burna boy

Burna Boy Celebrates His Progress With The Upbeat ‘Kilometre’

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Burna Boy‘s first new song of 2021 is “Kilometre,” a meditation on the progress he’s made in his career (as in, “I don’ come, I don’ come, kilometres”). As usual, he employs upbeat production, this time from Chopstix, and a melodic flow that switches between English and Nigerian pidgin to boast about his accomplishments. He denies that any of this happened by accident — although happenstance did somewhat play into his US breakout — insisting, “People think I be Johnny just come / Like I just got rich, like my money just come.”

Debuting the new song on Apple Music 1 radio, Burna told Zane Lowe, “It’s really me talking about how far I’ve come, I’ve come a long way. At the same time, just having fun with it. When the song drops, start running around, wherever you go. Just start running around It doesn’t need an explanation.” Burna also promised a follow-up to his 2020 album Twice As Tall sometime this year: “I’m definitely planning to drop my next album this year,” he revealed. “Especially at the same time I dropped the last one. I’m trying to do that as long as I can.”

Listen to Burna Boy’s new track, “Kilometre,” above.

Burna Boy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Burna Boy Advocates For The Power Of Self-Belief In His Inspirational ’23’ Video

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After being shut out at last year’s Grammy Awards, Nigerian superstar Burna Boy is officially a Grammy Award winner after taking home the statue for Best Global Music Album (Twice As Tall) at the 2021 63rd Annual Grammy Awards earlier this month. To celebrate, he has released the inspirational video for his Twice As Tall standout “23.”

Naturally taking inspiration from its iconic namesake, much of the “23” video revolves around the sport of basketball, as seen through the eyes of athletes who are ordinarily invisible: Black women. One of the players the video chooses to highlight is wheelchair-bound, but poses in front of a full case of trophies.

Other women who appear in the video are dancers, designers, and music producers — all fields where Black women are underrepresented — while Burna’s performance sequences play out before projected images of his own accomplishments. “The music make me feel I be Jordan,” he croons on the chorus, encouraging listeners to be the best they can through the life-changing power of self-belief. “Now I understand why them say aiye po gan” — “Now I understand why they say there’s enough space” — he says, highlighting how there is room for everyone to be successful.

Watch Burna Boy’s “23” video above.

Burna Boy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Burna Boy And Becky G Team Up For An International Crossover With ‘Rotate’

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As streaming breaks down the barriers of music globally, more and more artists have teamed up across genres and borders to create some truly fascinating combinations. Today we get a great example as Los Angeles-born reggaeton artist Becky G and Nigerian Afrofusion artist Burna Boy link up on “Rotate.” Built on a signature reggaeton beat, the song blends the two artists’ unique sounds, resulting in a scintillating track that could be a hit in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa, as well as the US, the melting pot where people from all cultures collide and collaborate.

Becky G, who began her musical career as a pop-oriented rapper before shifting to Spanish lyrics and South-of-the-border sounds, truly exploded in popularity after embracing Latin music. She’s also found success as an actress, appearing in the 2017 Power Rangers film as the yellow Ranger, and being featured in Riot Games’ League Of Legends in 2019 as part of the first virtual rap band. Meanwhile, Burna Boy accidentally blew up in the US after the coincidentally-titled “Ye” exposed him to fans searching for Kanye’s album with the same name. Since then, he’s become one of the primary representative’s of his home country’s music scene, receiving Grammy acknowledgement and seeing his second album Twice As Tall become a hit.

Listen to Becky G and Burna Boy’s “Rotate” above.

Burna Boy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.