Nigerian singer Burna Boy has beaten his competitors to be voted 2019 Best International Act at the BET Awards held Sunday night at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles.
Other nominees in the Best Internation Act category include AKA (South Africa), Mr Eazi (Nigeria), Giggs (United Kingdom), Aya Makamura (France), Dave United Kingdom, and Dosseh (France).
We love our International family ??Congrats @burnaboy! #BETAwards pic.twitter.com/LMlnMfDZCO
— BET (@BET) June 24, 2019
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzGqv53lKHf/
Burna Boy’s win was received by his mum, Bose Ogulu, who gave a memorable very short speech, reminding blacks not to forget their roots.
“Thank you BET, Thank you, Africa, because that’s the constituency for which we got noticed in the first place,” she says.
“The message from Burna, I believe, will be that every black person should please remember that you were African before you became anything else,” she adds eliciting applause from the crowd.
Reacting to the win, an ecstatic Burna Boy took to Instagram, where he recognised the contributions of other nominees to music. According to him, they are “all winners doing our bit to make our music heard worldwide.”
Hereis what he says:
“Thank you BET awards Thank you, Africa and everyone, that has been supporting. I am not crazy on awards but this one means a lot.
“Special S/O To my brothers @officialgiggs @mreazi @Santandave1 @akaworldwide & @DossehLaFamine and to the Talented @TeniEntertainer and superstar @AyaNakamuraa. We are all winners doing our bit to make our music heard worldwide.”