Burna Boy - I Told Them Album Download

 Boy is nothing if not grand. This is the lyric that introduces I Told Them…, the Nigerian superstar’s fifth album, and a callback to a comment he made in June, when he performed for 60,000 people at London Stadium, becoming the first African solo artist to sell out a venue of its size in the UK. The line implies either a savvy album tease or quick work recording the subsequent song, but it also positions him as both giant and underdog: an artist who simply had to succeed in order to prove he could. “I told them I’m the realest… for some reason they didn’t believe it, so here we are,” he purrs over a glissade of guitar and congas, with satisfied nonchalance.

I Told Them is enough of a swerve that Burna Boy thought it prudent to create I Told Them magazine, an intriguing and well-put-together document that shades in the backdrop of his Afro-fusion project. 

(Its tagline: “The magazine for Afro-fusion music, life jewels, and big vibes.”) In his editor’s letter, he writes that now felt like “the right time to reflect and make a progress check of sorts on things ‘I told them’ from the last decade.” But it’s also clear that, as he strays further from Afrobeats as a sound (and after his own criticism that Afrobeats “mostly” lacks substance), he wanted to reassure fans that he’s still grounded in his roots—to “explain the process,” in his words—showcasing Nigerian chefs, fashion designers, and entrepreneurs. The message arrives most explicitly in an intersecting history of juju, highlife, and hip-hop in Lagos written by Benson Idonije, the veteran Nigerian music critic (and Burna Boy’s grandfather).

ALBUM DOWNLOAD

TRACKLIST

1. I Told Them feat. GZA

2. Normal

3. On Form

4. Sittin’ On Top Of The World feat. 21 Savage

5. Tested, Approved & Trusted

6. Cheat On Me feat. Dave

7. Virgil

8. Big 7

9. Dey Play

10. City Boys

11. Giza feat. Seyi Vibez

12. Jewels feat. RZA

13. If I’m Lying

14. Thanks feat. J. Cole

15. Talibans II with Byron Messia