Burna Boy sparked backlash after distancing himself from Afrobeats — now he’s setting the record straight with clarity and an apology.
The Grammy Award-winning artist joined BBC Radio 1Xtra’s “The Official UK Afrobeats Chart Show” with Eddie Kadi, where he addressed his past remarks that stirred tension across the genre. In a 2023 interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe, Burna claimed that 90% of Afrobeats artists “have no real-life experiences,” adding that the genre “lacks substance.”
So, when Kadi asked Burna to clarify what he meant, he didn’t hesitate to walk listeners through his intent. “You can check it from my first-ever interview… You see that I said, ‘I do Afrofusion.’ Right?” Burna began. “And why did I do that... [It] was because when I first got [to Nigeria], I realized that this music I'm making is not what everybody… It's like there was almost no place for it at home. I had to create my own place for it.”
He went on to explain how creating his own lane allowed others to follow: “That now became a place where people who had nowhere else to go would come to… That’s when I gave birth to… They now call [it the] alté movement.”
The 34-year-old said the real issue came when his music was forced into a label that didn’t fully represent it. “I didn't understand why everybody just wanted my music to be inside one box,” the star admitted. “You don't put me into Afrobeats like that; You are now comparing Socrates to Kendrick Lamar… Why? Because they both say two things that rhyme, so now they both must be rappers?”
The “Last Last” hitmaker shared that he hadn’t initially grasped how essential the Afrobeats label was in helping African music gain global recognition -- just like how R&B and Hip Hop needed clear identities to break through worldwide.
“I didn’t understand that we needed an umbrella for what we’re doing to actually get somewhere,” he continued. “In order for us to be on the same level as R&B and as Hip Hop… Like, Hip Hop was already established before they [starting doing] trap… So, I didn’t really come to terms with that part until I started seeing the reaction... the division it was causing… I now got the whole point of the Afrobeats tags... If I understood this then, I would have gone about it differently.”
“Why would I want to distress something I’m building?” Burna added. “I totally get it, and I apologize for that confusion.”
Burna Boy’s latest project is a perfect display of his genre-fusing skillset
That evolution is front and center on Burna’s new album, No Sign of Weakness, which was released July 11. The project brought together unexpected collaborators like Mick Jagger, Shaboozey, Travis Scott, and Stromae, proving once again that the Nigerian star isn’t confined by borders or genres. Be sure to check it out if you haven’t already below!