The Spotlight Five!
This month of June we are highlighting the hottest artists making waves in June
Artist: Burna Boy
This article takes a look at some of Nigeria's hottest musical artists breaking the mold and topping charts with their various sounds and fusion of different genres of music
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Ruger
Sweet-voiced Nigerian Afro-dancehall singer Michael Adebayo who is professionally known as Ruger is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. Ruger made his debut on the 20th of January, 2021, on the label’s single ‘One Shirt‘ featuring D’Prince, Rema, and Ruger. After the release of One Shirt, Ruger released his first music project ‘Pandemic’, a six-track EP, and the record ‘Bounce’ off the EP was a hit record that stayed at the top in various Nigerian music charts at the time of release and was among the Top 100 songs in Apple Music Nigeria for weeks. Ruger is signed to D'Prince's Jonzing World, with no affiliation to MAVIN Records. It is a joint-venture with Columbia/Sony Music. After D'Prince discovered the artist, he was approached by Columbia records and the deal was done
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Amaarae
Ama Serwah Genfi known professionally as Amaarae, is a Ghanaian-American singer, songwriter, producer, and engineer born in New York and raised between Atlanta and Accra.She is known for her work around representation and gender in music. She is an artist who describes herself and her sound as an eclectic blend of bold, yet sexy lyricism and longing vulnerable melodies, The 26-year-old’s voice is nothing short of seraphic. A truly multifacted artist Amaarae has placed her mark firmly in Africa’s bubbling new sub-genre; Alté. Her eclectic sound and cool demeanor, coupled with her bold colored hair have solidified her as one of the best new artists to watch. She has also arrived with a fourteen-track, genre-bending statement of intent that takes listeners on a trance-y trip through her escapades as well as her ebbs titled "THE ANGEL YOU DONT KNOW"
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Olamide
From a Lagos slum, Olamide became one of Africa’s biggest music stars. A new, global deal is taking his vivid pop to the wider world.Olamide grew up listening to Yoruba music legends such as King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal and King Sunny Adé, but it was the contrast of DMX’s growling bars and Jay-Z’s ice-cool lyrics that appealed to him when he started making his own music. He is now advertised on the side of London buses and has scored millions of global streams, with a versatile artistry that spans delicate Afropop and harder dance tracks as Yoruba lyrics bleed into English and back again. On his latest studio album, "UY Scuti" the singer goes on full lover boy mode, with pop-heavy melodies that showcases his skilled musicianship.
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Blaqbonez
Blaqbonez born Akumefule Chukwu-Emeka, and the self proclaimed Best Rapper in Africa, is one of Nigeria’s most promising artists on the scene today. In a recent single, the afrobeats heavy “BBC” (no, not the British Broadcasting Corporation), was just remixed with a feature from Tiwa Savage, pushing the once internet battle rapper ever further into the mainstream.Blaqbonez released his debut album "Sex Over Love" with features from Joeboy, Nasty C, Amaarae, and Bad Boy Timz which has gained popularity with one of his songs "bling" reaching number one status for a number of weeks on apple music.This is sure to propel the artist to yet another level of prestige.
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Burna Boy
Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, known professionally as Burna Boy is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and rapper. He is one of the biggest and most successful African artists. In 2017 Burna Boy signed with Bad Habit/Atlantic Records in the United States and Warner Music Group internationally.In 2019, he won Best International Act at the 2019 BET Awards andHis fourth studio album African Giant released in July 2019 won Album of the Year at the 2019 All Africa Music Awards and was nominated for Best World Music Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.He was awarded the African Artist of the year at the 2020 VGMA's. In 2020, his album Twice as Tall was nominated for the same category at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, making him the first Nigerian with back-to-back nominations at the Grammys.In 2021, he won the award for Best World Music Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards and recently won another award for the Best international act at the BET awards 2021. Burna boy is definately one of th hottest artists on the scene and we look forward to more of his achievements to come.
Check out Burna Boy on Instagram