Diddy praises Burna Boy in New York Times interview

The New York Times disclosed that Combs had come onboard when the production of the album was at an advanced stage. Nonetheless, a self-admitted lover of hit records, his task was to provide “fresh ears”. Combs also finds Burna Boy’s latest album as a “a modern but pure, unapologetic African body of work.” 

“He, like every artist, he wants his music to be heard by the world," Combs was quoted as saying by the publication. "He doesn’t care about crossing over. You know, he’s not trying to get hot. He’s not, like, ‘I want to be a big pop star’ – he’s already a star. He wants his music to be heard, his message, his people.”

The Bad Boy Entertainment founder also submitted that he learnt from Burna Boy "the importance of what he’s doing for his nation and representing the people that aren’t really heard globally."

“Through this album, I think it’s important for Africa to be heard. And so it’s bigger than just an album. He’s not just on a musical artist trip. He’s a revolutionary. His conviction is serious,” Combs said.

In the feature, Burna Boy also delves into his creative process: “I’ve never picked up a pen and paper and written down a song in my life. It all just comes, like someone is standing there and telling me what to say. It’s all according to the spirits. Some of us are put on this earth to do what we do.”

Among other thoughts, Burna Boy speaks about the responsibility that has attended his stardom as well as his desire for a united Africa.

“I want my children to have an African passport, not a Nigerian passport,” he said. “I do not identify with any tribe. I do not identify with any country. I do not identify with anything, really. I identify with the world in the universe  –  I believe I am a citizen of the world, and I have a responsibility to the world. But at the same time in the world, it’s my people who are really getting the short end of the stick. It’s just doing what I have to do when I have to do it.”

Twice as Tall is the follow-up to Burna Boy’s Grammy-nominated album African Giant. Collaborators on the project include Youssou N’Dour, Sauti Sol and American hip hop vets Naughty by Nature.

Read The New York Times interview here.