Who is pressuring Burna Boy?
Plus: Ayra Star, Zikoko Life, Iyabo Ojo, Rema, Akin Faminu, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, Sound Sultan and more...
Welcome to The Feed, where Dennis is excited about the weekend and can’t wait to dive into Zikoko Life, the series of short films that will drop on our YouTube channel tomorrow. Today's edition has all the details.
Burna Boy is on a press tour for his new album, No Sign of Weakness, which dropped today. Critics are already diving into forming their thoughts on it. But an interview that he did with the American news wire, the AP, has really caught my attention.
I think we have known for some time that Burna’s attitude towards Nigerians on any given day is erratic. But that he felt we had placed too many expectations on him is something I didn’t see coming. Have we tried to humble him in the way we sometimes do when we think people are full of themselves? Yes. But his claim that we blame him for everything is, I think is wild.
“I feel blessed. I also feel great responsibility … I’m blamed for everything, most especially, things I couldn’t possibly be responsible for…I don’t vote, and I’ve never done it,” he said in the interview.
My issue with the take is that Burna has long offered himself as a voice of the voiceless, an artist who makes conscious music. It is possible that some online have called him out for his politics, but that he is blamed for the woes of Nigeria is something that I must have missed. Let me know what you think in the comments. The full quote and link to the interview comes later in this edition.
We have created this form for feedback, and we’d like to hear your thoughts in the coming days. Please feel free to share some with us.
Celebrity
→ Iyabo Ojo Clears the Air: Iyabo Ojo has responded after critics paraded the streets with her picture, over claims that she accused some people of being involved in the death of the musician Mohbad. “I understand that Mohbad’s wife, brother, and several others were also invited by the police. However, it should be on record that I can not dictate how the police should conduct their investigations,” she said on Instagram.
→ Rema is innocent no more: Just like I posted two weeks ago, Rema is done being a child star. In a series of posts on X, he said that his innocent phase is over.
“I showed signs from the Artworks leading to Ravage how my innocence ( teddy bear & roses ) was dying. In these covers the Teddy was either found in grave sites, burning , stabbed with arrows, trunks, surrounded with swords etc. the roses were always found burning but I guessed y’all missed the message,” he said. See the post here.
→ Consciously coupling: Fashion creator Akin Faminu popped the question to his girlfriend Kiky Festus this week.
Online Entry
→ WeAreAllNatasha: On Thursday, Senate President Godswill Akpabio suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan as chairman of the Senate Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations. This comes months after she accused the Senate president of sexual harassment.
Bops
→ Sound Sultan lives on: The family of the late musician Sound Sultan posted a tribute video to him, four years after his passing.
→ Reekado Banks again: Reekado Banks has released his latest album, The Game Needs You.
→ No Sign of Weakness: Burna Boy released his eighth album, No Sign of Weakness. In an interview with the AP promoting the album, he spoke about Nigerians' expectations of him.
“I feel blessed. I also feel great responsibility … I’m blamed for everything, most especially, things I couldn’t possibly be responsible for…I don’t vote, and I’ve never done it. But now, it’s to the point where even that: if I don’t vote, because I don’t say I’ll vote for this person or vote for that person, it’s a problem,” he said. Read the full interview here.
→ The Best New Music This Week:
>> Burna Boy has dropped the video of his song with Shaboozey, “Change Your Mind.”
>> Korede Bello has released a new song, “Sugar.”
→ Recommendation: Tems dropped by Afronation for a performance this week. See a clip below:
Cine Club
→ Zikoko Life: Zikoko has an anthology of short films based on our running series, Naira Life, Love Life and Love Currency, which will be dropping tomorrow on YouTube called Zikoko Life. See the trailer below:
→ Nigerian box office:
Pod Gems
→ The Business of Music: Music executive Lanre Masha appeared on Okay Africa’s Afrobeats Intelligence with Joey Akan podcast this week. See an excerpt below:
→ ISWIS: The ladies of I Said What I Said chatted about emotional disconnection in the latest episode.
Baffs
→ Spotted: Ayra Star on stage with Colplay.
Bookshelf
→ Cover Girl: The literary journal Lọ́unlọ́un is now accepting submissions. The deadline is August 31, 2025.
One Good Article
This week, my One Good Article is this piece that Marv Tomide wrote about Goodgirl LA’s latest album, Goodgirl. After two years, the musician returns with a pop album celebrating female sexual liberation.