You can say what you want about Burna Boy, but one thing you can’t say about him is that he doesn’t apply pressure every chance he gets. The Grammy award winning superstar has been making some serious noise since he stepped on the scene back in 2011 with his debut mixtape Burn Notice. Without a doubt, he has only gotten better with each release as the years passed by. By the time his debut album L.I.F.E. was released in 2013, people started to see what was really up with him. Now, 9 years later, his name is more cemented than it has ever been. Today (July 7), Burna Boy dropped off his sixth studio album Love, Damini and it came a little after the celebration for his 31st birthday this past Saturday.
Burna Boy calls his music Afrofusion. Its core is the elegantly minimal percussion — hand played and electronic — of Nigerian Afrobeats, which uses impacts and silences to imply three-against-two syncopations. Assisted by some of Africa’s most dynamic producers, Burna Boy connects Afrobeats to its worldwide kin: R&B, Jamaican dancehall, reggaeton, Congolese rumba, hip-hop and more. His voice, a velvety baritone type, has a suave composure that can hint at easy assurance or hit from a melancholy standpoint. While his melodies don’t immediately seem sharp-edged, he places each note to add yet another layer of polyrhythm.
Laced with 19 records total, the guest features include J Hus, Ed Sheeran, Khalid and Kehlani. The title track from the album also features Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and they also feature on the first track called ‘Glory’. His last album, Twice as Tall, took home the Grammy award for Best Global Music Album in 2021, and judging by how this LP is stacked and put together, it might follow suit.
Check it out now!