Burna Boy burning out gradually

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ù… Naira Marley too

The recent news in town about Burna Boy and Naira Marley (Marian), is sure not palatable. They are giving themselves bad images and denting their careers, all in an attempt to take after the late afrobeat king, Fela Anikulapo Kuti or step into his shoe.

Burna Boy only recently cut short  his fan’s celebration following his recent nomination for Grammy Awards with the  reports that he angrily walked off stage at a show and never returned just because the sound system put in place by the organisers developed a little hiccup. Suprisingly, after he walked off stage, the sound like electricity supply in Nigeria, was restored but Burna was nowhere near the vicinity. The young man did not consider the fact that he had been fully paid for the show neither did it occur to him that some people in the crowd came purposely to watch him perform.

If you think that that was the first time he put up with that behaviour, then read on.

He was also reported to have walked off the stage at an award ceremony organised by an influential music magazine. His anger was that he was not considered good enough for an award.

Zenith Bank Plc, one of Nigeria’s biggest banks, last year, had a feel of his rude boy attitude when he vamoosed from the financial institution’s organised show; and never returned.

For that singular act, the bank paid him back  in his own coin as it refused to feature him in this year’s edition of the same concert.

Similarly, Naira Marley, is another act whose misbehaviour is becoming lengendary. I need not bore you with the details of that but suffice to say that the recent car theft charge brought against him by the Nigeria Police Force, which prompted the judge handling the case to order his arrest and appearance before the lordship at the next hearing/adjourned date, is one allegation he may not escape so easily.

One has taken time to go this route because these are young creative people whose time have come but have chosen to ruin it themselves through their action.

The older generation musicians like Fela or Bob Marley they claim to imitate did not behave like this when they were alife. Yes. Fela and Bob were activist musicians  but their anger were directed against the system; they were ‘rebels’ with a cause. They never rebelled against promoters or fellow acts but the oppressive system.

While Fela was a torn on the flesh of the Nigeria system symbolised then by the khaki boys that ran things in Nigeria, Bob Marley was up in ‘lyrics’ with the apartheid system and all those that arrested African counties’ development.

But now, my two youngsters, Burna Boy and Naira Marley, are using their creativity against their constituency forgetting that there is a saying that ‘no star dances on the stage forever.’ If they are in doubt, they should look for stars of yesteryears and ask where are they now?  These are stars who were not just singers but instrumentalists. They have all faded away.

This is the reason the stars of today like Burna,Naira, Davido, et al should know that the stage is not theirs forever. They ought to take it easy; be level headed and humble as rascality pays nobody. The KSAs, Obeys and KWA1s of this world are not relevant because of their rascality, No! They are still there because of their respect for their fans and their skills.

The only time the Fela they all claim to look up to walked off show organisers was the ones organised in 1992 by Unversity of Lagos students when they became unruly and anarchy was looming and the Children of Africa Concert organised by the late Onwuka Kalu, the Okpuzu 1 of Abririba  whom Fela claimed short paid him by paying Shaba Ranks of Jamaica more than him; otherwise, Fela was known for his punctuality at shows if the organiser have fullfiled their own side of the bargain. A good example is Dapo Adelegan of DP Lekki Sunsplash who features the maverick musician in his concert regularly until it became a past tense.

Burna Boy and Naira Marley ought to use their music and songs to preach peace, love and unity not to elugoise criminals and crime, alcohol and drugs. They should be ā8good ambassadors and role models to their fellow young folks.

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