Grammy-winning singer Damini Ogulu, popularly known as Burna Boy, has apologised for distancing himself from the Afrobeats genre.
The singer explained that his past comments were due to confusion about the purpose of the label.
Naijaonpoint recalls that in 2022, Burna Boy had stated that his style was Afrofusion, not Afrobeats, which caused a lot of debate among fans and industry followers.
He insisted back then that his music should not be forced into a single category, as it draws from different styles with African roots.
But in a recent interview on a UK Afrobeats show, Burna Boy shared that he now understands the role Afrobeats plays in helping African music grow internationally.
He admitted that he once failed to see the need for a unifying tag that could place African music alongside other popular global genres like R&B and Hip-Hop.
He said: “At the time, I didn’t understand that we need an umbrella for the genre, for the music to get recognition like R&B and Hip-Hop. I didn’t come to terms with it until I started seeing the reactions and the division it was causing, so I got the point of the Afrobeats tag.
“If I had understood then, I would have gone about it differently. Why would I want to destroy what I’m building?”
“I didn’t realise the Afrobeats tag is needed to make it global because there wouldn’t be any R&B, Hip-Hop, or any of these popular genres if their beginnings had a lot of separation. So now, I totally get it and apologise for the confusion”