The Afican Giant Experience
It was July 26, 2020; the African Nations Cup had just ended the previous week. The super eagles of Nigeria have always been a beacon of hope for every Nigerian since their World Cup debut in 1998. They impressed in the competition and took the bronze medal. Most Nigerians put off all socio-political issues of the nation just to see this squad rise to the top. After the competition ended, Nigerians needed a global phenomenon. Every youth wanted a soothing situation to keep away from strife and discomfort.
The Experience
Moving from Surulere to Ikoyi had been a daily routine for me since the start of my internship programme at a law firm. My phone and earpiece was always a vital thing I could never miss before setting out to hit the Lagos traffic. On this Friday, something was different about my movement. Most of the songs listened to in the previous weeks ranged from Hip hop classics; from Kanye West’s 2001 ‘College Drop out’ to recent neo-soul/RnB tracks coupled with foreign classics from other genres. They never felt relatable to the dying concern I had as a young Nigerian. I had never been a supporter of Burna Boy’s antics prior to the release of this album. The rollout has been considered one of the best in the music industry. The 2018 ‘Outside’ album was the gold standard album that propelled African Giant’s deep-rooted artistry to the world. For Burna Boy, the hate made him stronger. He sparked more creativity and released a wide array of singles that topped every radio chart in the country and even in some other parts of the world. He also appeared on multiple features I listened to.
The time was set for African Giant release. At this time, I had not developed high expectations because ‘’Outside’’ had always been my ‘’go-to afro-fusion’’ album. All I wanted was just good music. Every rainy season was a bitter experience for pedestrians; wet shoes, stained cloth, and the avoidance of incompetent okada riders and danfo drivers. The incessant rain had affected the easy flow of commuters. Stuck at the Brt station, I needed an escape from what was going on around me. Burna makes a tranquil introduction to the album with the ‘African Giant’ track. I gave my first nod on the album. The intro was the right fix to what I have been looking for.
‘Anybody’ has been my all-time favourite track off the album even before the album dropped. An unpremeditated Friday soon turned into a busy one at the office. I suspended the album listening for evening time. That evening, I worked on the ‘’African Giant’’ album review which I published on a friend’s blog a week after. On my apple music library, I streamed two quality albums that weekend that were Grammy-nominated works, four months after. The other album is YBN Cordae’s ‘The Lost Boy’.
That evening, while lying on my bed, stressed from the day’s work. I started thinking of the day’s activities and how much was spent during the week, it ended in a painful realisation, ‘’enu gbe o’’ ( I am broke). Where will I even get that money to go back to my town the following week? I needed to defeat that giant in me. Playing music might not solve any money matter but when I started the album all over again, I found solace in it. I have been sceptical about some tracks while listening even until now because they do not carry the weight of the African socio-political issue and related matters. They are just songs to fit into the foreign market which I understand as a lover of pop culture.
African Giant turned out to be the only album of 2019 I wrote about in my diary. The album came by design. It came at a critical moment reassuring hope and confidence in the African dream.
The Early Success
Months later, on getting back to school, we just qualified for the departmental semi-final football competition. Even though it ended controversially, we celebrated the qualification, alongside the nomination of ‘’African Giant’’ at the 62nd Grammy Awards. At this point, it started sparking sense to some who never paid attention to it. I was in the cab when I asked for the list of nominees of the World Music Award category. Angelique Kidjo’s ‘’Celia’’ was namedropped. I remembered telling everyone in the Cab about the uncertainty of Burna Boy winning this category. This conclusion was not based on Angelique Kidjo being nominated but I had listened to both albums and I knew how powerful and diversified the ‘’Celia’’ album was. Well, that’s a story for another day.
We all got to know how it turned out for Burna Boy at the Grammys but his success has proved to a whole generation how possible it is to grow strength from a broken nation. In 2020, Burna is considered one of Africa’s finest artists. He could show & tell anybody the African Giant he is and is still to come.
Fun fact: Burna Boy’s ‘African Giant’ is the first Nigerian studio album to hit 1 billion total streams.
