Burna Boy Jamaican Connection Revealed

Burna Boy Jamaican connection runs deep. The Afrobeats star recalls feeling more Jamaican while living in Brixton and being influenced by reggae music

The Burna Boy Jamaican connection runs deeper than many fans realise. The Grammy Award-winning Afrobeats star has revealed that during his time living in Brixton, London, he felt more Jamaican than Nigerian.

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In a new interview with Capital Xtra, Burna Boy explained how his environment and the music he listened to shaped his identity at the time.

“Jamaica has always been a part of me — from my dad playing Super Cat and stuff when I was a kid to me ending up in Brixton, when almost every Nigerian in the UK was either in school or in Peckham. I ended up in Brixton,” he said.

The artist shared that the strong Caribbean influence around him left a lasting impression. “So, I considered myself more Jamaican at the time simply for the fact that everyone around me was Jamaican and Caribbean. There were minimal Nigerians around me at that time.”

Burna Boy added that his immediate circle was made up mostly of Africans from countries like Gambia, Uganda, and Congo, with only two other Nigerians among them. “Even the Africans that were my guys were not Nigerians,” he said.

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Though he was born and raised in Nigeria, the Burna Boy Jamaican connection played a key role in shaping his musical and cultural identity during his formative years abroad.