Burna Boy Biography, Education, Career, Discography, Endorsements, Albums, Awards, Net worth, Handles

Monday, 5 September 2022, 10:51 pm

This is the Biography of African Giant named “Burna Boy”, His Net worth, Career, Personal life, Awards, Education.

The Nigerian Music industry was blessed with a lot of talented artists. Burna Boy is no doubt one of the great entertainment exports from the country. He released his fifth studio album titled “Twice as Tall” was released on August 14, 2020, by Spaceship Entertainment, Atlantic Records, and Warner Music.

Biography

Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu Popularly known as Burn Boy is a Nigerian Afrobeat and reggae-dancehall singer, songwriter, stage performer, and recording artist. He rose to prominence in 2012 after releasing “Like to Party” He is the CEO of Spaceship Entertainment record label, and enjoys both international and local popularity.

Early Life & Education

Damini Ogulu was born on the 2nd of July 1991 as the first child of Mr. and Mrs. Ogulu in Ahaoda, Rivers State, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. His father managed a welding company and his mother worked as a translator. His grandfather Benson Idonije once managed Fela Kuti. He is the only son of his parents and being the eldest of three siblings comprising of girls only. He came from a family that appreciated music but prioritized education.

Ogulu grew up in southern Nigeria and began making his own beats/music at the age of 10 using FruityLoops which was recommended for him by his classmate.

He attended Corona Secondary School in Agbara When Burna Boy was in secondary school, he formed a music band that performed at concerts. and relocated to London to further his studies. Burna Boy studied Media Technology at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom from 2008 to 2009. From 2009 to 2010, Burna Boy studied Media Communications and Culture at Oxford Brooke’s University in the United Kingdom. but he dropped out and moved back to Nigeria.

He did a one-year internship with Rhythm 93.7 FM in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in the south southern part of Nigeria, before signing a record deal contract with Aristocrat records and officially launching his professional music career.

Career

In 2010, the 19-year-old Ogulu traveled to Nigeria’s southern coast, where a mutual acquaintance, producer LeriQ, had some studio space. This marked a period when he began to connect to the music of his native country, having spent most of his youth immersed in American acts like DMX. He delved into the dancehall and reggae music his father listened to, and explored the Afro-beat music preferred by his grandfather (who had also been Fela Kuti‘s first manager). As a result of his new discoveries, Burna Boy created a confluence of genres that would become his signature sound.

Burna Boy’s debut studio album L.I.F.E was released on 12 August 2013, serving as the follow-up to his second mixtape Burn Identity (2011). The album sold 40,000 copies on the first day of its release. Aristokrat Records later sold its marketing rights to Uba Pacific for ₦10 million. The album’s release was preceded by five singles: “Like to Party”, “Tonight”, “Always Love You”, “Run My Race” and “Yawa Dey”.

L.I.F.E was produced entirely by Leriq and features guest artists such as 2face Idibia, M.I, Timaya, Olamide, Reminisce, and Wizkid. Nigeria Entertainment Today ranked the album 10th on its list of the 12th Best Albums of 2013.

The album’s music draws heavily from the music of Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, and Bob Marley. It received generally positive reviews from music critics, who applauded its production. It was nominated for Best Album of the Year at the 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards. In August 2013, L.I.F.E peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart.

In 2014, Burna Boy split from Aristokrat records. In February 2015, he founded the record label Spaceship Entertainment eight months after parting ways with Aristocrat Records. Burna Boy released his second album On a Spaceship on 25 November 2015. His 7-track debut EP Redemption was released in September 2016; its lead single “Pree Me” debuted on Noisey.

In 2017, he teamed up with producer Juls for the single “Rock Your Body.” A host of singles followed throughout the year, including “GBA,” “Streets of Africa,” “Koni Baje,” and “Sekkle Down,” featuring J Hus. Dropping the Lily Allen-aided single “Heaven’s Gate” in early January 2018, Burna delivered his third album, Outside, later that month. He returned a year later with the single “Killin Dem,” a collaboration with Zlatan. Along with additional singles like “Dangote” and “On the Low,” it was later included on his fourth album, African Giant, which saw release in July 2019. The album was nominated in the Best World Music Album category of the 62nd Grammy Awards.

In January 2018, Burna Boy was featured on “Sunshine Riptide“, a track from Fall Out Boy‘s seventh studio album MANIA (2018)

The multi-talented singer didn’t stop there, he kept working hard to produce good music, and on the 26th of January 2018, we saw the result of his hard work, as he debuted his 3rd studio album titled Outside.

Burna Boy Described as a mixtape Outside consists mostly of Afrobeats, dancehall, reggae and road rap. It features guest vocals from English musicians J Hus, Lily Allen, and Mabel. Outside was supported by six singles: “Rock Your Body“, “Streets of Africa“, “Koni Baje“, “Sekkle Down“, “Heaven’s Gate” and “Ye“. Its production was handled by Leriq, Baba Stiltz, Jae 5, Juls, Chopstix, Steel Banglez, Fred Gibson, Phantom and FTSE. The album received positive critical acclaim and was ranked by Pulse Nigeria and Nigerian Entertainment Today as the best Nigerian album of 2018. It won Album of the Year at the 2018 Nigeria Entertainment Awards. In February 2018, Outside debuted at number 3 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart. The album’s biggest single “Ye” ended up atop most Nigerian publications year-end list as the biggest song of 2018.

On 7 October 2018, Burna Boy performed before a sold-out crowd at London’s O2 Academy Brixton. A day prior to the show, he held a pop-up event at Red by Little Farm and sold limited boxes of his Space Puffs cereal, as well as custom notepads, lighters, and graphic tee-shirts. On 9 October 2018, Burna Boy was announced as one of Spotify’s New Afro Hub Takeover Artist. The announcement coincided with him being named YouTube’s Artist on the Rise for 3 months.

on the 21st of March 2019, Burna Boy released a 4-track collaborative EP titled Steel & Copper, in which he collaborated with Los Angeles-based electronic duo DJDS.

On 26 July 2019 Burna Boy’s Releaded his fourth studio album titled “African Giant” which consists of six singles: “Gbona”, “On the Low”, Killin Dem”, “Dangote”, “Anybody” and “Pull Up”. He began recording the album in 2018.

He told Billboard magazine the album is his most personal yet. He first revealed plans to release the album in April 2019 and held a private listening session in Los Angeles. Photos and videos from the listening session were shared on social media. African Giant was initially announced as a 16-track album. In order to promote the album, Burna Boy headlined the African Giant Returns tour, the second leg of his African Giant tour. Burna Boy recorded “My Money, My Baby”, a track that appeared on Queen & Slim’s soundtrack album. Described as an “Afrobeat-tinged track”, “My Money, My Baby” contains a sample of Fela Kuti’s 1972 song “Shakara”.

Burna Boy Singles

Shobeedo (Freestyle) a non-album single – 2011.
Like to Party produced by Leriq in the album L.I.F.E – 2012.
Tonight produced by Leriq in the album L.I.F.E – 2012.
Run My Race produced by Leriq in the album L.I.F.E – 2013.
Yawa Dey produced by Leriq in the album L.I.F.E – 2013.
Celebrate produced byGospelOnDeBeatz as a non-album single – 2013.
Won Da Mo (featuring D’banj) produced by DeeVee as a non-album single – 2013.
Rockstar produced by Leriq as a non-album single – 2014.
Don Gorgon produced by Spellz as a non-album single – 2014.
Check and Balance produced by Spellz as a non-album single – 2014.
The Realest produced by Simba Tagz in the album On a Spaceship – 2015.
Rizzla produced by J Fem in the album On a Spaceship – 2015.
Pree Me produced by Leriq in the Redemption EP – 2016.
Mandem Anthem produced by Fresh as a non-album single – 2016.
Gba produced by Chopstix as a non-album single – 2017.
Koni Baje produced by P2J in the album Outside – 2017.
Rock Your Body produced by Juls in the album Outside – 2018.
Heaven’s Gate (featuring Lily Allen) produced by Fred Gibson in the album Outside – 2018.
Sekkle Down (featuring J Hus) produced by Jae5 in the album Outside – 2018.
Devil in California produced by P2J in the album Outside – 2018.
Ye produced by Phantom in the album Outside – 2018.
On the low produced by Kelp in the African Giant album – 2018
Gbona produced by Kelp in the African Giant album – 2018
Killin Dem (featuring Zlatan) produced by Kelp in the African Giant album – 2018
Dangote produced by Kelp in the African Giant album– 2019
Anybody produced by P2j in the African Giant album – 2019
Pull Up produced by Kelp in the African Giant album – 2019
Money Play produced by Mr.kleb non-album single – 2020
Odogwu Produced by Kelp non-album single – 2020.

Burna Boy’s Music Videos.

P.A.I.D directed by Sesan in 2015.
Pree Me directed by Meji Alabi in 2016.
Déjà vu directed by Clarence Peters in 2017.
Hallelujah directed by Mat Max in 2017.
Heaven’s Gate/Sekkle Down directed by Clarence Peters in 2018.
Ye directed by Clarence Peters in 2018.
Gbona directed by Clarence Peters in 2018.
On the Low directed by Meji Alabi in 2018.
Killin Dem produced by Prodigeezy in 2019.
Dangote directed by Clarence Peters in 2019.
Anybody directed by Clarence Peters in 2019.
Odogwu directed by TG Omori. In 2020.

Burna Boy Featured in

Amorawa with Wande Coal in a non-album single – 2013.
Gba Gbe E with DJ Spinall in a non-album single – 2014.
Temper with Skales in a non-album single – 2016.
Ayepo (Remix) with Airboyin a non-album single– 2017.
Gbefun One Time with Skales in the album The Never Say Never Guy – 2017.
Name On It with Four of Diamonds – 2018.
Sunshine Riptide with Fall Out Boy in the album Mania in 2018.
Your Choice with Lily Allen in the album No Shame – 2018.
Serious with DJ Spinall in the album Iyanu – 2018.
Baba Nla with Larry Gaaga (also featuring 2Baba and D’banj) in a non-album single – 2018.
All My Life with Major Lazer in the album Africa Is the Future – 2018.
Legend with Show Dem Camp in the album Palm Wine Music 2 – 2018.
Champion Lover with Peruzzi in the album Heartwork – 2018.
Location with Dave in the album Psychodrama – 2019.
No Option with Dj snake in the album Carte Blanche – 2019
Be Honest with Jorja Smith in the album TBA – 2019
December with IDK in the album Is He Real – 2019
All in with wretch 32 in the album Upon Reflection – 2019
Own it with stormzy Ed Sheeran in the album Heavy Is the Head – 2019
Play Play with J hus on the album Big Conspiracy – 2020
We must Groove with 2baba in the album Warriors – 2020

Burna Boy Albums.

L.I.F.E – 2013
On a Spaceship – 2015
Outside – 2018
African Giant – 2019
Twice as tall – 2020

Mixtapes

Burn Notice – 2011
Burn Identity – 2011

Ep/Album

Redemption – 2016
Steel and Copper (with DJDS) – 2019

Endorsements Deals

One of the ways to know a successful artist is for him/her to be a brand ambassador for companies, Burna boy is not left out as he has his share of endorsements Currently, he is a brand ambassador to Globacom, Nigerian Breweries Plc, and Mortell Cognac.

Awards & Nominations

Nominated at The Headies for Next Rated in 2013.
Best New Act of the Year at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards in 2013.
South South Music Awards named Like to Party as Best Pop in 2013.
MTV Africa Music Awards honored him as the Best New Act in 2014.
Best R&B Single Nominee at the Headies 2014.
Nominated L.I.F.E at the Headies as the Best R&B/Pop Album in 2014.
Hip Hop World Revelation of the Year nominee at the Headies 2014.
L.I.F.E was nominated for the Album of the Year at the Headies 2014.
Nigeria Entertainment Awards nominated him for the Best Pop Artist of the Year in 2015.
L.I.F.E was named Best Album of the Year at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards in 2015.
YouTube artist on the rise in 2018.
‘Ye’ was named as Listener’s Choice at the Soundcity MVP Awards Festival in 2019.
At the Soundcity MVP Awards Festival Ye was named as the Song of the Year in 2019.
He was named Best Male MVP at the Soundcity MVP Awards Festival in 2019.
African Artiste of the Year at the Soundcity MVP Awards Festival in 2019.
Best International Act at the BET Awards 2019.
Apple Music Up Next Artist in July 2019.
Killin Dem with Zlatan won Best Collaboration in 2019
Best African Act at the MTV Europe Music Award
Burna Boy won Song of the Year and Artist of the year also nominated for video of the year, Best Live Act, Best male west Africa, and Crossing Boundaries with music at the African Muzik Magazine Awards in 2019
He won west African male artist of the year, Album of the year (African Giant), Song of the year (Killin Dem), and was Nominated for Best collaboration at All Africa music awards 2019
Burna boy won African Artist of the Year, Best Male MVP and was Nominated for Listener’s choice and Viewer’s choice at Soundcity MVP Awards Festival In 2020
In 2020 Burna boy was nominated for Best world music album (African Giant) and International male solo artist at Grammy Awards
Burna wins the Best International Act at the MOBO Awards 2020.

Net worth

Aside from being an international music star, Burna Boy also has endorsements with companies like Globacom, Star Lager beer, etc. Also, tickets for his shows are always sold out, home and abroad. So, it is expected that he has a high net worth.

Although many sources claim that Burna Boy is worth 10 Million Dollars, it is reasonable to expect that he is worth much more than that. Discounting his ongoing endorsement deals, Burna Boy sold out the O2 Arena in London, and that feat raked in millions of dollars. Burna Boy’s marketing deal for his 2019 album ‘African Giant’ includes a world tour, the second leg of which he is set to embark on.

Keep in mind that he has money-spinning marketing deals with Atlantic Records, and Warner Music, both of America. Burna Boy is one of the hottest performing musicians in Africa and has already established himself as a global music franchise.

Burna Boy’s net worth is estimated at $10million Above.