Toni Braxton is taking home most of the streaming royalties from Burna Boy’s “Last Last,” and he says he’s perfectly fine with that.
The R&B singer, whose 2000 single “He Wasn’t Man Enough” powers the beat, receives 60 per cent of the song’s streaming money.
The Nigerian star, born Damini Ogulu, dropped the number casually during a sit down on Million Dollaz Worth of Game, the American podcast hosted by Gillie Da King and Wallo267. He didn’t sound bothered by it at all.
“But she is taking 60 per cent of it. I’m not complaining. Hopefully, she even comes out to one of the shows,” he said.
The conversation started with how the record came together. Burna Boy made it clear that the sample was his call, something he had been sitting on for a while before Nigerian producer Chopstix turned it into a track.
“It was actually my idea, to be honest. I just always wanted to use that sample and I knew Chopstix could do something crazy with it. I just pointed that out and he took it from there. That’s one of the most special creative processes ever,” he explained.
Reaction online split fairly quickly. Some fans couldn’t believe the artist singing every word gets the smaller cut of streaming money. Others pointed to the financial reality of building a song on an established recording.
That second camp has a point. When a borrowed piece of music sits at the heart of a new song, the original rights holders tend to have plenty of leverage at the negotiating table.
Burna Boy later put the figure in context during an appearance on Shopping for Sneakers. He clarified that Braxton’s 60 per cent applies to streaming royalties specifically, not every dollar the song brings in.
He also said “Last Last” had earned him more money than any other song in his career at that point, deal and all. So the arrangement that shocked fans hasn’t exactly left him short.
The track arrived in May 2022 and quickly became one of the defining records of his career. Built around heartbreak, disappointment and the slow work of moving on, it travelled well beyond Nigeria and pushed his international profile even further.
It later landed as the seventh track on Love, Damini, his sixth studio album, released in July 2022. The 19 track project brought in guests including Ed Sheeran, J Hus, Kehlani and Khalid.
Braxton’s side of the story has its own history. He Wasn’t Man Enough” appeared on her third studio album, The Heat, and won her the Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 2001.
Two decades on, that same song found a fresh audience through an Afrobeats anthem, and plenty of younger listeners probably knew the melody from Burna Boy first. For now, his invitation for her to turn up at one of his shows is on the record.
