Hi guys I know this article has been long overdue, but I am going to put it out anyways.
First and foremost congratulations to Burna boy on his Grammy nomination, other Nigerian artists were quick to congratulate him for picking up a nomination. My reason for this article is us looking at the reason for Burna being nominated, i actually feel as though, we do not know the significance of the category Burna was nominated in.
That specific category looks into full originality in an album in terms of lyrical contents and also instrumental, Burna’s album the African Giant had it all. My main aim for a this article is to talk about the originality, Afro beat has to maintain to stay unique and relevant to the rest of the world. We need to fully understand that for music to be fully appreciated it needs to be original and creative.
Yes we produce a whole lot of party tracks but we as Nigerians have we ever taken two steps back to think; how creative is our sound and our lyrical content? how well does our sound or music effect positive or social change?
These are questions most of us can’t answer today because majority of our exports do not address these issues.
The prestige of the Grammys goes beyond just nominating songs, it delves way deeper as to how the songs or sound effect social change which is why till date we have just a few home grown artists nominated for the Grammys. This simply means good music should be appreciated, good contents should be welcomed and originality should be accepted by us Nigerians.
It is time to look beyond if the music can make you dance to how original is the content? How well does it effect social and cultural change? It’s time guys to look beyond the dance moves to listening to what they really have to offer.
Congratulations Burna, thank you for keeping it original.
