Since the first half of 2021, Buju has been on a rollercoaster, making waves as a featured artist, topping charts and gaining more fans.
We compiled some facts about Buju you should know.
Born Daniel Benson, Buju was born in 1998, in Lagos State where he spent his childhood years in Gbagada, with his family later moving away to Ogun State. His young years were fairly normal, and he had an interest in music since he was little.
He started writing music from Junior Secondary, joined a choir and performing solo at valedictory services and carried his passion on to the university.
He stopped playing music for a while because he was constantly comparing himself to other talented people and felt that they were better than him.
Burna Boy, Buju Banton, Damian Marley, and J Hus were among the artists who influenced him and inspired him in refining his sound.
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Here are some other interesting facts about the blooming AFro-fusion artists you should know;
Buju wasn’t his first stage Name
Prior to his use of his current stage name, Buju used to go by the stage name, Drizzle which was birthed from his bed-wetting and rapping skills. After rebranding, he took the name Buju inspired by Jamaican music veteran, Buju Banton.
He also gave special meaning to the name by coining the acronym – Beauty Underneath Just Understood.
His first Song
After he finally decided to chase music, he released his first record, “Catch a Vibe” in February 2018. His second record was called “A Day in Lagos“, whose music video was recorded on a boat. This creative choice was completely unplanned, as the idea came to Buju and his team while on a canoe trip.
Buju’s collaboration with Zlatan was thanks to social media.
Social Media has proven to be a powerful tool and for Buju, it has been a launching weapon. After some songs, Buju decided to use Social media to score his first major collaboration.
Buju shared a snippet of “Spiritual” on social media in 2019, urging his fans to keep tagging Zlatan for a guest appearance on the song until the rapper agreed a few days later. Zlatan didn’t collect a dime for the feature.
This collaboration helped pushed the Afro-fusion artist to a wider audience.
He was once fired at his workplace.
Not everyone can fit in with corporate life and Buju is one of such persons. The singer was fired at the place where he was doing his Industrial Training for late coming. He was always spending his free time going to shrine, smoking, and writing music.
He is a Hardcore Burna Boy fan
Burna boy had a major influence on Buju’s music development. The singer was a vivid listener of Burna Boy’s songs which he saw as versatile and diverse. He disclosed during an interview that Burna Boy’s debut album, L.I.F.E changed his life and helped him see the light.
Spaceship deal
In 2020, Buju joined the Spaceship family co-owned by Burna Boy and his mom, Bose Ogulu. Under the label, he released two songs, L’enu and So Lovely. However, in 2021, it was reported that he had exited the label probably due to the expiration of his contract.
He now releases music under his label, To your ears Entertainment.
The Inspiration behind L’enu
While Buju and his producer, Steph were working on a song to feature Mayorkun, they came up with L’enu. After encouragement from Zlatan, he put out the song. Burna Boy who heard the song reached out to Buju and jumped on the remix and even funded the music video.
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Buju is a fluent Yoruba speaker from Akwa Ibom
In an interview, Buju dropped the bombshell that he is from Akwa Ibom but speaks Yoruba thanks to his late mother who used to communicate with him in Yoruba before her passing.