The recent rift between the acclaimed African Giant, Burna Boy, and one of Nigeria’s ace musical talents and veteran rappers, Eidrees Abdulkareem, has become an issue of concern to many Nigerians across certain divides, as fans, loyalists, critics, experienced professionals, and even ordinary people share their thoughts over the abusive words that made their way into the public space from either of the aforementioned Nigerian creatives and targeted directly at each other. This raises the question of who should succumb to pressure or who should accord some respect to others.
Both Burna Boy and Eedris Abdulkareem are popular and successful music artists in Nigeria and have both left their distinct marks in the industry, both locally and internationally. However, while Eeidris seemed to have taken a break or seemingly left the industry, it can be said that Burna Boy is currently in his era. This forms the basis upon which lots of people would argue that Burna Boy is currently a bigger artist than the former.
But aside from that, Eedris had been in the industry long before his rival’s arrival. A dive into his professional career would reveal that the rapper, who was born on December 24, 1974, has been active in the industry since 1996. A complete period of 28 years within which he obtained the title of most influential Nigerian rapper of all time. He is one of the pioneers of Nigerian hip-hop and was the lead rapper of the defunct Nigerian hip-hop boy band “The Remedies,” which consisted of Tony Tetuila and Eddy Remedy (also known as Eddy Montana).
He is well known for his song “Jaga Jaga,” which was released in 2004 and was used to address several societal issues, he categorically described Nigeria as not just being grossly disorganized but also as one of the worst countries in the world, with the issue of bad leadership taking center stage and depicting that it had become endemic to the nation. With the release of the song, Eedris invoked consciousness amongst Nigerians, reminding them of the poverty level in the country. The government of President Olusegun Obasanjo at the time, however, frowned at the song and placed an immediate ban on it, preventing it from being aired on broadcast stations across the country. But that did not hinder the commercial success of the song, nor did it stall its popularity. It rather aided in solidifying the rapper’s phenomenal attributes in the music industry.
Burna Boy, on the other hand, rose to stardom in 2012 with his debut studio album, “L.I.F.E.: Leaving an Impact for Eternity,” which featured hit tracks like “Like to Party” and “Tonight.” He is also known for his eclectic style of music, which addresses societal issues while often sampling sounds from one of his sources of inspiration, the legendary Fela Kuti, amongst others. Burna Boy calls his music “Afro-fusion” as he blends Afrobeat with traditional African rhythms and elements of reggae, dancehall, and hip-hop. Burna Boy has undoubtedly received multiple awards for his musical dexterity and is currently celebrated as the only African artist with the most Grammy award nominations. He has received 11 nominations and won one.
The disagreement between Burna Boy and Eedris began after the latter, in a recent interactive session on “The Honest Bunch” podcast, said it was unreasonable for Burna Boy to say that no one helped him in the industry and that he attained his career success by himself. Eedris said that the statement Burna Boy made sometime in 2020 was “stupid talk” and that older creatives such as himself had laid the foundation for the music industry in Nigeria and that Burna was flying on the wings that they hatched.
Reacting, Burna, in a now-deleted post, not only threatened to settle the score with the veteran rapper whenever they crossed paths but also went as far as mentioning Abdulkareem’s recent kidney battle.
He wrote: “Abdul Kareem abi wetin dem dey call your papa; I no blame you. I blame people who donate money for your hospital bills. And I wish to say you are a person who fit to enter the kind places wey I dey dey make we use mistake jam.”
This has raised mixed reactions from netizens and fellow Nigerians. While some think that Burna Boy was being disrespectful to the veteran rapper, others think that Eedris should rather accord Burna Boy his due respect as the African giant is now a bigger artist.
