A while ago, popular Afro-beat musician Burna boy declared himself to be the greatest Afro beat artiste since Fela. He declared himself the best on tweeter saying ‘Fact! I always knew I was and I am THE BEST. Everyone you think is the best know I am the best since Fela Kuti’
He received backlash from his fans and non-fans. Many people called him proud, many people said he thinks too much of himself and so many other things. Looking at the issue at hand, is he really the best since Fela?
The answer to this question is No. He is just one of the best artiste since Fela. There are many others afro beat artiste in Nigeria and Africa that have made just as much impact he has made in the industry.
Look at the likes of Wizkid, Davido, Dbanj, Tiwa Savage, Angelique Kidjo, Tuface Idibia to mention a few. They have made tremendous impact on the music industry. Each of them had their own time to wow the industry which they did. It started with Dbanj. Dbanj in his time was one of the hottest artistes not only in Nigeria but Africa. His songs spread throughout the continent and even other continents. He released songs like scapegoat, fall in love, Oliver twist, why me? and many other.
During his time, he won the best African act at the MTV Europe Awards 2007, Artist of the year at the MTV Africa Music Awards 2009, Best international act: Africa at the 2011 BET Awards and bestselling African Artist at the 2014 world music awards, Evolution award at the 2015 MTV Africa Music awards. He has also been nominated for many more. When he was at its peak, one could argue he did as much as Burna boy. He set the pace for younger African artistes.
Tuface Idibia on his own part has also made impact. He has also contributed his own quota to Africa Music industry. Many has described him as the father of Nigeria modern music. At his peak, he was also unstoppable. Just like Dbanj, he has won many awards, received numerous nominations, set new records. He is just in a level of his own. His talent still keeps him relevant in the music industry even after so many years.
Coming to the aspects of Wizkid and Davido they are legends in their own right. Both of them have managed to achieve things that only a few Nigerian artistes have. Wizkid for instance have been the only African artiste to have two songs he featured in in the Billboard top 100 songs with one reaching a platinum. Davido on the other hand is the most followed African artiste on social media. He is also the most viewed Nigerian artiste on YouTube with over 500 million views of all his uploads. Both of them have won a combined total of more than 20 awards. They have broken so many records and even set new ones. Their style of making music and the ways of generating music is almost second to none in Africa.
Bringing it to the female artistes, Teni, Tiwa savage, Yemi Alade and Angelique Kidjo are balling in the music industry. Angelique Kidjo recently won a Grammy for the best world album of 2019. Yemi Savage is the most viewed Nigerian Female artiste on YouTube. Tiwa Savage was recently signed to the Universal Music Group. She also has many hit songs to her name. Teni is probably the hottest Nigerian female artiste. She is making waves in the Nigerian music industry. 2018 and 2019 were her best years in the music industry as she fracked up many awards within these two years.
It is however worthy to note that Burna boy did so well in 2019. He was the best Nigerian Artiste in 2019. He released many hit songs in 2019. His album African Giant was a huge success. It was nominated for the best world album at the Grammys. He won so many awards the biggest being Best African Act at the MTV European Music Awards 2019, Best International Act at the BET award 2019. However, all this does not make him the outright best artiste since Fela Kuti.
He is one of the best artistes since Fela Kuti not the outright best. Maybe he just said this to hype himself and let people know how good he is. An Artiste should be very confident but he or she should also respect other artistes who have done very well in the Music Industry.
