it sit well with the vocals. Even without Burna Boy’s vocals, the instrumental can still function and communicate to listeners on its own because of the lyrical melody played by the brass instrument. This song is not suitable for listeners of all ages as there are some very explicit lines, but still a great jam for party and radio.
Track 2: City Vibration
If you've ever been to or researched about the cities in Nigeria, you would agree with me that Port Harcourt, Rivers State (Southern Nigeria) popularly called “PH City” or “Garden City” is one the biggest and busiest cities in the country, and arguably the second largest commercial hub, only after Lagos. The song “City Vibration” is an ode to PH city which also happens to be Burna Boy's birthplace and hometown. Burna talks about the ruggedity and the die-hard nature of the people of southern Nigeria (Niger Delta). The lyric is filled with such rhetorics. Take these lines for instance:
“Niger Delta boys get sinister / I swear you no go see small pikin here / Even small pikin no be su’mall pikin here”
It loosely translates that even the kids (small pikin) in this part of the country possess the same toughness as their adult counterparts. Also in the chorus section he uses “Who goes there?” which is a slang popular among university confraternities in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Burna also renders a brief biography of himself by stating his date of birth, 2nd July 1991. The power and Burna's approach to this jam is epic as you can hear that there are no backup vocals in any section of the song (even the chorus) on this particular track, not even an overdub is done. Burna Boy’s baritone and delivery energy is just top notch. You can also hear some elements of Afrobeat in some sections of the song as the organ responds to some musical statements made by Burna Boy. Also the patois is just superb. A very awesome track, though not a peaceful one.
Track 3: Koni Baje
Here Burna Boy incorporates traditional Yoruba music rhythmic style into his music. You can hear the polyrhythm created by the talking drum family of the Yoruba people of western Nigeria. This is the rhythmic style of Juju music played by Sunny Ade, I.K Dairo and Shina Peters. The first act starts with only rhythmic accompaniment to Burna’s vocals (no harmonic accompaniment) and this gives the song a feel of an original African traditional music. In the chorus section, the electric guitar which plays a very prominent role in Juju music comes in alongside some synth sounds. The reverb on the electric guitar brings a different kind of life to the music. The language used in this particular song is basically Yoruba and Nigerian pidgin English. In this song Burna is basically reigning praises on himself and also bragging about his invincibility and superior musical abilities. The phrase “Koni Baje” translates to “Never Failed”. This song is suitable for radio and traditional music playlisting. As we progress down the album, if you've taken a listen to all the tracks we've covered so far, you'll agree with me that Burna Boy is indeed a very versatile musician. I would recommend this song for any contemporary music lover who also longs to have a feel of the traditional music of other world cultures (in this case, Nigerian music).
Track 4: Sekkle Down
On this one, Burna teams up with the UK rapper J Hus to create a moderate tempo romantic ragga dancehall track. The amazing thing about the sound of this track is the bringing in of synth sounds widely and often (but not solely) used in the EDM genre of music. The intro verifies this claim. The fluency of the jamaican patois and the ragga groove just makes this jam perfect for a jamaican ragga/reggae dancehall and radio.
Track 5: Where I'm From
The most beautiful thing about this song is its fusion of EDM with ragga. The synthesizer plays a very typical EDM vamp while the live bass guitar is playing a very typical Ragga/Reggae groove and the synthesis is just so beautiful and appealing. As the title suggests, Burna is basically talking about where he is from, the challenges and ills facing inhabitants. He makes reference in Nigerian pidgin about a certain genocidal attack that happened in 2010 and the impact it had on the people. The tempo of this song is a perfect fit for the theme and message it carries. One could argue this is a good shift from the social insensitivity mainstream musicians are often guilty of -- a kind Fela Kuti would be most irritated about. May his soul rest on.
Track 6: Heaven's Gate
Burna employs the help of English singer-songwriter Lily Allen as he brags about his invincibility (again) on this track. Listen out for the bass groove, the overly riverbed vocals of Lily Allen and the fluent patois of Burna.
Track 7: Ye
Just like on tracks like “Soke”, “Jealousy”, “Run My Race”, “Gba” and others, Burna samples Afrobeat sounds again on this one. There is prominent sampling of Fela Kuti’s “Sorrow Tears And Blood” in the chorus section of this song. The general production quality of this song is superb, both technically and creatively. The stereo width, vocal treatment and instrumentation on this song is just awesome. A very simple musical arrangement and structure, perfect song for radio and playlisting.
Track 8: Giddem
Another party vibe which can be compared to jamaican party hits like “Bruk Off Yuh Back” by Konshens. Produced by ace Nigerian Hip Hop producer Chopsticks. Here the piano and electric guitar feel is very basic, leaving the pump for the plucked bass and percussions. Moderate tempo jam but could still do perfectly well in clubs and dancehalls.
Track 9: Streets Of Africa
On this track Burna Boy employs nursery rhyme patterns and simple melody (a musical characteristic of the classical era of music) to create a not-so-easy-to-forget tune. The nursery rhyme pattern melody just makes it hard for you to unstick this song from your memory after listening to it a couple of times. Here Hip Hop (Trap) and Classical meets Ragga. The chorus section of this jam is just superb as I would recommend it even for kids of kindergarten age (only the first half of the chorus section though. Lol). What could be more superb than composing a contemporary Jam in the style of classical masters like Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven? This jam would do well from the streets of Africa to an Orchestra in America.
Did you also notice that the per track analysis is getting shorter as we progress? This is not because the album grew shy of momentum. I am battling to keep the length of this whole writing reasonably long short. I could simply go on and on and it will be pages upon pages.
Track 10: Rock Your Body
EDM sounds meets Ragga and traditional African drumming on this one. Listen out for the subtle backup vocals behind the main vocals.
Track 11: Devil In California
A superb fusion of EDM and Trap. Would do well in clubs and dancehalls. Superb and very high quality vocals. Very creative use of the overdrive and distortion effect on the vocals.
Track 12: Calm down
Very soothing and therapeutic sound. My best track in the album. A perfect merge of Acapella, EDM and Ragga. Suitable for a house party and I may even recommend this sound to a sick friend who is in recovery. Lol.
Track 13: Outside
I would just label this EDM. Burna flashes back on his past pains and struggles and even makes reference to the jamaican Ragga star, Vybz Kartel who is now a lifer. The lines go like,
“This life's a jungle sometimes / I really wonder how I keep from going under / So mi find my mother cryin’ / And her eyes start swellin’ / Cause her son end up like Vybz Kartel”.
On this track and some other tracks, you would notice that Burna Boy’s approach to harmony is rather simple as they are usually in two parts. A deviation from the common three- or four-part harmony peculiar to western classical music, and also being adopted into most popular music.
In African music, the approach to harmony is different from the music of other world cultures. African harmonies are usually built on 2nd’s and 4th’s and more emphasis are laid on rhythm and not harmony, thus the reason for complicated rhythms and very simple melody which usually hangs or sustains in the 5th. The form of this track is the normal verse - chorus - verse form used in most contemporary music. Listen out for the harmony on the last verse which also serves as an outro to the song. The mood of this particular song is a very mellow one, the vocal texture and the extremely low register (made lively by the tenor harmony) of Burna on this track just compliments the mellow and sad mood of the track. The EDM groove in the chorus sections of this song renders this mellow and sad track still useful on a dancefloor. This song could have still been placed as number one in the album as it is the track that names the album, but apart from killing the suspense and anticipation for climax and resolution needed in art works of this nature, it also functions very well as the last track because the general feel of this track just makes it very suitable for an encore of any sort, be it live shows or medley renditions. This track just sounds like the last.
After listening to all the tracks on this album and maybe some tracks from some other albums, you will agree with me that Burna Boy's most valuable asset as a musician is his versatility. From this album you can hear musical influences from the EDM, Trap, Rap, Afrobeat, Juju music of the Yoruba people and Ragga music and also traditional influences from Nigeria, Jamaica and other parts of the world. I would describe Burna Boy's album as that space that unites and merges various kinds of music from other world cultures. Despite the explicit lines and some unintelligible Nigerian pidgin and patois, I would still give this album a ⅘ star for its musicality and its ability to communicate both lyrically and instrumentally to its listeners, thereby not leaving any listener behind (at least if you can't relate to the lyric, you will sure relate to the instrumentation). Experimental and fusion couldn't have been better.
Below is a multi link which you can use to stream or purchase the songs or album on any of your favourite platforms. I don’t receive any commissions. Just a fan spreading the words about music I admire. https://song.link/album/d/60614862
Thank you for reading this far, I appreciate. Follow me and watch this space for more album reviews from the African space. I blog about everything music, from Africa. You can also read my last review of “One People One World” by Femi Kuti.
Peace.
All cover images from Onaspaceship