Nigerian Grammy award winner Burna Boy has advised Nigerian music artists not to be deceived by the outcome of X polls or by the comments from Naija social media fans.
He argued that these people will not fill up any stadium for any artists in any part of the world.
He shared this on his Instastories this afternoon with the caption, “Dear artists, don’t let Twitter polls and ‘Naija social media fans’ deceive you. They won’t fill up any stadium for you in any part of the world,”
Burna Boy further drew a comparison between the value of Nigerian streams and streams from the UK and the US, which pay significantly more.
According to him, having the number 1 song on a Nigerian music streaming platform isn’t a feat worth celebrating.
Instead, he encourages artists to aim higher and do business on the other side.
Burna Boy’s statement, while being an accurate reflection of Nigeria’s economic realities, carries the same condescending tone with which he has approached such a topic in the past.
Making such a statement as “Naija social media fans” suggests that Burna Boy doesn’t consider these millions of fans to be valuable beyond the social media space where they actively engage Afrobeats.
His statement also brings to mind the controversial statement he made ahead of the release of his last album ‘I Told Them’.
In an interview with Zane Lowe, he described Afrobeats as a genre without substance.
In the past, Burna Boy has also made such a statement as nobody paved the way for him, which attracted criticism from veteran stars who knocked him for discrediting their contributions to the success of Nigerian mainstream music.
Burna Boy is gearing up for the release of his eighth album, ‘No Sign of Weakness,’ and this controversial take follows a similar pattern that preceded the release of his last album.
