SONG BACKGROUND

'City Boys' details Burna Boy's desire for a pleasure-seeking life in a city which prioritizes ostentatiousness and carefreeness.

Lyrics
Click on a highlighted line to view an annotation!

<input type="checkbox" id="toggle1"><label for="toggle1">    <span class="annotate-lyric">Intro: J Hus.</span></label><div id="content1" class="annotate-explain">  <div class="annotate-text">This intro was said by British artiste, J Hus who is a frequent collaborator and close friend of Burna Boy. He said it in an Instagram story which he posted earlier this year. Throughout his career, J Hus has embraced the word “ugly” and refers to himself as ugly</div></div>

Ayo, I’m not even gonna lie, I used to call myself a ugly yout, but I’m not even a ugly yout

I’m a sexy yout, you understand?

Gyal all over the globe wanna uck me, you understand?

Girls ina my crib

Zero Snapchat, zero Instagram posting (Yeah)

Fuck up the vibe (Yeah)

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   <span class="annotate-lyric">My dick start fallin’ like London Bridge</span>
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<div id="content2" class="annotate-explain">
   <div class="annotate-text">This is in reference to the nursery rhyme- London Bridge Is Falling Down. The actual meaning of the rhyme is not known. It could be a metaphor for death/decay. Some people believe that the rhyme is about the destruction of the London Bridge by the Viking Olaf II in 1014. The nineteenth-century translation of the Norse epic, the Heimskringla, published in 1844, includes a verse that resembles the rhyme.</div>
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I don’t care if I saw you in a magazine (I-I), or if you’re on T.V

That don’t mean nothin’ to me

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   <span class="annotate-lyric">Don’t need a shy ho, baby, I need a freak</span>
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<div id="content3" class="annotate-explain">
   <div class="annotate-text">Burna references the commonly misinterpreted lyrics of his hit track, "Last Last," which sounded like "I need a boat and shy hoes".</div></div>

Lick it like ice cream, as if you mean to be disgusting (Ah, ah)

This nothin’

Chop my bana

Once i allow them no stoppin’, no (Ah, ah)

Go shoppin’, o

Fuck that, shh (Yeah)

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   <span class="annotate-lyric">Mi'o fa'gbo 'lorado o<br/>BRKFST mo n fa o</span>
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   <div class="annotate-text">He doesn't smoke 'Colorado', a low-grade synthetic strain of marijuana popular on the streets of Nigeria. Instead, he smokes his own cannabis brand, "BRKFST", which was launched in the US in 2022</div>
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   <span class="annotate-lyric">Mi o de ni mu Jekomo<br/>Azul and Champagne ni ma mu</span>
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   <div class="annotate-text">He doesn't drink ‘Jekonmo' Azul and Champagne is what he will have. While Jekonmo is a Nigerian made herbal alcoholic bitters, Burna Boy is inferring that he’ll go for expensive and high quality foreign drinks like Clase Azul Reposado and Champagne</div>
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I get girls from the Ghetto

Get girls from uptown

That's the life of a city boy

Ah, ah, ah

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   <span class="annotate-lyric">O ye ke, da mo<br/>O ye ke, je lo<br/>O ye ke (Yeah), jowo o<br/>O ye ke, ah<br/>O ye ke, eh<br/>O ye ke</span>
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<div id="content6" class="annotate-explain">
   <div class="annotate-text">Here Burna encourages everyone to please continue enjoying themselves</div>
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   <span class="annotate-lyric">Ma ma se(shey) bakan bakan<br/>Make me dey start to dey para gan<br/>Start to dey hala gan<br/>‘Cause you know say my people dey kala gan</span>
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<div id="content7" class="annotate-explain">
   <div class="annotate-text">"Ma ma se bakan bakan" is a Yoruba phrase which translates to "Don't act funny" or "Don't misbehave". Burna advises haters not to act funny because It would make him get really angry, start yelling, and alert his people (could be his entourage of bodyguards and loyal boys) to get aggressive.</div>
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   <span class="annotate-lyric">Ogun lo ma pa won (Ah, ah)</span>
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<div id="content8" class="annotate-explain">
   <div class="annotate-text">In this line, Burna says 'Ogun', the god of thunder in Yoruba mythology, will kill them (his haters and naysayers).</div>
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   <span class="annotate-lyric">As they’re hatin’ on us<br/>Make we manya more</span>
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<div id="content9" class="annotate-explain">
   <div class="annotate-text">Burna encourages listeners to celebrate him and his music more as more critics hate on him</div>
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   <span class="annotate-lyric">Know I be my father son (Ah, ah)<br/>'Cause you know say I come from Port Harcourt (Yeah)</span>
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<div id="content10" class="annotate-explain">
   <div class="annotate-text">Burna reminds everyone that he is from the coastal city of Port-Harcourt in Southern Nigeria. Port-Harcourt is infamous in Nigerian pop-culture due to violence in the early 2000s. This line is a warning to haters not to mess with Burna because he has Port-Harcourt roots and he can channel that violent energy when he needs to</div>
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   <span class="annotate-lyric">Dance Rahman Jago<br/>Start to dey dance am like I do</span>
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<div id="content11" class="annotate-explain">
   <div class="annotate-text">Rahman Jago is an artiste and social media personality. He also happens to be one of Burna's friends</div>
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   <span class="annotate-lyric">Ko ni tan lapo<br/>I go show you say pounds and dolapo (dollar po)<br/>'Cause I be city boy (Ah, ah)<br/>And as I dey for the streets e dey give me joy<br/>Lamborghini boy (Ah, ah)</span>
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<div id="content12" class="annotate-explain">
   <div class="annotate-text">Burna proclaims that the money in his pocket will never finish. He employs clever word play with 'dollar po' (plenty dollars) and 'Dolapo' (a Yoruba name). He explains how he will show you his pounds and dollars because he is a city boy and it gives him joy to be in the streets</div>
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   <span class="annotate-lyric">Put diamonds on Jesus and I’m not religious, o da na</span>
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<div id="content13" class="annotate-explain">
   <div class="annotate-text">"O da na" means "that's good too" or "that's okay". Burna flexes his diamond-encrusted Jesus pendant despite not being religious</div>
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Mi o fa Colorado o

Breakfast ni mo fa o

Mi o de ni mu Jekomo

Azul and Champagne ni ma mu

As i get girls from the Ghetto

Gat girls from uptown

That’s the life of a city boy

Ah, ah, ah

O ye ke, da mo

O ye ke, je lo

O ye ke (Yeah), jowo o

O ye ke, ah

O ye ke, eh

O ye ke

Ayo (Ah, ah),

I’m not even gonna lie,

I used to call myself a ugly yout,but I’m not even a ugly yout (Ah, ah)

I’m a sexy yout, you understand?

Gyal all over the globe wanna uck me, you understand? (Ah, ah)

Credits
Produced by
Mds, Ruuben
Written by
Jeremy Felton, Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, Keith Eric James, Michael Abram Schultz, Robert Laukkanen, Santeri Kauppinen
Release date
August 24, 2023