Buju Banton - "Reggae Music Fight to Free Africa, but No African Artist Sings to Free Africa, Just Fukkery!!"

StackorStarve

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It's silly because in Jamaica, the most popular genre of music is Dancehall. Why is Buju Banton not discussing dancehall music in Jamaica and its themes?

This is why op's thread is terrible and he's likely a white supremacist like Clarence Thomas or Uncle Ruckus
@Busted_Toes
I don’t think that’s a fair assumption . I didn’t watch the whole interview he may have talked about dancehall too. Buju is a legend so I’m going to give him the benefit of doubt but to each their own. I don’t think he has real beef with anybody he’s just speaking on what he’s seen and he did shout some african artists out
 

Unemployed GM

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It ain’t worth it. If Afrobeats artists start making songs that are political, the opps that tied to the elites in the government are going to be their coming to their concerts with the choppas out.
 

Nkrumah Was Right

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I don’t think that’s a fair assumption . I didn’t watch the whole interview he may have talked about dancehall too. Buju is a legend so I’m going to give him the benefit of doubt but to each their own. I don’t think he has real beef with anybody he’s just speaking on what he’s seen and he did shout some african artists out

Not speaking on Buju Banton but rather @Busted_Toes - who probably created this thread to spark another round of Africa diaspora v Africa argumentation.

Well, OP will say - "I'm just posting a video!"
 

Wig Twistin Season

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I see both sides of it unfortunately. Outside of the short lived BLM movement (not the organization) there hasn’t been a focus to have social commentary in mainstream media. Up until Kamala Harris stepped into her presidential campaign, even left leaning news sources were covering the blatant racism in the MAGA movement like it was just a difference in political ideology and not what it truly is.

Now it’s ok to speak truthfully because there’s a brown face the news can turn to as an example of black exceptionalism. Everyone can see it as plain as day. The flip side of that is when a common black person says the same basic things (these racists are weird, for example) we’re labeled as radical and looking for racism as an excuse.

The world sees it. Kids see it. Artists see it. So to avoid the ostracism that comes from speaking up and career suicide, people go back to pretending everything is fine.
 

Nkrumah Was Right

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I see both sides of it unfortunately. Outside of the short lived BLM movement (not the organization) there hasn’t been a focus to have social commentary in mainstream media. Up until Kamala Harris stepped into her presidential campaign, even left leaning news sources were covering the blatant racism in the MAGA movement like it was just a difference in political ideology and not what it truly is.

Now it’s ok to speak truthfully because there’s a brown face the news can turn to as an example of black exceptionalism. Everyone can see it as plain as day. The flip side of that is when a common black person says the same basic things (these racists are weird, for example) we’re labeled as radical and looking for racism as an excuse.

The world sees it. Kids see it. Artists see it. So to avoid the ostracism that comes from speaking up and career suicide, people go back to pretending everything is fine.

I think you're writing about things from a VERY American perspective.
 

bnew

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Burna boy said afrobeat is about nothing




Burna Boy says “there’s no substance” to most Afrobeats music​


The comments were quick to spark backlash from fans

By Liberty Dunworth

24th August 2023

Burna Boy performs onstage during Day 1 of the Afro Nation Detroit Festival on August 19, 2023
Burna Boy performs onstage during Day 1 of the Afro Nation Detroit Festival on August 19, 2023. CREDIT: Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images
Burna Boy has shared his thoughts on the Afrobeats genre, criticising it for lacking any “substance”.


The Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer made the comments in a new interview with Apple Music. Speaking with host Zane Lowe, he recalled his less-than-fond take on the genre, and pointed out how he believes the majority of Afrobeats music is lacking in any deeper meaning.

This, he explained, is because he sees many of the artists as lacking any real “life experience”, which results in their final product being about “nothing”.

“Half of them, [actually,] 90 per cent of them, have almost no real-life experiences that they can understand,” he claimed in the discussion. “That’s why you hear most Nigerian music, African Music, or Afrobeats, as people call it, is mostly about nothing, literally nothing.”

“There is no substance to it, like nobody is talking about anything. It’s just a great time, an amazing time,” Burna Boy added. “But at the end of the day, life isn’t an amazing time.”

Unsurprisingly, the comments quickly sparked upset from fans and clips of the interview soon spread across social media, where many called out the musician for his take on the genre.

“Him talking about substance, what have he said bout d hardship we been through in Nigeria,” one user wrote on Twitter, blasting him for his comments. “How many times have he sang about this cruel government… What have he said about ds passed election?”

Another agreed, describing the opinion as “ignorance at its peak”. “A great time is not ‘nothing’. It is something. Something tangible. Afrobeats has lifted a lot of people out of depression,” they added. “@burnaboy should stop capping rubbish just because he wants to sell his album.”

Him talking about substance, what have he said bout d hardship we been through in Nigeria… How many times have he sang about this cruel government… What have he said about ds passed election, the subsidy removal what have contributed to it rather than to flex his life…

— mizzy (@grnd_mizzy) August 23, 2023

This is ignorance at its peak! A great time is not 'nothing'. It is something. Something tangible. Afrobeats has lifted a lot of people out of depression. During #EndSARS protested using Davido's FEM as our anthem. @burnaboy should stop capping rubbish just because he wants to…

— Dr. Kelvin Alaneme (@Kelvin_Alaneme) August 23, 2023

Some fans on the other hand offered an alternate take, and shared their solidarity with the musician after he criticised the genre.

“What Burna said is the truth. He tells [a] story and that should be the essence of music. He is an objective person, they mostly appear as being arrogant,” one wrote.

A second added that “Burna Boy didn’t even tell a single lie about his perspective on AfroBeats as a genre and not having ‘substance’ whatsoever,” claiming that it is his reluctance to “sugarcoat” his views that “makes him different entirely from the rest”.

What Burna said is the truth. He tells story and that should be the essence of music. He is an objective person, they mostly appear as being arrogant.

— ± (@yashim_jonathan) August 24, 2023

Burna Boy didn’t even tell a single lie about his perspective on AfroBeats as a genre and not having “substance” whatsoever, truth is bitter and will always be bitter and that’s what makes him different entirely from the rest. Burna Boy stands out amongst the whole industry… pic.twitter.com/nZKkAlc8xl

— benny. (@benny7gg) August 22, 2023

In other Burna Boy news, yesterday (August 23) the musician shared his latest single, ‘Cheat On Me’, featuring Dave.

The track is taken from his upcoming seventh album ‘I Told Them’, which will be released tomorrow (August 25) via Spaceship/Bad Habit/Atlantic Records, and also came alongside an announcement of an intimate London show.
 

African Peasant

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Afrobeats is the genre that has the worlds ear(therefore the diaspora’s ear)right now though. No mainstream afrobeats artist has a song about pan Africanism? An oppressed people with a genre as big as afrobeat should talk about their oppression, no?
This is like asking why K pop artists are not making revolutionary music about the opprssive capitalism in South Korea.

There are dozens of africans artists singing abiut the struggle for decades.

You won't find them among the 'afrobeats' singer. It's not its purpose/DNA

Afrobeat (without the S) had Fela Kuti: he sang about oppression :
 

King Poetic

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I have to watch this interview later tonight to get a understanding

From a standpoint of commercial music, I don’t think any music genre speaks on free Africa
 
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