Burna Boy and Spotify team up for custom curation, superhero creations, and legendary features in celebration of Nigerian Independence.
Spotify attempts to deepen its ties to the Nigerian music community with a Burna Boy takeover of the Black History is Now Spotify Hub. The initiative is launched in celebration of Nigerian Independence Day (October 1st) aligned with the BHIN Hub’s mission to “to recognize and celebrate Black creators and culture all year long—not just in February”.
This is the second time Spotify has worked with Burna Boy following a “Burna Bank” ATM installation in Brooklyn for the release of Burna Boy‘s second to last album African Giant.
The new collaboration comes on the heels of Burna boy’s latest album Twice As Tall and includes a playlist takeover of Black Superheroes which features Burna Boy’s own inspirational idols and personal predictions of the next Black music superstars. A small deck of Twice As Tall themed superhero cards were also created to top off the commemoration including Burna Boy (past, present, and future), his mother, car, and West African religious figures. Each card outlines the powers of each character and fans will have the opportunity to recreate their own Burna Cards with personal photos or videos through an exclusive Instagram AR filter.
Highlighting Burna Boy’s mother aka “The Namix” is fitting as her and Burna’s sister will co-curate Spotify’s Queen playlist to celebrate the pivotal roles women have had in shaping Burna Boy’s career.
The BHIN hub will also include The Elite 5 containing artist profiles of Burna’s five legendary music inspirations: Fela Kuti, Angelique Kidjo, Supercat, Bob Marley, Diddy) and The Giants Of Africa containing Burna’s personal curation of recent new releases and iconic albums from Nigerian icons.
Spotify has displayed its interest in African Music since the launch of its Afro Hub in 2018 which aims “to celebrate and educate fans with the continent’s diverse music cultures.” While the platform is still only available in South Africa among Sub Saharan African nations, Spotify has made strides to diversify its offering with playlists like African Heat (Hits), Peppeh (New Releases), or Classic Afropop (Classics).
Listen to artists like Teejay, Sauti Sol, Buju, and Koffee on Burna Boy’s Black Superheroes playlist now.
