By no means do I pretend to be an expert at Afrobeats commentary. I am at that stage in life where I’ve settled on my taste. At some point, it becomes a burden trying to keep up with #NewMusicFriday. However, as far as the genre goes, I know a thing or two about the so-called big three: Wizkid, Davido, and Burna Boy. Of this trioka, I know that Burna Boy has consistently distinguished himself as cocky, prideful, and condescending to his fans and Nigerians at large. But interestingly, Nigerians have been gracious enough to indulge his excesses. What he lacks in humility, he makes up for in talent. The awards, international collaborations, and sold-out concerts in foreign venues are testaments to his otherworldly talent.
In this Naija to the World zeitgeist, Burna Boy has been our biggest cultural export. One of his self-given titles is African Giant. He even has an album eponymously named after it. He calls himself Odogwu, an Igbo word that means great man. As if wanting to live up to these epithets in annoying ways, he has a history of coming late to his shows, especially in Nigeria. He was once booed for performing late at a concert, but instead of apologising, he lashed out saying he would have gone home if not for Seyi Vibez. He has said a few times that his success has been a solo effort. No one can and should take any responsibility for contributing to it. While promoting an album a couple of years ago, he ridiculed Afrobeats, the very genre he is a part of. “Afrobeats, as people call it, is mostly about nothing. Absolutely nothing. There’s no substance to it,” he said.
A few times, he has kicked overzealous fans who jumped on stage to hug him. My view is that he acted within reasonable bounds. For all he knew, these psychotic trespassers might have wanted to kill or maim him. And being a polarising figure, Burna Boy does have a lot of haters. But it doesn’t matter what I think. The optics of kicking trespassing fans proved what Nigerians already knew about him: a megalomaniac. He once stopped a show to refund a fan and asked him to go home. His crime? He was not enthusiastic enough. Burna Boy’s relationship with fans has been abusive. It doesn’t matter what he says or does to them, they rock with him. Stockholm syndrome, if you will.
He may be disrespectful, but at least he puts Nigeria on the map. He may treat his fans like serfs, but at least he wins Grammy awards. He may remind Nigerians that he doesn’t need them, after all, the streaming revenue he gets from Nigeria is Lilliputian, but he accomplishes for us. That means he cannot be cancelled. Or at least that was what he thought.
Maybe he thought wrong. The African Giant has finally met his Waterloo, it seems. While performing on November 12 at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, he asked a lady seated in the front row to go home because she was sleeping. He wouldn’t resume his performance if she didn’t leave. Eventually, she was removed from the venue. Clips went viral online. A lady who claimed to be the victim commented that she had gone to the show amid grieving the loss of her daughter’s father. But the experience Burna Boy subjected her to has left her in physical, emotional, and mental pain. Despite the backlash, an impenitent Burna Boy went conspiratorial claiming that he understands there is an agenda against him. He gives his best whenever he performs and he expects the audience to reciprocate the energy. He would gladly be cancelled if people expect him to live in a world where he gets treated like a stripper, he added.
Unlike Nigerians, Americans don’t tolerate proud celebrities. They’re protesting by refusing to buy tickets to his shows and now he has reportedly pulled the plug on his North American tour. For some, this is unbelievable. This is an artist who has sold out venues in the US for a good few years now but now reportedly performs to half-filled venues. The internet is awash with glee. The downfall is well deserved. He is the architect of his fall from grace. He is a reminder that one who is not taught by their mother will be taught by the world (mother in this case means Nigeria, not Bose, his mom).
Contrary to Burna Boy’s conspiratorial claims of an agenda, the glee people are expressing over his downfall isn’t an instance of tall-poppy syndrome. It is true that there is a culture of wanting to see the high and mighty (politicians, especially) fall in Nigeria. But this isn’t about that. This is Schadenfreude. This is people mocking a narcissist. And the crazy part is his refusal to eat the humble pie.
During his come-up, many thought Burna Boy was taking the path of conscious music because he sampled Fela a few times. He has sung against oppression but lives contrary to that ethos with the way he disrespects his fans. He typifies the big man syndrome that the nouveau riche is guilty of in Nigeria. With a little fame, money, and success, the classicism begins to show. You all of a sudden begin to suffer from the delusion of grandeur. The more you get validated abroad, the more you loathe your fellow Nigerians. Ours is a society where success is synonymous with oppression. Why attend the Headies Awards anymore when you’ve won a couple of Grammys? Why bother performing in Nigeria anymore when you now sell out in international venues? If you decide to perform in Nigeria, they had better be grateful for your benevolence, even if you perform hours late.
Some have tried to caution Nigerians from joining in this cancellation. A world where Burna Boy is cancelled is a huge loss to Afrobeats. His failings notwithstanding, his contributions to the global recognition of the genre cannot be disputed, they argue. For VeryDarkMan, it seems the hate against Burna Boy is being sponsored. He claims there are American artists who are jealous of his success because most of them can’t fill these venues in their own country. By joining Americans in cancelling him, Nigerians are breaking the national code. We may not like ourselves but we don’t typically air our dirty laundry. Cancelling him would limit opportunities for other Nigerians, he adds. But here’s my problem with this reasoning. Why should someone this arrogant be shielded from the consequences of his actions? It is counterproductive to defend someone with such moral failings for no other reason than being our biggest cultural export. Does it not follow that his arrogance tarnishes the country’s image? This is someone who consistently disrespects the country and the genre in international circles, yet Nigerians should be charitable to him? For someone who is yet to apologise, it’s insulting to gaslight Nigerians into abstaining from the cancellation. Why should anyone care what happens to his career? After all, he hasn’t asked anyone to be his fan.
It’s interesting how much of a fragile ego he has despite how hard he works to craft a confident personality. Apparently, his negativity bias got the better of him. Despite having thousands of fans dancing and singing along to his performance, a lady he saw sleeping was enough to bruise his ego. So much for all that Odogwu and African Giant crap. This is not him being a victim of a conspiratorial tall-poppy syndrome. It’s schadenfreude. And it’s hard to argue he didn’t deserve any of it.
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