Creative Exile

Countless cultures have been introduced to the UK—intermingling with each other, taking on new sonic forms—with pioneers from Bob Marley to Jimi Hendrix to Burna Boy spending significant periods of their creative lives here, blending their own sounds and styles with ours.

More recently, Afrofusion alchemist Burna Boy came to London for university and even though he went back to Nigeria to start his music career, the UK left a big mark on him. 

Grime and UK rap were blossoming and, with them, their own unique dancehall and Caribbean-informed slang and style, all of which Burna eagerly soaked up when he lived in Romford and later Brixton, and proudly brought back to Lagos. 

Its influences still echoes in his music today, ringing out in his swagger and style, but also in the effusive way he celebrates artists like J Hus as passionately as he does Ninjaman and Super Cat. 

Jimi Hendrix sadly passed away just weeks later of an apparent drug overdose in a London Hotel.

Bob Marley's time in the UK was a little longer, thankfully, but still tinted with tragedy. The star and his band, The Wailers, spent a good chunk of their career travelling between London and Kingston.

He worked with Island Records co-founder Chris Blackwell on albums like Catch A Fire, but he returned to live in London as a solo artist several years later after a failed assassination attempt. 

During his two-year stay—between footie matches at the local park—he recorded Exodus, a masterful, subtle yet powerful blend of reggae, soul and British rock.