21st April, 2024
Nigerian sensation Michael Adebayo Olayinka popularly known as Ruger has claimed that his Grammy-winning colleague, Burna Boy introduced the live band into Afrobeats performance.
According to him, before Burna Boy started using live band, most Afrobeats artistes perform with DJ sets on stage.
He argued that Burna Boy made live performance “enjoyable.”
Speaking in a recent chat with Billboard alongside BNXN, Ruger said: “Before Burna Boy started this live band thing most Afrobeats Act would just go on stage with their DJs and bounce, Burna boy makes live performance enjoyable.
“I don’t care if they give Burna Boy his flowers or not, but we the youngins from Nigeria know what he has done.”
The ‘Asiwaju’ hitmaker had announced his new record label named ‘Blown Boy Entertainment’ in January. He also adjusted his profile names on social media to reflect the new label.
In an Instagram post, he said he was grateful to Jonzing World and D’Prince but it was time for him to take a bet on himself.
In 2021, Ruger rose to stardom under Jonzing World, a label owned by Nigerian singer D’Prince, which is an affiliate of Don Jazzy’s Mavin Records.
Ruger has won several awards for his craft. In same 2021, he won the AFRIMA best newcomer award, and also the best new artiste category at the 2023 Soundcity MVP Awards.
Ruger has also swept some of the major awards, including the Best New act in Africa at the 2022 prestigious Afrima awards.
He also has two extended plays (EPs) to his name titled ‘Pandemic’ (2021) and ‘Second Wave’ (2022).
On 16 November 2022, Ruger returns with a new chest-thumping tune capsule, consisting of two songs titled ‘Red Flags’ & Asiwaju, which upon release trended on every social media platforms.
Asiwaju peaked at number 1 on Nigeria’s Apple Music Top Songs chart and spent a record-breaking one month in the history of the chart.
Last September, he came through with his debut album, ‘RU The World’.