Figurative Language in Nigerian Hip-Hop Lyrics: A Study of Burna Boy and Wizkid

This study analyses the figurative language employed in the song lyrics of Burna Boy and Wizkid, two of Nigeria's most globally prominent Afrobeats artists, examining how these artists use metaphor, simile, irony, and cultural allusion to construct social commentary, personal mythology, and transnational identity in their music. Afrobeats has emerged as one of the most significant global music movements of the 2020s, and its lyrical content deserves the same kind of systematic literary and linguistic analysis typically reserved for canonical poetry, particularly given the depth of cultural and social reference embedded in the work of its leading figures. The study compiles a lyrical corpus of 30 songs each from Burna Boy's albums African Giant and Twice as Tall and Wizkid's Essence-era releases, analysing figurative language patterns using cognitive linguistic and sociolinguistic frameworks. Analysis attends to the specific metaphorical domains drawn on by each artist, the use of Yoruba and Pidgin English proverbs as sources of figurative expression, the construction of Pan-African and diasporic identity through spatial metaphors, and the relationship between figurative language and musical genre. Findings reveal that both artists deploy figurative language as a medium of social critique, personal brand construction, and cultural identity performance, with Burna Boy's work more explicitly engaged with Pan-African political consciousness and Wizkid's more focused on romantic and aspirational themes. Keywords: figurative language, Afrobeats, Burna Boy, Wizkid, Nigerian popular culture.