Nigerian superstar singer/songwriter Burna Boy is facing criticism for comments he made in a recent interview about Afrobeats.
According to the “Last Last” hitmaker, Afrobeats is devoid of any substance because the artists popularizing the genre lack life experience.
“Half of them … 90% of them, have almost no real-life experiences that they can understand,” he explained in a new interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe.
Burna Boy also characterized the wildly popular genre as music about “nothing,” that fails to portray the realities of life and the “essence” of the artist.
“That’s why you hear most Nigerian music, African Music, or Afrobeats, as people call it, is mostly about nothing, literally nothing. There is no substance to it, like nobody is talking about anything. It’s just a great time, an amazing time. But at the end of the day, life isn’t an amazing time,” he stated.
Burna Boy believes “Music should be the essence of the artist,” and their music “should be a window for you to see some of that essence.” Check out the clip below.
"AfroBeat as you people call it is mostly about nothing" - Burna Boy.
This is very bad. In as much as we love your crafts and what you do, we won't let you down talk AfroBeats just like that. pic.twitter.com/EFRIj0LQRC— SounDisruptr | Music Marketing Agency (@Soundisruptr) August 23, 2023