‘Outside’ he came off the back of a disappointing second album that failed to position him for the success he desired. Circa 2018, Burna Boy was an artist whose talent was undoubted, but his career and status drifted through the purgatory space of Afrobeats. He was a star but not a superstar in the ranks of Wizard, daviddoY olamide which was where he longed to be.
For Burna Boy, it wasn’t a question of talent or ability, as he had always shown that he possessed them in abundance. It was more a question of his ability to reach the top level in the midst of a love/hate relationship he shared with the industry.
At that point in his career, what he needed went beyond good music. Clearly, the acceptance from the fans wasn’t enough to get the giant chip off their shoulders. What he needed was a song that would propel his fame far and wide, and raise his profile to the level he craved. Burna Boy needed luck and ‘Outside’ He came bringing gifts.
The album delivered 13 songs that 5 years later are still some of the best records he’s ever made. when he released ‘Outside’, Burna Boy was still very much a Dancehall artist whose music draws from Carrebean Dancehall, Ajegunle’s Ragga style and Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat.
Thematically, the album was personal in that it did not explore the usual themes of women, money, fame, and pleasure. For the most part, Burna Boy talked about himself.
He examined his reality that presented him as a misfit in the mainstream of Nigerian music. He shared memories of his experiences as a child growing up on the streets of Port Harcourt and retained the art conscious part of him.
The album achieved a sonic coherence in a way that only a few Nigerian artists could achieve at the time. On record ridiculously good ‘Heaven’s Door’ where it appeared Lily allendelivered what is still one of the best performances in Afrobeats.
in the tracks ‘Where I’m from’ Y ‘devil in california’, he displayed a calligraphy that none of his contemporaries could replicate. And in ‘YE’ he displayed an effortless ability to make music in a way that no other artist could match.
He made an effort to give the Nigerian audience something to dance to. ‘Rock Your Body’ while attracting international listeners with ‘Heaven’s Door’. However, it was the Afrobeat record ‘YE’ which is largely a freestyle that lacks the commercial appeal that resonated more with listeners.
The album received critical acclaim but was by all indications not destined for commercial success until lady luck played a part. American megastar Kanye West released an EP in the same month that he called ‘YE’And the rest, as they say, is history.
5 years after its release, ‘Outside’ it figures prominently in the Burna Boy catalogues, and a case can be made for it as a classic.
Is it Burna Boy’s most important album?
For its tremendous career-changing effect, this writer is bound to say yes. Without ‘Outside’ Y ‘YE’, there may not have been the existing version of Burna Boy, the world-renowned, Grammy-winning Afrobeats-exporting megastar.
