Tuesday, 19th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

“Twice As Tall” By Burna Boy – Full Album Review

By Tobiloba Olakolu and Chisom Njoku
14 August 2020   |   1:59 pm
A revolutionary, a warrior, a force, a movement, a giant, all characters of Burna boy. On his immediate past album “African Giant”, Burna Boy called for a fearless revolution across the continent and the worldwide diaspora reminding Black people everywhere that “they were Africans before they became anything else”. The album earned the Nigerian artist…

A revolutionary, a warrior, a force, a movement, a giant, all characters of Burna boy. On his immediate past album “African Giant”, Burna Boy called for a fearless revolution across the continent and the worldwide diaspora reminding Black people everywhere that “they were Africans before they became anything else”. The album earned the Nigerian artist his first Grammy nomination and centred his ambitions: to empower African youth to access their power, on their own terms.

After 13 months of dominance post the release of his 4th studio album, he took charge once again on “Twice As Tall”, his fifth studio album. Through the 15 track project, he takes the world by storm with a variety of sounds ranging from dancehall to Afrobeats.

Bringing the best collective forces of producers such as Timbaland, Telz, Rexxie, LeriQ, Jae5, and many more to work on the album, he taps legend, Sean “Diddy” Combs and “momager”, Bose Ogulu for executive production.
Even though according to Burna the album was 80% done before Diddy came on, he still heavily contributed to it.
“he was working around the clock—non-stop trying to add to this project and deliver for me, and make it really special.”

The album which was ushered by Diddy’s voice, “Twice As Tall” declares Burna Boys’ domination and as each track showed domination, he told his stories, love, and tales of Africa through his eyes. As each track travelled from Western traditions and back to Africa, his lyrics also transitioned and touched major African cultures. He sang in English, pidgin, Patwa, Yoruba, Kenya, and Igbo.

Burna Boy. Photo NME

Featuring artistes like Sauti Sol, Naughty by Nature, Stormzy, Youssou N’ dor, and Chris Martin, Burna Boy made them share their stories from their point of view, using their various talents.
Furthermore, the production quality on the album is supreme as it has a crystal sound, the best base, and strings I’ve heard so far on an album this year. All tracks were accompanied by solid productions suited with amazing vocals.

READ MORE: Opal Tometi: Co-Founder Of Black Lives Matter Writes For The Guardian Life On Her Special Cover

READ MORE:  Misan Harriman Covers The Guardian Life

The Black Lives Matter movement was also referenced on the album as his mum gave an iconic speech on the album midway about the power we as blacks have. She said, “Black people are turning the tables, taking back our place and we will be heard because we matter”. This goes to show one of the reasons why Burna Boy is a revolutionary and why “Twice as Tall” is a significant album for the artiste and Africa at large.

Towards the end of the album, Diddy said, “There’s a lot of music out right now but it ain’t life. You hearing it and it’s like movement. The music you making is life. New life”.

This is the whole album. This is Burna Boy. It’s a movement, it’s life. This is “Twice As Tall”. This soul-stirring blend of dancehall, pop, R&B, and Afrobeat has set the bar higher than it’s ever been as Burna himself has rarely sounded so impassioned.

0 Comments