{"id":107603,"date":"2023-10-06T15:55:17","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T15:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/10\/06\/afrobeats-megastar-burna-boy-is-still-a-work-in-progress-his-mother-says\/"},"modified":"2023-10-06T15:55:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T15:55:17","slug":"afrobeats-megastar-burna-boy-is-still-a-work-in-progress-his-mother-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/10\/06\/afrobeats-megastar-burna-boy-is-still-a-work-in-progress-his-mother-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Afrobeats megastar Burna Boy is still ‘a work in progress’, his mother says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Under his mother’s management, Burna Boy has become a leading Afrobeats artist.\n<\/p>

\n \n\n \n

Burna Boy has had an incredible year.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nigerian megastar made history as the first African musician to headline a sold-out stadium show in the US, as well as the UK. Meanwhile, his latest album, I Told Them…, shot into the top 10 in charts across the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, according to his mother, Burna Boy has not yet fulfilled his potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I admire the diligence, the hard work but he’s still a work in progress,” Bose Ogulu, who also manages the Afrobeats singer, told the BBC’s Nyasha Michelle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There are many more milestones to attain. We need to not just step down and look at what we’ve done, but keep doing more.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Affectionately dubbed Mama Burna by fans, Ms Ogulu rivals Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner for the title of ultimate “momager”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mama Burna learnt the trade from her own father, who managed the late Nigerian icon Fela Kuti. Away from music, she’s also an accomplished businesswoman and linguist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I ran a language school for 18 years. I quickly understood the power of languages and the power of culture,” Ms Ogulu, who on Sunday joined the likes of Stormzy, Mohamed Salah and Mo Farah as a Best of Africa award-winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to manage Burna, Ms Ogulu had to step away from the language school – a decision she says she was confident in making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I have known since he was probably 13 or 14 that he was going to be great at something. I had already seen him in the studio, I had already watched him form a high school band,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“From when he was in JSS3, which I think would be Year 9, we started trading studio time for grades. I would say: ‘OK, if you make a B or an A in this, I’ll pay for studio time during your mid-term’.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, she “wasn’t prepared” for Burna Boy to drop out of university in order to pursue his burgeoning music career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said: “That was my problem, like ‘OK you can do this, but you’re almost there. How about you just finish this degree programme’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That’s where the African in me came out. Together his father, my father and I sat down and told him the consequences of doing it his way and he was like: ‘That’s fine’.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burna Boy has since won a Grammy and toured the world with his music, so the gamble has clearly paid off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So where do the mother-son duo go from here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If we’re doing four stadiums, let’s do 10,” Ms Ogulu said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There’s always a higher level to get to – and that should be our focus.”<\/p>\n \n

DISCLAIMER: <\/strong>The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.<\/p> \n \n \n\n \n \n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under his mother’s management, Burna Boy has become a leading Afrobeats artist. Burna Boy has had an incredible year. The Nigerian megastar made history as the first African musician to headline a sold-out stadium show in the US, as well as the UK. Meanwhile, his latest album, I Told Them…, shot into the top 10 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment"],"yoast_head":"\nAfrobeats megastar Burna Boy is still 'a work in progress', his mother says - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/10\/06\/afrobeats-megastar-burna-boy-is-still-a-work-in-progress-his-mother-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Afrobeats megastar Burna Boy is still 'a work in progress', his mother says - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Under his mother’s management, Burna Boy has become a leading Afrobeats artist. 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