Burna Boy’s eighth studio album, No Sign of Weakness, is like a well-seasoned pot of jollof rice – plenty flavour, some burnt bits, orisirisi and a few surprise ingredients that might confuse your taste buds. It’s a genre-bending, emotionally charged excursion through love, life, lust, and plenty of gbas gbos.
For someone who has already crowned himself African Giant and declared he’s Twice as Tall, Burna still likes to para like someone starting out with something to prove despite the Grammy, the Met Gala and sold-out shows.
From the opening track “No Panic” to “Dem Dey”, “Kabiyesi”, and “Empty Chairs”, Burna seems to be fighting invisible battles. The man appears obsessed with chimerical haters from accusations of kidnapping to others he refused to buy a Lamborghini for.
On “Dem Dey”, he spits it out without holding back – “If you feel say I pompous / go to the bridge and jump off.”
From bragging and pompous lines, Burna Boy goes full Nollywood mode tapping into our collective memory with lines like “Kanayo Kanayo sacrifice all of you” – a direct nod to the king of ritual roles himself, Kanayo O Kanayo. Then from Nollywood, he seques smoothly to Hollywood to references to Harry Potter and Dumbledore.
Burna Boy is mixing “jazz” from different jurisdictions.
But the question remains: why all this shakara? Why the constant need to prove himself? This is full Okonkwo syndrome, the fear of being thought weak that Chinua Achebe explored in psychological depth in his novel, Things Fall Apart
The fickle music industry is a cesspit of fear and paranoia because one day you’re topping charts, and the next day you are competing with some pimply kid on TikTok..
Musically, the album is a buffet with an impressive menu. Burna revisits his early dancehall roots with Leriq, then jumps into trap with Travis Scott, mixes Afrobeats and country music with Shaboozey, goes full rockstar mode with Mick Jagger, before linking up with Stromae for some Francophone flavour.
“Buy You Life” brings that sweet highlife vibe that would have your favourite uncle bobbing his head while eating nkwobi in Surulere.“Sweet Love” is pure lovers rock, like something Gregory Isaacs would have cooked up.
But even with all this sonic variety, the album sometimes feels like a Nollywood film with too many subplots. The obsession with enemies and haters overshadows the deeper, more reflective moments. Tracks like “Love” and “Buy You Life” try to touch on life’s ups and downs, but Burna’s issues always get in the way.
Still, there are gems. “Change Your Mind” with Shaboozey is excellent—short but sweet, like puff-puff from a roadside vendor. “28 Grams” is Burna’s ode to weed, but deep down, it’s a love song. as he rhapsodises -“I no fit love you like I love marijuana,”
Then there’s “Tatata” and “Comme Gimme”—songs soaked in lust and coded language. Burna shows his romantic side, but in true Naija fashion, it’s laced with gra-gra and in a nod to the zeitgeist refers to the Dauda the Sexy Guy and Nackson of our times – Baltasar Egonga of Equitorial Guinea
For those who grew up when NTA was the main thing; “Update” with its Soul II Soul sample and the nod to Lagbaja’s “No do gra-gra for me” will have them in their feelings.
In the end, No Sign of Weakness is a solid album with vibes galore, message on point, but the overthinking is a distraction,
Burna Boy is still the African Giant, no doubt. But maybe, he needs to stop looking over his shoulder and start enjoying the view from the top even though it can be lonely as Asake sang.
