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    Pan-Africanism, family and the Wu: The gospel of Burna Boy

    NEW YORK — Until recently, Burna Boy didn't have a phone. Owning arguably the most essential item in the internet age simply didn't interest him. His sister called it an act of self-preservation lasting nearly three years, making him nearly impossible to reach for those outside his inner circle. "He just got a phone number in the past year," says his sister, Ronami Ogulu. "He didn't even have ...
    by Kenan Draughorne, Los Angeles Times Aug 18, 2023 6 minutes
    Burna Boy performs on the Coachella Stage during the 2023 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 21, 2023, in Indio, California.

    NEW YORK — Until recently, Burna Boy didn't have a phone.

    Owning arguably the most essential item in the internet age simply didn't interest him. His sister called it an act of self-preservation lasting nearly three years, making him nearly impossible to reach for those outside his inner circle.

    "He just got a phone number in the past year," says his sister, Ronami Ogulu. "He didn't even have WhatsApp."

    In early July, however, Burna Boy arrived with his very own iPhone at Sei Less, a glitzy Asian fusion restaurant in Midtown Manhattan that's popular with rappers, athletes and even the mayor of New York. Adorning the walls of the downstairs "emerald room" were at least 100 bottles of Don Julio 1942 — the same liquor that was in the glass in front of him, chilled by one jumbo-sized ice cube.

    It's one of several birthday parties for the man born Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, who turned 32 less than a week before our conversation. Camouflaged into a couch was a gift bag from his label, Atlantic Records, which contained an action figure

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