Davido vs Burna Boy: The alleged feud between two of Africa’s greatest artists

Rumors of a possibly strained relationship between inarguably two of Africa’s biggest musical exports at the moment, Davido and Burna Boy, was first laid bare after the self-proclaimed “African Giant” appeared to throw a jab at the If crooner over a social media post back in May.

The post in question, which was an edited photo of Davido and Wizkid, and was accompanied with the former proclaiming the two of them were the “greatest of all time”, appeared to ruffle the feathers of Grammy-nominated musician Burna Boy, who took to his Snapchat page to seemingly drop a subliminal.

Burna Boy’s hypothetical post, which appeared to discredit Davido’s ability as a musician and assumed he wouldn’t have risen to prominence if not for his billionaire father, opened the social media floodgates, with some fans of both artistes sparring words.

“You cannot play football, everybody knows you cannot play football and you are an embarrassment to the team but your daddy bought the football team,” Burna Boy said in his post.

Though both parties did not indulge in a back-and-forth and the matter eventually died down, there were questions as to what may have caused the supposed rift. Appearing in a recent interview with popular Nigerian media personality Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, Davido – for the first time – opened up on the issue as well as his relationship with Wizkid.

Referring to Burna Boy as his “brother”, the singer said the last time they hung out was in December 2019, and though he was “hearing things” around that time, they were still cool when they met. Despite the “alleged” rift – which the Fall singer believed exacerbated after posting the picture with Wizkid – he said he has nothing against him and has always had love for him.

“I was the happiest for Burna’s success … Me and Burna can’t even have wahala … Grammy nomination, I’m happy. It doesn’t take anything away from me. Even his PA, he knows what I did for him,” he said.

The musician was also adamant he had done nothing to try to discredit him, so he doesn’t know where the issue is stemming from.

“I don’t want to be violent… I got kids, bruh. Do you want to be violent or go into the studio? Dele Momodu, I did it. Caroline, I did it… I’ll answer you. You wan shoot me and go to jail? There are bigger things. Nobody can tell me why he’s fighting me.”

Asked if he thinks Burna and Wizkid are fighting him, the singer said he believes so, admitting that it hurts.

“I can’t lie. It hurts me sometimes,” he said. “I’ve tried to reach out [to Burna]. It’s [probably] one thing, he doesn’t like me. I’m not fighting anybody, they just like to make me look like the bad guy.”

He, however, said he still has nothing but love for them and preached unity.