Fela’s brand continue to grow globally. Photo: Filed
As the annual Felabration comes to an end in Lagos, the Fela brand continues to make waves across the globe. According singer and Fela’s popular American girlfriend, Sandra Iszadore ‘while Nigerians are abandoning the ideals and philosophy Fela stood for, the international community are embracing it.’ Here is a focus on top music acts who have in the past been inspired by the late Abami Eda.
Leading the pack of globally acclaimed music acts who have been inspired by Fela is no other person than the Roc Nation boss himself, Jay Z. Long before Jay Z invested his money in the award winning production, Fela! On the Broadway, he has been a fan of Fela. His popular 2007 single, Roc Boys (And the winner is) although a sample of The Menahan Street Band’s Make The Road by Walking also has inspiration from Fela’s ‘Water no get enemy’.
Like her husband, Beyonce is also a huge fan of Fela and reports have it that she recorded an album in 2011 which was totally influenced by Fela. The producer, The Dream recently revealed that Bey was totally mesmerized by Fela’s style and wanted to do something similar to the music of Fela. ‘We did a whole Fela album that didn’t go up. It was right before we did 4 (Beyonce’s 4th album). We did a whole different sounding thing – about 20 songs. She said she wanted to do something that sounds like Fela,’ he disclosed.
In 2013, American rapper J. Cole dropped a song, ‘Let Nas Down’ a tribute to his idol, Nas which remains one of the biggest songs of his career. The track sampled 1973 popular hit, Gentleman and was produced by Kanye West’s mentor, NO I.D.
J. Cole’s sampling of Fela on his tribute to Fela is apparently not coincidental as he must have learnt his idol was a huge fan of Fela. 11 years earlier, Nas actually jumped on Fela’s 1971 number, ‘Na Poi’ on the song ‘Warrior’s Song’ which featured and was produced by Alicia Keys.
American rapper, Common is no doubt one of the biggest fan of Fela. Common in his 2000 single, Pops Rap III (All my children) also sampled Fela’s ‘Water No Get Enemy’ in his album ‘Like Water for Chocolate’. The loyal Fela fan opened the album with ‘Time Travelin (A Tribute to Fela)’ which featured Femi Kuti while the album was closed with Pops Rap III. In 2013, Common joined Femi Kuti on stage at the Summerpark Centrestage and they performed Fela’s Water No Get Enemy together.
American rapper, Talib Kweli is reputed for his great love and respect for Fela. He has at different times stated how much the music legend inspires him. ‘Fela Kuti shows us that the music of the oppressed must always be connected to the struggle. It is never made just for the sake of making something beautiful, it has purpose that goes far beyond entertainment. Fela taught us how to be exactly who we are and to be unapologetic about it,’ he once disclosed. Talib also teamed up with Dead Prez and Jorge Ben to remake Fela’s Shuffering and Shmiling in the 2002 tribute album for Fela titled, The Music and Spirit of Fela Kuti.
American rapper and actor who now prefers to be called Yasiin Bey is also one of the international music acts who have borrowed from the deep musical offerings of Fela. His debut solo album, ‘Black on Both Side’ released in 1999 was opened with the song ‘Fear Not of Man’ which was a sample of Fela’s 1977 recording ‘Fear Not for Man’.
Compton born rapper, Kendrick Lamar not wanting to be left out of the Fela inspiration also sampled Fela’s ‘I No Get Black Eye’ on his inspirational single ‘Mortal Man’ off his recently released 3rd album, ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’.
When a legendary producer like Timberland jumps on a song and samples it, then it must be dope. This is the case of Missy Elliott’s ‘Whatcha Gon Do’ off her 3rd album which also has the massive hit, ‘Get ur Freak On’. Timberland who also featured on the track sampled Fela’s Colonial Mentality.
Beyond these aforementioned stars, many others across the world have also sampled different songs by Fela. ‘Here’s a guy that’s on the other side of the world who was influenced by James Brown, who takes this thing and makes his own sort of genre of music. I just think it’s fascinating,’ Jay Z once said about Fela.
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