here comes the AFRICAN GIANT / Burna Boy (2019)

the YG and future songs from the lsat album ended up being pretty dope considering so i'm willing to give him some rope... "monsters you made" not rly a promising title tho lol

jae5 has also contributed to the production!

*heart eyes*

Monsters You Made (ft. Chris Martin)

great, a hook about Goop

It shoulda been Christopher Martin smh.

I'm kind of surprised neither Money Play nor Odogwu are on this. I wonder if the Naughty by Nature one will be like the Blak Ryno one on AG.

Other producers: LeriQ, Telz, P2J, Rexxie, Mike Dean, Timbaland, Skread, DJDS

as for the Chris Martin collab: you are all aware Burna’s on Sam Smith’s current single, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byO74UGa8bI

#mainstreamingburna

I meant to ask if anyone has heard that yet...I have not

good to see he’s working with LeriQ again, the guy who produced his early stuff.

and Timbaland - seems like a trophy collaborator, like Youssou N’Dour perhaps, but who knows...

xp

I quite liked it but ymmv

tbh I can't even remember what Smith sounds like so I'm not sure why I'm avoiding it

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/arts/music/burna-boy-twice-as-tall.html

Interview / feature

solid piece. more production details:

For “Twice as Tall,” Burna Boy enlisted an American executive producer: Sean Combs, a.k.a. Diddy, who has long guided rappers and singers (most famously the Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige) toward wider audiences.

Combs also makes his presence audible with voice-over intros on some songs, briefly upstaging Burna Boy.

I like this description of Burna’s artistry or whatever the word is (although I must admit I can’t attest to the pentatonic African modes):

For the most part, Burna Boy hasn’t diluted his African heritage to reach his global audience. Instead, he has placed an unmistakably African stamp on music drawn from all around Africa and from across the African diaspora. He has a calm, husky, resolute voice that exemplifies the West African cultural virtue of coolness: poise and control transcending any commotion. His melodic sense is rooted in pentatonic African modes but unconstrained by them, and he has a stable of producers who deliver some of the most innovative rhythm tracks in 21st-century pop — usually working alongside Burna Boy in his studio, he said. He sings, most often, in a pidgin of English and Yoruba, confident that his meaning will get through even if listeners don’t recognize all the words.

Burna Boy is a leader amid a bounty of new African pop that has been increasingly welcomed in the West: a confluence of widespread availability via streaming, discovery via word-of-internet rather than former gatekeepers, and the sheer inventiveness taking place outside established music-business strongholds.

can confirm the album is on my streaming service of choice

so far "way too big" rules so much

unsurprisingly chris martin is an extremely unwelcome presence here

diddy only shows up to interject once thankfully

Naughty By Nature (ft. Naughty By Nature)

Chris Martin is a bullet I'm not looking forward to biting, guess I'll tell myself it could be worse, could've been Allbran or somebody

Sheeran's going to be furious.

listening again and there is a second diddy interjection that i completely missed the first time through

honestly sheeran is a far less obnoxious vocal presence than martin, if some british white guy had to show up he'd be far from my first choice but the result would probably have been more tolerable

I told Burna I did a song with Coldplay
Next thing I know he got a song with Coldplay

Very good album. I can't imagine I'll end up liking it as much as African Giant, but that's not a knock, AG is genius.

I was nervous about the guests...rightly so. Martin does suck, but tbrr I don't know if that song would be much better with [yr fav] on it--though thanks to dog latin, I did briefly wonder if Chronixx could have made it work--it has my least favorite Burna vocals too. I have never liked Sauti Sol very much, so those two back to back are a serious lull for me, curious if Sol fans like that one more. It's not ruinous, but the absolute wrong Stormzy shows up, all slow and moody, a missed opportunity though I quite like the women singing backup on that (see also Bank On It; swapping out all the guests for women would be an interesting exercise). Still, there's a happy surprise: Naughty by Nature sound kinda leftfield great, and as ufo mentioned Diddy's presence is not too distracting.

Anyway, even if you outright delete all the guest tracks (though no need to cut N'Dour), you end up with a strong collection, at least on par with Outside, maybe a little better once I listen more.

yeah i'm not sure this feels like an endless parade of hits in the way that african giant did but it's still very good. i like the sauti sol track a lot, i've only heard a few of their tracks before but they've always been enjoyable. "naughty by nature" works despite its weird concept and i completely agree about stormzy being a wasted opportunity. even ignoring martin i think "monsters you made" is the worst track on this

i looove that synth outro in "way too big"

even ignoring martin i think "monsters you made" is the worst track on this

otm, I almost wish he'd leaned all the way into the "message song" vibe and gotten Bono

Is Monsters You Made a deliberate Dirty Diana lift or just a coincidence?

it's deliberate, mj is a credited writer on it

all the select tracks i've tried so far are quite good. looking forward to digging in deeper.

Album is pleasant and competent, it maintains nice vibes, but it is seriously lacking innovation, energy and hits, and good feats as it has been said. He's not in front of these songs as he was in Outside / African Giant. 23 is one of the few standouts along with Wonderful, Onyeka and the too-short Alarm Clock (one could dream of a free-jazzy / funky Burna Boy album). I hate that generic trumpeting party sound in Way Too Big, it ruins the song. I don't think I'll spin this a lot.

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/gq-hype/article/burna-boy-interview-2020

weird sequencing here leads to a smattering of garbage tracks throughout imo but there's a lot to enjoy. African Giant never quite clicked for me; this may make me go back to it.

I think I've landed on an 8-song version of this that I like quite a lot if not as much as African Giant (the other 7 range from not-bad-but-unremarkable to terrible):

Bebo
Wonderful
Onyeka (Baby)
Comma
No Fit Vex*
23
Wetin Dey Sup
Bank On It

* Spotlight on this, which is really good and doesn't sound much like past BB. I could dig a groovier, sunnier, wavier set that sounded like this and Wonderful.

So basically cut everything with a feature (sometimes Naughty By Nature sounds like goofy fun to me and sometimes like an awkward misfire), plus I find that opening run kind of ponderous. If you add Money Play and Odogwu, you'd have a strong back-to-back album imo.

(one could dream of a free-jazzy / funky Burna Boy album)

I would also be here for this (pretty improbable) imaginary album. I rewatched his Tiny Desk last night, and it would be cool to hear him collaborate with a band.

i've decided twice as tall suffers from a lack of kel-p vibes

i like twice as tall a lot an am not clear why people dislike it!

it lacks edge
not bad though

it's still good, i just prefer the sonic palette of african giant a bit more (and the guest stars on that album blend in a lot better)

I def wouldn't say I dislike it. In fact, "weird sequencing here leads to a smattering of garbage tracks throughout imo but there's a lot to enjoy" is really close to how I would put it!

African Giant is a personal fave and part of why is that right off the bat I loved it and couldn't stop playing it, so this inevitably feels a little disappointing

"Naughty by Nature" rules, improbably

my fav guest spot on the album by a long shot

smattering of garbage tracks

the pat boone (?!?!?!?!) sample combined with timbo/djds production and a solid vocal turn from n'dour make 'level up' the most unlikely song i love this year

Yeah might be letting my “the guests are unwelcome” thesis overdetermine my ears on that one

Just played this from the start and enjoyed all three opening tracks and NBN...probably just need to let the whole thing marinate a little

new track in response to the Lekkimassacre:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68rvZWARzew
Burna Boy • 20 10 20

...the Lekki massacre...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUtZB0foy_4

that’s “No Be Water” by Burna with Praiz and Vector.

it’s actually a 2015 release in the so-called Hennessy Artistry series (Hennessy Nigeria paying artists to come up with a booze-friendly anthem basically). the year before they had paired up Wizkid and 2Baba for “Dance Go (Eau de Vie)”.

burna winning the grammy for "Best Global Music" over anoushka shankar and bebel gilberto is a strange sort of victory