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Entertainment of Wednesday, 4 March 2020

Source: www.mynigeria.com

My goal is the "eventual unity of Africa" - Burna Boy

Burna Boy    | Photo: @BurnaBoy / TW Burna Boy | Photo: @BurnaBoy / TW

Afrobeat superstar, Burna Boy has revealed that the number one goal for all his efforts is to ensure "eventual unity of Africa".

Burna was quoted during an extensive interview exclusive to GQ story, stating that "the reason for everything I do and how I do it is for one goal and one goal only, and that's the eventual unity of Africa."

The Grammy Awards nominee is the centre of a features profile from men's lifestyle magazine GQ Style, entitled "Burna Boy, Global Giant" which sees the artist addressing several "hot topics," surrounding his life and career.

Part of Burna's aspiration for the continent includes a united Africa.

Other issues he spoke about are comparisons to the Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, as well as the comments he made last year about refusing to perform in South Africa following a spate of xenophobic attacks in the country, which led to the cancellation of the 'Africans Unite' concert, which he was set to headline.

"It's all just very fucked-up and twisted, and I wish to God that it wasn't so, but it is, and all I can do is try and do my part to change it, no matter how small that part is," he says about the divisive response to the matter. "It's almost as if the oppressors have won when the oppressed start acting like this."

He continues:

"There's too much going on in the world for everybody to just care about being fucking rich and fucking Instagram-clouded; everybody can't be that," he rails. "The more of that there is, the more the world suffers, and what's important just goes down the drain and the downward spiral continues. It's even accelerated. Now is the time. Everybody should wake the fuck up. South Africa and the whole of Africa needs to wake the fuck up."

On the matter of comparisons between him and the iconic Nigerian musician Fela Kuti—a topic that sparked a debate last month when Burna referred to himself as "the best since Fela Kuti" in a since deleted tweet—the artist insists that such talk actually makes him uncomfortable.

"Fela is my inspiration and my childhood hero, so if you think comparing me to Fela is honorable, it's actually not," he tells the magazine. "It actually makes me feel weird. Fela was Fela, and if it wasn't for Fela, there probably wouldn't be any me, so I don't understand the comparison."