Burna Boy
Nigerian afro pop/dancehall artiste and song writer, Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu Rex, aka Burna Boy, has won the Best International Act award at the 2020 BET Awards.
Burna Boy becomes the first artiste to win the BET Best International Act award for two years in a row.
The Nigerian artiste, who has performed on a number of local and international platforms, beats music acts like Stormzy and Dave – both UK based artistes, Ninho and S.Pri Noir (France), Sho Madjozi (South Africa) and Innoss’B (DRC) to win the award.
Some of the award winners at the ceremony included Shasha – Best New Int. Act; Roddy Ricch – Album of the Year; Beyonce – Best Female R&B/Pop Artiste; Chris Brown – Best Male R&B/Pop Artiste; and Da Baby – Best Male Hip Hop Artiste among others.
Burna Boy rose to prominence in 2012 after releasing Like to Party, the lead single from his debut studio album L.I.F.E (2013).
In 2017, Burna Boy signed with Bad Habit/Atlantic Records in the United States and Warner Music Group. His third studio album, Outside, marked his major-label debut.
In 2019, he won Best International Act at the 2019 BET Awards and was announced as an Apple Music Up Next artist.
His fourth studio album, African Giant, was released in July 2019. It 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.
This year’s edition of BET Awards marks its 20th anniversary. The annual event first kicked off in 2001 as a way of celebrating black excellence and achievements in music, acting, sports and all venues of entertainment, and has kept its mission statement going strong since.
By George Clifford Owusu