It was no surprise to many that award-winning afrobeats singer, Damini Ogulu, aka Burna Boy, made it to the Time Magazine’s list of 100 Most Influential People in 2024.
The list, which was released on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, celebrated individuals who had shaped the world in the past year, spanning luminaries from diverse fields such as sports, entertainment, music and politics; all handpicked by cultural and political icons.
Burna Boy was nominated by Beninese singer, Angelique Kidjo. In her tribute to him on Times’ website, Kidjo wrote, “Ten years ago or so, when young African musicians would come to me for advice, I would tell them, ‘You don’t need to mimic American artistes. The world needs the amazing richness and beauty of our traditional African music and culture. This land is where most of modern music comes from. This source of inspiration is inexhaustible. Its freshness and its elegance will get the world’s attention for sure’.
