NEWS: Burna Boy Is Walking Tall As He Covers NME Magazine’s August Issue.

 

Burna Boy has been unveiled as the August 2020 cover star of popular British music publication, NME magazine.

In the August 2020 issue, the Afrobeats star sheds more light on his soon-to-be-released fifth studio album “Twice As Tall”. He also opens up about his journey in the music industry, the system of oppression in Africa, and his desire to inspire a revolution in Africa.

For the cover photo, Burna is adorned in a black and white rocking a sculptured diamond neckpiece in the likeness of Fela‘s iconic victory, and another custom made neckpiece with the inscription of “African Giant”-which is the name of his previous album- on the pendant.

For “Twice As Tall”, Burna brought in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs as executive producer, and Combs, in turn, facilitated collaborations with the likes of Timbaland and Anderson Paak.

Speaking on Nigeria’s educational curriculum and history:

“The schools in Nigeria would rather teach you another man’s history than your own. We were angry, and that was the foundation for our rebellion. Our subconscious, our inner man, was telling us: ‘Bro, you’re being brainwashed’.”

On his forthcoming album,Twice As Tall:

He describes the record as “a continuation” of last year’s ‘African Giant’, the acclaimed album which perfected his alchemical blend of Afrobeats, dancehall, and hip-hop, and established him as one of the globe’s biggest stars.

For ‘Twice As Tall’, Burna brought in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs as executive producer, and Combs in turn facilitated collaborations with the likes of Timbaland and Anderson Paak.

On the need for a Revolution:

“It’s just the truth, man,” he says. “There are so many situations where a fight needs to be had. A revolution is needed, and I want to inspire it. I’m painting a picture of what we already see every day, but maybe no one has painted the picture in an honest form before. I tried to do that with ‘Monsters’.”

On Afrobeats:

“I keep on letting everybody know that Afrobeat was done by one person and one person only, which is Fela Kuti,” he says. “The rest of what we hear today is Afropop, Afro-hip-hop, Afro-whatever – you know, Afro-fusion. They decided to use the word ‘Afrobeats’ to put it all under one umbrella, which is cool, but you have to make sure it gets to the people who really do this.”

Read the full feature at NME Magazine (@nicolasgerardin)

Photo Credit: @nicolasgerardin