Asides the just concluded Big Brother Lockdown Reality TV series, a major trending topic in pop culture in the past month has been the release of Oluwa Burna’s fifth studio album ‘Twice as Tall’ which was released on the 14th of August, 2020, by Spaceship Entertainment, Atlantic Records and Warner Music. Before then, Burna Boy blessed his fans a month earlier with the album’s lead single ‘Wonderful.’ The album release was accompanied by a comic book ‘The Secret Flame’, which captures Burna Boy’s journey of self discovery and artistry.
For the album, Burna Boy enlisted the services of international and African talents, speaking of artists and producers who collaborated on the project. Youssou N’Dour, Naughty by Nature, Sauti Sol, Chris Martin and Stormzy are all featured on the album, while producers on the project include Timbaland, Rexxie, LeriQ and Mike Dean. Throw Diddy in as the Executive Producer and the magic spell was complete.
Obviously, the success of his previous album ‘African Giant’ hasn’t taken away any steam off his wheels or put him under any pressure he can’t handle. Burna Boy with ‘Twice As Tall’ has delivered a body of work that blurs genres while maintaining his Afro beat roots breaking several records in the process. It can be argued that the Fela-esque ‘Alarm Clock’ is the only pure Afro beat song in the album.
From the first track on the album ‘Level Up’, Burna Boy sets the tone and major preoccupation of the album; celebrating his achievements whilst also driving the Pan-African campaign. A confident Burna Boy even declares himself a legend.
When it comes to lyrical content, style and delivery, Burna Boy stands twice as tall above any music heavyweight in Africa. He is an artist in his element. He knows his craft and is unapologetic in his use of it. So he can be excused when he boasts in songs like ‘Wetin Dey Sup’ and Way Too Big’ that he’s not on the level of his peers. He sings:
Been on a landslide for a long time but they know wan believe me
All of una combined, shey you wan try, oya do am if e easy
Listening to the album, is riding on Burna’s rollercoaster. ‘Bebo’ is a groovy track for the party lovers, in ‘Onyeka’, Burna Boy professes his love for a woman, goes inspirational on ‘Time Flies’ and ‘Real Life’, then takes us back to the 90’s with ‘Naughty’ which features American rap group Naughty By Nature. The conscious ‘Monsters you made’ reveals his political vision as well as the state of mind of an artist that has evolved with time.
The album is for the youths, old folks, millennials, rich, poor, lovers, name it. In summary, it’s a feast and Burna Boy is serving. The only negative that can be said about the album is that it is addictive. ‘Twice As Tall’ definitely cements Burna’s status on the world music map.
