HMV Magazine ranked him as #46 on a list of the 100 most influential musicians of the 20th century.
The musical style performed by Fela Kuti is called Afrobeat, which is essentially a fusion of jazz, funk, highlife, and traditional Yoruban chants and rhythms. It is characterized by having African-style percussion, vocals, and musical structure, along with jazzy, funky horn sections. The endless groove is also used, in which a base rhythm of drums, shekere, muted guitar, and bass guitar are repeated throughout the song. His band was notable for featuring two baritone saxophones, whereas most groups using this instrument only use one. This is a common technique in African and African-influenced musical styles, and can be seen in funk and hip-hop. Some elements often present in Fela's music are the call-and-response within the chorus and figurative but simple lyrics. Fela's songs were almost always over 10 minutes in length, some reaching the 20- or even 30-minute marks, while some unreleased tracks would last up to 45 minutes when performed live. This was one of many reasons that his music never reached a substantial degree of popularity outside of Africa. His songs were mostly sung in Nigerian pidgin, although he also performed a few songs in the Yoruba language. Fela's main instruments were the saxophone and the keyboards, but he also played the trumpet, guitar, and took the occasional drum solo. Fela refused to perform songs again after he had already recorded them, which also hindered his popularity outside Africa. Fela was known for his showmanship, and his concerts were often quite outlandish and wild. He referred to his stage act as the Underground Spiritual Game.
Fela was born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, to a middle-class family. His mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, was a feminist activist in the anti-colonial movement and his father, Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, a Protestant minister and school Principal, was the first president of the Nigerian Union of Teachers. His brothers, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti and Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti,both medical doctors, are both well known in Nigeria.
Fela was sent to London in 1958 to study medicine but decided to study music instead at the Trinity College of Music. While there, he formed the band Koola Lobitos, playing a style of music that he would later call Afrobeat. The style was a fusion of American Jazz, psychedelic rock, and Funk with West African Highlife. In 1961, Fela married his first wife, Remilekun (Remi) Taylor, with whom he would have three children (Femi, Yeni, and Sola). In 1963, Fela moved back to Nigeria, re-formed Koola Lobitos and trained as a radio producer for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1969, Fela took the band to the United States. While there, Fela discovered the Black power movement through Sandra Smith (now Isidore)—a partisan of the Black Panther Party—which would heavily influence his music and political views and renamed the band Nigeria ’70. Soon, the Immigration and Naturalization Service was tipped off by a promoter that Fela and his band were in the US without work permits. The band then performed a quick recording session in Los Angeles that would later be released as The '69 Los Angeles Sessions.
Fela and his band, renamed Africa '70, returned to Nigeria. He then formed the Kalakuta Republic, a commune, a recording studio, and a home for many connected to the band that he later declared independent from the Nigerian state. Fela set up a nightclub in the Empire Hotel, named the Afro-Spot and then the Afrika Shrine, where he performed regularly. Fela also changed his middle name to Anikulapo (meaning "he who carries death in his pouch"), stating that his original middle name of Ransome was a slave name. The recordings continued, and the music became more politically motivated. Fela's music became very popular among the Nigerian public and Africans in general. In fact, he made the decision to sing in Pidgin English so that his music could be enjoyed by individuals all over Africa, where the local languages spoken are very diverse and numerous. As popular as Fela's music had become in Nigeria and elsewhere, it was also very unpopular with the ruling government, and raids on the Kalakuta Republic were frequent. In 1974 the police arrived with a search warrant and a cannabis joint, which they had intended to plant on Fela. He became wise to this and swallowed the joint. In response, the police took him into custody and waited to examine his feces. Fela enlisted the help of his prison mates and gave the police someone else's feces, and Fela was freed. He then recounted this tale in his release Expensive Shit (now released together with "He Miss Road" as Expensive Shit/He Miss Road).
In 1977 Fela and the Afrika ’70 released the hit album Zombie, a scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers using the zombie metaphor to describe the methods of the Nigerian military. The album was a smash hit with the people and infuriated the government, setting off a vicious attack against the Kalakuta Republic, during which one thousand soldiers attacked the commune. Fela was severely beaten, and his elderly mother was thrown from a window, causing fatal injuries. The Kalakuta Republic was burned, and Fela's studio, instruments, and master tapes were destroyed. Fela claimed that he would have been killed if it were not for the intervention of a commanding officer as he was being beaten. Fela's response to the attack was to deliver his mother's coffin to the main army barrack in Lagos and write two songs, "Coffin for Head of State" and "Unknown Soldier," referencing the official inquiry that claimed the commune had been destroyed by an unknown soldier.
Fela and his band then took residence in Crossroads Hotel as the Shrine had been destroyed along with his commune. In 1978 Fela married 27 women, many of whom were his dancers, composers, and singers to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Kalakuta Republic. Later, he was to adopt a rotation system of keeping only twelve simultaneous wives. The year was also marked by two notorious concerts, the first in Accra in which riots broke out during the song "Zombie," which led to Fela being banned from entering Ghana. The second was at the Berlin Jazz Festival after which most of Fela's musicians deserted him, due to rumors that Fela was planning to use the entirety of the proceeds to fund his presidential campaign.
Despite the massive setbacks, Fela was determined to come back. He formed his own political party, which he called 'Movement of the People'. In 1979 he put himself forward for President in Nigeria's first elections for more than a decade but his candidature was refused. At this time, Fela created a new band called Egypt 80 and continued to record albums and tour the country. He further infuriated the political establishment by dropping the names of ITT vice-president Moshood Abiola and then General Olusegun Obasanjo at the end of a hot-selling 25-minute political screed titled "I. T. T. (International Thief Thief)."
In 1984, he was again attacked by the Military government, who jailed him on a dubious charge of currency smuggling. His case was taken up by several human-rights groups, and after 20 months, he was released from prison by General Ibrahim Babangida. On his release he divorced his 12 remaining wives, saying that "marriage brings jealousy and selfishness." Once again, Fela continued to release albums with Egypt 80, made a number of successful tours of the United States and Europe and also continued to be politically active. In 1986, Fela performed in Giants Stadium in New Jersey as part of the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope concert, sharing the bill with Bono, Carlos Santana, and the Neville Brothers. In 1989, Fela & Egypt 80 released the anti-apartheid "Beasts of No Nation" album that depicts on its cover U.S. President Ronald Reagan, UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and South African Prime Minister P.W. Botha with fangs dripping blood.
His album output slowed in the 1990s, and eventually he stopped releasing albums altogether. The battle against military corruption in Nigeria was taking its toll, especially during the rise of dictator Sani Abacha. Rumors were also spreading that he was suffering from an illness for which he was refusing treatment. On 3 August 1997, Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, already a prominent AIDS activist and former Minister of Health, stunned the nation by announcing his younger brother's death a day earlier from Kaposi's sarcoma brought on by AIDS. (Their younger brother Beko was in jail at this time at the hand of Abacha for political activity). More than a million people attended Fela's funeral at the site of the old Shrine compound. A new Africa Shrine has opened since Fela's death in a different section of Lagos under the supervision of his son Femi Kuti.
2000 Blacks Got To Be Free
Fela Kuti Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
que no sea muy, muy ni tan, tan elegante
o llevarte algún lugar bonito,
más allá de la ciudad y más acá del infinito
curarme para siempre esos malditos antojos
de gastarme lo que tengo en una colección de anteojos
un ojo de la cara y un puñado de dinero
pero por fin con la *seir forcé* que tanto quiero
y puedo en el casino agotar mis ruegos,
quien tiene suerte en el amor no la tiene en el juego
puede en el camino pagar el embargo
de un corazón que hace años vive en el fondo de un ron amargo
traigo conmigo una deuda que me deprime,
salgo contigo de noche a función de cine,
que alguien me apadrine lo de tanta cafeína,
o juro por mi vida que terminaré en la ruina
coro
diré que si, diré que no, diré que ya no puedo
(que ya no puedo)
que, que ya no gasto mas de lo que debo
(mas de lo que debo)
diré que si, diré que no, diré que ya no puedo
(que ya no puedo)
diré que si, diré que no (que si)
adiós a todos mis caprichos quiero un!"#$*%&/
podría invitarte a una galería de arte
y fingir que lo que dices me parece interesante
regalarte lencería quita fácil
y un corazón blindado que uses si te sientes frágil
dinero volátil que se iría como vino
en ti, no, pero si imagino que sería en fino
tú dime si no sería una buena inversión
pagar horas en un motel para escribirte pasión
o un cupón con dos noches y tres días
para largarme lejos de su mala ortografía
gastaría todo en tu perfume
o en un holograma para cuando tu imagen se esfume
antes que mude a vivir en mi propio piso
permutaré recuerdos y frases de quien me quiso
por algo de alcohol, un bemol y un par de aspirinas
o juro por mi vida que terminaré en la ruina
otro sol tras la cortina que lidiar
otra mentira que decirle a mis ganas de ir al mar
otra cita a la que digo que no puedo
con tono burlesco miento los viernes no bebo
y claro que te quiero y me muero por ti
pero esta vez me quiero y me muero mas por mi
así que de la casa no me muevo
adiós a todos mis caprichos quiero comprar saxo nuevo
coro
diré que si, diré que no, diré que ya no puedo
(que ya no puedo)
que, que ya no gasto mas de lo que debo
(mas de lo que debo)
diré que si, diré que no, diré que ya no puedo
(que ya no puedo)
diré que si, diré que no (que si)
adiós a todos mis caprichos quiero comprar saxo nuevo
(BIS)
It seems that the lyrics provided do not belong to Fela Kuti's song "2000 Blacks Got to Be Free" but rather to a song by another artist. Therefore, I cannot provide an interpretation of those lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
Podría invitarte a un restaurante que no sea muy, muy ni tan, tan elegante
I could invite you to a restaurant that is not too fancy nor too off the grid
O llevarte algún lugar bonito, más allá de la ciudad y más acá del infinito
Or take you to a beautiful place beyond the city yet not quite infinity
Curarme para siempre esos malditos antojos de gastarme lo que tengo en una colección de anteojos
Cure my craving to spend all my money on a collection of eyeglasses
Un ojo de la cara y un puñado de dinero pero por fin con la *seir forcé* que tanto quiero
One eye and a handful of cash but finally with the *seir forcé* that I've always wanted
Puedo en el casino agotar mis ruegos, quien tiene suerte en el amor no la tiene en el juego
I can exhaust my prayers at the casino, those who are lucky in love are not so in gambling
Puede en el camino pagar el embargo de un corazón que hace años vive en el fondo de un ron amargo
One can pay along the way for the embargo of a heart that has been living at the bottom of a bitter rum for years
Traigo conmigo una deuda que me deprime, salgo contigo de noche a función de cine
I carry with me a debt that depresses me, I go out with you at night to watch a movie
Que alguien me apadrine lo de tanta cafeína, o juro por mi vida que terminaré en la ruina
Someone sponsor my coffee addiction, or I swear I'll end up in ruin
Diré que si, diré que no, diré que ya no puedo (que ya no puedo)
I'll say yes, I'll say no, I'll say I can't anymore (I really can't)
Que, que ya no gasto mas de lo que debo (mas de lo que debo)
That I won't spend more than I owe (more than I owe)
Podría invitarte a una galería de arte y fingir que lo que dices me parece interesante
I could take you to an art gallery and pretend that I'm interested in what you say
Regalarte lencería quita fácil y un corazón blindado que uses si te sientes frágil
Give you easy-off lingerie and a bulletproof heart to use when you feel vulnerable
Dinero volátil que se iría como vino en ti, no, pero si imagino que sería en fino
Money that would disappear as fast as wine, not in you, but I imagine it would be of fine taste
Tú dime si no sería una buena inversión pagar horas en un motel para escribirte pasión
Tell me, wouldn't it be a good investment to pay for hours in a motel to write you passion?
O un cupón con dos noches y tres días para largarme lejos de su mala ortografía
Or a coupon for two nights and three days to get away from their bad spelling
gastaría todo en tu perfume o en un holograma para cuando tu imagen se esfume
I would spend everything on your perfume or on a hologram for when your image fades away
Así que de la casa no me muevo, adiós a todos mis caprichos quiero comprar saxo nuevo
So I'm not leaving the house, goodbye to all my whims I want to buy a new saxophone
Otro sol tras la cortina que lidiar otra mentira que decirle a mis ganas de ir al mar
Another sun behind the curtain to deal with, another lie to tell my desire to go to the sea
Otra cita a la que digo que no puedo con tono burlesco miento los viernes no bebo
Another date that I decline with a mocking tone, lying that I don't drink on Fridays
Y claro que te quiero y me muero por ti pero esta vez me quiero y me muero mas por mi
And of course, I love you and I'm crazy about you but this time I love myself and I care for myself more
Diré que si, diré que no, diré que ya no puedo (que ya no puedo)
I'll say yes, I'll say no, I'll say I can't anymore (I really can't)
Que, que ya no gasto mas de lo que debo (mas de lo que debo)
That I won't spend more than I owe (more than I owe)
Adiós a todos mis caprichos quiero comprar saxo nuevo (BIS)
Goodbye to all my whims, I want to buy a new saxophone (repeat)
Contributed by Mia I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@Daniel-iu4ci
Its 2022 I wish every young black out there would come across this Song and would pay attention to their life's and be united !
@benjaminbolter7192
Also Gil, The Last Poets and Brother D.
@letlhogonolophaladi5965
2000 nd Black❤️❤️❤️ tribute to my Late Father..
His old time favorite.. The wisdom in this track.. ❤️❤️
Rest Easy Daddy
@benjaminbolter7192
Thank you for your lovely words.
@YOUNGitheGOD
FORGIVE US ROY AND FELA BECAUSE ITS 2019 AND WE STILL AINT FREE. WE HAVE FAILED YALL YES BUT THE FIGHT IS NOT OVER!
@geephones5607
Maybe a little more free than in 1986 when it was written, there was still Apartheid in South Africa
@availdname
Not much longer now <3
@sawtoothiandi
the creator has a master plan, and its all working out slowly but perfectly
@zeghnij868
@Popeye Regina %,
@colmmcneill2609
Whichever 3 people disliked this tune need their heads examining! Masterpiece