Many of Burna's most famous songs have borrowed elements from some recognizable US pop, soul and hip-hop favorites.
Burna Boy performs at London Stadium on June 3, 2023 in London.
Burak Cingi/Redferns
A common theme in Burna Boy's discography is the expert lifting of R&B, rap and pop records over the years — with some oldies but goodies.
At the 2024 Grammy Awards in February, he performed his Grammy-nominated hit “Sittin' on Top of the World” with 21 Savage, who features on the remix, and Brandy, whose 26-year-old track “Top of the World” is famously sampled in Burna's song. The Afro-fusion superstar also sampled Toni Braxton's hit “He Wasn't Man Enough” on his 2022 summer smash “Last Last.” Rodney “Darkchild” Jenkins, Fred Jerkins III and LaShawn Daniels all scored the credits on “Sittin' on Top of the World” and “Last Last” after co-writing both “Top of the World” and “He Wasn't Man Enough”. .”
Naughty by Nature's 1999 hit “Jamboree” plays a role in not just one Burna record, but two: The Nigerian singer-songwriter borrowed elements from 2019's “Collateral Damage” and did it again a year later on “Naughty by Nature”, which featured the hip hop trio of the same name. Speaking of doubles, Sauti Sol's 2020 track “Time Flies” is from Sade's 1985 hit “The Sweetest Taboo” and Marc Anthony's 2002 track “I Need You.”
And Burna has an affinity for reworking old Michael Jackson work, referencing the Jackson 5's “I Want You Back” on his 2011 track “Ice Cream Man” and “Dirty Diana” on “Monsters You Made” with the help of Chris Martin in 2020.
Advertising sign collected 14 American songs that Burna Boy has sampled or jammed with throughout his discography.
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Toni Braxton, “He Wasn't Man Enough”
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Jeremih, “Birthday Sex”
“City Boys” from his 2023 album Burna I told them… sample of Jeremih's first single in 2009 “birthday sex” from his self-titled debut album, which reached No. 4 on the Hot 100. “Honestly, I just found out there was a Jeremih sample like two days ago…. I saw it on the Internet, it is from the Internet I understood that it was a sample…. When I made the song, I didn't listen [‘Birthday Sex’] not at all,” he said Speedy Morman in an interview last August. “City Boys” was one of the first songs to earn a nod in the new category of Best African Music Performance at this year's Grammys, where Burna was nominated for three more nods.
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Brandy feat. Mase, “Top of the World”
“I'm sitting on top of the world” from Burna's I told them… samples from Brandy's 1998 track “Top of the World,” featuring Mase, from her second album Never say neverwhich was nominated for Best R&B album at the 1999 Grammy Awards. 21 Savage's remix of “Sittin' on Top of the World” earned a Grammy nomination this year for Best Rap Melodic Performance, and Burna brought 21 and Brandy in the execute his crash at the awards show, he became the first Afrobeats artist to do so. The song peaked at No. 80 on the Hot 100 and peaked at No. 2 on Rhythmic Airplay.
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Fred Wesley and The Horny Horns feat. Maceo Parker, “Four Play”
“You” from her 2018 album Burna Outside sample the 1977 track by Fred Wesley and The Horny Horns “Four Games”, with Maceo Parker, by One hit for me, one hit for you album. The drum pattern from “Four Play” underscores Burna's haunting anthem, which peaked at No. 12 on US Afrobeats Songs and No. 26 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay.
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Michael Jackson, “Dirty Diana”
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Fantastic feat. Tamia, “Into You”
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Pat Boone, “Twice As Tall”
“Level Up (Twice as Big)” with Youssou N'Dour, from Burna's twice as tall, samples of Pat Boone's 1997 track; “Twice as tall” from Journey to the Center of the Earth soundtrack. “Oh, I should be at least twice as tall/ To feel better than I do/ Yeah, I should be at least twice as tall/ I mean multiplied by two (By two),” Boone sings at the beginning of ” Level Up”.
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Minnie Riperton, “Lovin' You”
“Mary Jane,” from Burna's 2016 EP acquisition, samples Minnie Riperton's Hot 100 No. 1 smash “I love you” from her 1974 second album Perfect Angel. “Lovin' you is easy 'cause you're beautiful” and “And Everything that I do is out of lovin' you” from Riperton's first verse and chorus “La la la la la, la la la la la” is softly played throughout 'Mary Jane'.
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The Jackson 5, “I Want You Back”
“Ice Cream Parlor” from Burna's 2011 compilation album Best of Burn Series, Vol. 1 intersperses The Jackson 5's 1969 Hot 100 first chart-topping single “I want you back” from the group's debut album Diana Ross presents The Jackson 5. The chord progression of 'Ice Cream Man' mimics the hook of 'I Want You Back'.
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Naughty by Nature, “Jamboree”
“Naughty by nature,” with Naughty by Nature, from Burna's Twice as tall inserts Naughty by Nature's Hot 100 top 10 hit “Frenzy,” with Zhané, from the group's fifth album in 1999 Nineteen Naughty Nine: Nature's Fury. “That's why I wanted them on the song. It just had to be done. I got their lyrics on my birthday and it came with a video saying happy birthday to them and showing love,” Burna told me during our “The Explosion of Afro-Fusion” panel at Advertising sign's MusicCon in May 2022.
“Collateral damage,” from her 2019 album Burna African giant also lifts from “Jamboree”. While Burna's “Naughty by Nature” had many similarities to “Jamboree,” from its melody to the chorus line “jam(boree) for me,” “Collateral Damage” borrows the groovy guitar from the Naughty by Nature.
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Enchantment, “Gloria”
“Glory,” with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, from Burna's Love, Damien samples Enchantment's 1976 Hot 100 No. 25 hits “Gloria” from the group's self-titled debut album. The title track “Gloria” can be heard at the beginning of Burna's first verse on “Glory” and he sings the chorus — “Hold me, ah, that's my story, yeah/ Glory, yeah/ Like the last time you ever held me you saw, hold me, ah” — in the same vein as the opening lines from “Gloria”: “Gloria/ My Gloria/ Things haven't been the same/ Since you left/ Gloria/ My Gloria/ I don't want to see/ Another day.”
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Sade, “The Sweetest Taboo”
“Time passes,” featuring Sauti Sol, from Burna's Twice as tall borrows some elements from the Hot 100 No. 5 Sade singles “The Sweetest Taboo” from their second album in 1985 Promise. The groovy drum sequence from Sade's classic can be heard throughout “Time Flies”.
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Marc Anthony, “I Need You”
“Time Flies” also interpolates that of Marc Anthony “I need you,” from their 2002 sixth overall and second English album Fixed. Burna sings the chorus — “Let's take a ride/ Look in your eyes/ No 'em t'em lies/ I'm beside you” — in the same vein as the hook from “I Need You”: “Oh baby I need you/ For the rest of my life girl, I need you/ To make it all right girl/ I love you/ And I'll never deny that I need you.'
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T-Pain, “I'm Sprung”
“Real life,” featuring Stormzy, from Burna's Twice as tall refers to T-Pain's 2005 debut single “I'm Sprung” from his debut album Rappa Ternt Sangawhich peaked at No. 8 on the Hot 100. The “You do (you do)” bridge of “I'm Sprung” can be heard repeated throughout “Real Life,” which also loosely borrows the overall tune by T. – Pain is a classic.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/burna-boy-samples-songs/
