Roforofo Fight
Kuti Lyrics


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From Abeokuta city
Translation to original English:
She tear pata, he tear buba
She tear pata, he tear buba
She tear trouser, he tear pant
She tear trouser, he tear pant
She pull the thing commot, he tear the thing
She pull the thing commot, he tear the thing
All don scatter
From Abeokuta city

Get away
Fuck off
Who are you?
Go and die
Fuck away
Get away
Who are you?
Go and shit
You dey craze
I no craze
Fuck away
Who are you, eh?
Na two people dey yab so
Na two people dey yab so
Where them dey yab, roforofo dey
Where them dey yab, roforofo dey
Now listen to me now now
Huh!
Two people dey yab
Crowd dey look
Roforofo dey
Two people dey yab
Crowd dey look
Roforofo dey
Wetin you go see?
Roforofo fight eh
Wetin you go hear?
Roforofo fight eh

If you dey among the crowd wey dey look
If you yourself
You yourself dey among the crowd wey dey look
And your friend
Your friend dey among the two wey dey yab
Tell am, tell am, tell am, tell am
Tell am make him no fight o
Make him no fight
Make him no fight because Roforofo dey
Your friend him don vex
Him don vex patapata, him no go hear
Your friend him don vex
Him don vex patapata, him no go hear
By and by
By and by the fight go start
By and by
By and by them go fall for roforofo o
Them face go be roforofo face
Them yansh go be roforofo yansh
Them body go be roforofo body
You no go know
You no go know who your friend be
You no go fit help your friend
Just because roforofo dey
If you wan help your friend
Roforofo go rub for your face
If you wan help your friend
Roforofo go rub for your yansh
You go tell am make him no vex
You don tell am before make him no fight o
Make him no fight
Make him no fight because roforofo dey
Now listen to me now now now now
Huh!
Roforofo don change them
Them go look like twins
You no go know who be who
Roforofo don change them
Them go look like twins
You no go know who be who
You no go know your friend from who
You don tell am before
Make him no fight o
Roforofo dey for there
Two people dey yab
Crowd dey look
Roforofo dey
Wetin you go see?
Roforofo fight eh




Wetin you go hear?
Roforofo fight eh

Overall Meaning

The song Roforofo Fight by Fela Kuti is a social commentary on the dangers of unnecessary conflict and violence. The song starts with a description of a couple fighting - the woman tearing the "pata" and the man tearing the "buba" (two traditional Nigerian garments). This conflict escalates with the man tearing the woman's trouser and the woman pulling "the thing" (presumably the man's pants) which leads to everything falling apart. The message here is clear - conflict leads to destruction and chaos.


The chorus of the song is a combination of insults and confrontational phrases in pidgin English. The two people being insulted are most likely the couple fighting earlier. The verses that follow describe how fights start and how they can easily lead to a "roforofo" fight, which is a type of street fight popular in Nigeria. The song highlights how quickly a simple confrontation can escalate and how it can be difficult to distinguish friends from foes in the heat of the moment.


Overall, the song is a cautionary tale about the dangers of conflict and unnecessary violence. It uses the image of a street fight to illustrate how easily disagreements can spiral out of control and how destructive this can be.


Line by Line Meaning

She tear pata, he tear buba
She tore her wrapper, he tore his shirt


She tear trouser, he tear pant
She pulled down her pants, he ripped off his underwear


She pull the thing commot, he tear the thing
She exposed herself, he ripped off his own genitalia


All don scatter
Everyone has scattered in chaos


Get away
Go away


Fuck off
Leave in a vulgar manner


Who are you?
What is your identity?


Go and die
Exclamation of anger, wishing death upon someone


Fuck away
Go away in a vulgar manner


You dey craze
Are you crazy?


I no craze
I am not crazy


Na two people dey yab so
Two people are exchanging insults


Where them dey yab, roforofo dey
Where they are insulting each other, there is chaos


Now listen to me now now
Listen to me carefully


Crowd dey look
A crowd of people are watching


Wetin you go see?
What will you see?


Wetin you go hear?
What will you hear?


If you dey among the crowd wey dey look
If you are among the watching crowd


And your friend dey among the two wey dey yab
And your friend is one of the two exchanging insults


Tell am make him no fight o
Tell him not to fight


Make him no fight
Don't let him fight


Your friend him don vex
Your friend is very angry


Him don vex patapata, him no go hear
He is so angry that he won't listen to reason


By and by them go fall for roforofo o
Eventually, they will start fighting each other


Them face go be roforofo face
Their faces will be distorted from fighting


Them yansh go be roforofo yansh
Their butts will be bruised from fighting


Them body go be roforofo body
Their bodies will be bruised from fighting


You no go know who your friend be
You won't be able to tell who your friend is


You no go fit help your friend
You won't be able to help your friend


Roforofo go rub for your face
You will get caught up in the fighting


Roforofo don change them
The fighting has changed them


Them go look like twins
They will look similar


You no go know your friend from who
You won't be able to distinguish your friend from their opponent


You don tell am before
You warned him before


Now listen to me now now now now
Listen to me very carefully




Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT (FRANCE), BMG Rights Management, EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING FRANCE, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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Comments from YouTube:

@WinstonWillams-pv7th

I am 67yrs young .I was a teenager DJ when I bought this álbum. This is music. Jah Bless. Great. Pump it up.

@VishnuVaratharajan

I'm writing this comment with an immense weight over my chest. Listening to this album was a spiritual experience for me. The Fela I knew before through his music was a rebel; a non-conformist from a distance. But today he spoke to me up close, almost infused. He connected with the depths of my soul and was communicating something to me. His meaningless humms evoked something historical; the remnants of pain of a body and mind oppressed for generations by systems of power. The world around me started to lose its shape. A century earlier, there would have been no way a person from remote Nigeria could have communicated with someone in the future from remote southern India. The intermediate structures appear before me now; his message travelled through electricity, electromagnetism, LP, digitisation, YouTube, and then one fine morning at 5am when I was struggling to sleep I decided to hear Fela, and then it reached me, after passing through a series of conduits. This is a universal moment for me. I stare at the Neem tree outside my house right now, and there is a line of ants climbing up. Fela once breathed on this Earth like this Neem tree, like these ants, like me, and he reached me across the barriers of time and space. I am just sad how many of such messages were lost forever to humanity because it couldn't be recorded. As I finished listening and was in utter shock at the witnessing of present, past and future intertwining before me, my father came to me with a cup of honey water. I looked at him and he had grey hair. The last time I seriously looked at him like that, he was younger. Live the moments people, please live it. We are drowned by technologies and structures that many times we miss to see what is in front of our eyes. 100 years later someone would feel the same way for something else that is unrecordable now, but recordable then. Our every breath is precious people. I see you Fela, I see you from 5,000 miles apart, from 50 years away. I see you up close. I feel you. And I thank you.

@rusticpoet

This is from a deep place. I was drawn to him first by what I read in the media about his eccentricity and what some people chose to call madness. Roforofo Fight happens to have been my first listen.
Having grown up in the gritty world of hardcore hip hop I found this a truly liberating experience.
When I listen to him I understand with clarity how he fashioned his own life the way he did.
He is a truly iconic man blessed with uncommon artistry..

@kimberlybush2001

Let us see each other, and not weep for the moments lost, but rejoice in the moments to come. The world is ours if we see it, and speak to each other.

@trista4congress827

beautifully expressed. Nice how Fela's music evokes such depth of feeling

@jorgegonzalez-larramendi5491

it is an achievable human state.
" samadhi" !! ,: ) haréee krishchnaa

besides that the musicians Have to be in samadhi to play this. imagine the Percussion College of Karnataka mixed in here jaya !

@devendrasinghgautam4638

Very well written brother. It's a divine experience indeed. I'm a proud Indian and a huge fan of Africa, it's people and of course it's rich earthy music. I adore Osibisa and have most of their albums on record/LP. Also love Miriam Makeba and Salif Keita.

I very recently discovered Fela and am getting more and more absorbed in his music with every listen.

Just discovered Fela

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@tarcisiolinharesfilgueiras9452

I've been discovering the magic of Fela during the pandemics, and since then I can't stop listening: it's really groovy, critic, spiritual and beautiful!...
I'm shocked with "Question Jam Answer", what a tune! My god!
Lots of love from São Paulo, Brazil, to all african brothers and Fela family fans all over the world!

@karlherve8719

hello! the music is a weapon, welcome!

@brotherrabbit8539

The dialect is called "Pidgin" not "Broken English".
It is universally understood in Nigeria, has its own rules, and vocabulary.
Needless to say it is very expressive, especially with a poet like Fela.

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