Burna Boy - Outside

Burna Boy
Outside
2018
Spotify

Burna Boy has been on the precipice of something for awhile now. After contributing to Drak's More Life it seemed like his African, Danchall grooves were going to take over the world. Things have not gone exactly that way for the UK based producer and singer, but this new record Outside still shows some of that promise. Burna Boy manages to find a balance between the genres and makes something that is at times engaging, but at other times almost incomprehensible. Songs like "Rock Your Body" are classic dancehall beats and bound to excite anyone who loves the genre, but it offers little else. There is plenty of almost words, weird statements and ad-libs but not much in the way of lyrical content or a cohesive narrative. You keep waiting for something to help this album make some kind of sense, but those moments never seem to come. The thing this album does do is advance dancehall into a more hip hop stance. You can hear how Drake likely borrowed quite a bit from Burna on his most recent releases, for better or worse. There are also moments where he feels like a goofy Blood Orange. "Calm Down" has this inspiration that feels somewhat 80s, and also sort of cinematic that is just kind of odd. There are a lot of odd moments, like on "Outside" which has a drop that feels almost like EDM, There are some good ideas here, and some lovely music, but the execution as a whole feels lacking from the start.

The music Burna Boy makes at one moment feels like it is deep and vibey, but then He does something to make it sound kind of corny. This happens so many times on this album, almost like He is trying to flip the script on the more dour pop music that has been coming out as of late, but doesn't quite do it. You never know what the vibe He is trying to create really is, it is all just to jumbled and mixed up. The Afrobeats here are also somewhat watered down, missing a real punch or a real sense of excitement. The moments of life are punctuated by long meandering dancehall tracks that almost go nowhere and do nothing. Yet, as you listen you can hear the bones of something great. The structure has a balance to it, the ideas are correct, it's just they never fully come together in a real way. This album unfortunately leaves you left wanting more, something more cutting or something more interesting. It just never really clicks in, too much time is wasted for this short of a record.

5.9 out of 10