Burna Boy: biography
Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu is a singer with a Nigerian ethnicity. He gained recognition after the release of the main single Like To Party from his first album L.I.F.E (2013). The artist’s most recent album was African Giant, which was released on July 2019.
Childhood and youth
Burna Boy was born in Nigeria in 1991. At the age of ten, he already began creating music. His classmate gave him a copy of the production software FruityLoops, and the young artist started creating the beats on his old computer. After graduation from school, Burna Boy went to London to enter the university, but two years later, he dropped out and came back to Nigeria.
Music career
In 2010, Ogulu got introduced to the producer Leriq and his studio situated on Nigeria's southern coast. It was the period when Burna Boy started his connection with the music of his native country. He discovered for himself the reggae music that his father listened to and the Afro-beat music adored by his grandfather, who, by the way, was Fela Kuti's first manager.
In 2013, Ogulu’s first album L.I.F.E was released by Aristokrat Records. It followed up the mixtape Burn Identity (2011). Before the release of L.I.F.E, there were five singles, including Like to Party, Always Love You, and Run My Race. The album includes appearances of various artists such as Timaya, Reminisce, and Wizkid. The year when the L.I.F.E was released, it got included in the list of the 12th best albums of 2013 by Nigeria Entertainment Today, and it took the 7th place on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart. In 2014, Burna Boy left the Aristokrat Records, and next year, he launched his own record label named Spaceship Entertainment. Also that year, the singer released the second album titled On a Spaceship.
In 2018, Burna Boy appeared in the Fall Out Boy's song Sunshine Riptide. That year, Ogulu had his third album Outside, which includes mostly reggae, road rap, and Afrobeats. The album was called the best Nigerian album of 2018 by Nigerian Entertainment Today and Pulse Nigeria. The leading single of the Outside was Ye, and it turned out to be the biggest song of 2018 among the Nigerian publications.
In autumn 2018, Burna Boy performed at the concert in London, and it was sold-out. Two days later, he was called the Spotify's New Afro Hub Takeover Artist and also the YouTube's Artist on the Rise. In 2019, Ogulu performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Also that year, he released the EP Steel & Copper together with the electronic duo DJDS and the fourth album African Giant. Burna Boy called the African Giant his most personal project. Its the most popular singles are Anybody, Another Story, Destiny, and Collateral Damage. For the promotion of his new album, the artist will hold the African Giant tour, and in October, he will perform in Chicago. Also, in 2019, Burna Boy worked with Beyoncé, and they created Ja Ara E for The Lion King: The Gift. There also might be Nasty C, who teased his fans on the topic of his possible project with Ogulu. The artist’s unsuccessful teamwork was with Drake, who released the single More Life and did not credit Ogulu for that.
For 2019, Burna Boy has a net worth of $3.5 million.
Personal life
For now, Burna Boy is not married yet and does not see anyone, as far as we know. There was a situation anyway. In 2016, Uji Stella Johnson called the artist out on her Instagram page, saying that he abandoned her when she was pregnant with Ogulu’s child. In response, the singer admitted the fact of sleeping with Johnson once but refused to accept the kid as his own.
Discography
- 2013 – L.I.F.E
- 2015 – On a Spaceship
- 2016 – Redemption (EP)
- 2018 – Outside
- 2019 – African Giant
- 2019 – Steel & Copper (with DJDS) (EP)
Awards and nominations
Burna Boy was nominated for 15 awards, and he won nine of them, including Nigeria Entertainment Award (2013), Soundcity MVP Award Festival (2019), and BET Award (2019).
