November 28, (THEWILL) – Nigerian hip-hop artiste, Topa Onimowo, better known as Phenom, recently disclosed that Grammy Award-winning Afrobeats artiste, Damini Ogulu, popularly known as Burna Boy, got a $5 million advance payment before joining American record label, Atlantic Records, in 2017.
In the latest episode of The Yarns podcast he stated that Matthew “Baus” Adesuyan, the Nigerian-American music executive behind Bad Habit, an Atlantic Records imprint, where Burna Boy is signed, orchestrated the $5 million payment.
He also stated that he would return to rapping if presented with a $1 million advance payment offer from any record label.
He said, “If you really want someone like me to rap, give me $1 million. Lock me up in the studio. Those rapping in America, they give them big contracts. Even before Burna Boy made a comeback to music, the guy that gave him the connection to Atlantic Records, they gave him $5 million when he was coming back.”
Phenom also said that rising rappers like, Tochukwu Gbubemi Ojogwu, widely known as Odumodublvck, will shift from rap to singing as hip-hop is no longer lucrative.
He said, “If someone like Odumodublvck is given $100,000 advance by his label, he will have to drop rap, start singing and enter TikTok to make it back for the label.”
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