Seun Kuti, a Nigerian musician, voiced his frustration over the media’s tendency to attribute achievements of the music industry notables like himself to the Afrobeats sensation, Burna Boy. He highlighted instances where Burna Boy was wrongly credited with accolades that others had earned before him. For example, Burna Boy was mistakenly proclaimed as the first artist to perform at Coachella in 2020, a title that Seun Kuti already held from his 2012 performance at the festival. Additionally, Seun Kuti pointed out that his album ‘Black Times’ had been previously nominated for Best World Music Album, yet no African award organization acknowledged it.
The musician also expressed disappointment that even after receiving a Grammy nomination for his contributions to Janelle Monae’s ‘Age of Pleasure,’ which was in the running for Album of the Year at the 2024 Grammys, the media overlooked him in their coverage of Nigerian nominees for the prestigious music award.
Seun Kuti shared his feelings;
“My brother [Femi Kuti] has been nominated at the Grammys multiple times. They’ve nominated me, I was also nominated in the last edition. It was only my name that they [Nigerian media] didn’t mention among the Nigerian artistes who were nominated for the 66th Grammys.
That’s what they do every time as if I’m from Togo. That’s how they said Burna boy was the first Nigerian artiste to play in Coachella in 2020 where me I’ve played in 2012 as if I’m from Togo”.
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