Seun Kuti is the youngest son of the famous Nigerian afro-beat musician Fel… Read Full Bio ↴Seun Kuti is the youngest son of the famous Nigerian afro-beat musician Fela Kuti. Seun started learning to play saxophone when he was eight, which is also when he started taking piano lessons. Seun Kuti has been performing on stage since he was nine years old. He started his career as opening act with his fatherโs band, Egypt 80. And he still performs today with the same band. Apart from the new young bass player Kayode, Seun is probably the youngest person on stage. Most of the band members performed with Fela, and some look to now be in their fifties and sixties. Performing on stage with as many as twenty singers and musicians in regular sessions that sometimes go on all night was such an effective practical education that when Fela died in 1997, Seun, then just fifteen, was ready to take over.
Since then, he has led Egypt 80 as lead vocalist and saxophonist, the focal point of a band that his father had forged into one of Africaโs most legendary ensembles. While Seun is the front man, a star in his own right who is routinely recognized by fans on the streets of Lagos, in many ways Egypt 80 is still his fatherโs band. In performance, Seun comes across as a perfect stand-in for his famous Father but also stays very personal. His singing voice is deep like Felaโs, and his alto saxophone hits the lines and hooks his father composed with the same muscular style, although he tries to bring his own flavor to the obligatory solos on saxophone and synthesizer. And like Fela, on stage Seun lives up to a reputation as a sex symbol, shimmying, winding his hips and often discarding his shirt, to the delight of lady fans.
Felaโs Afrobeat was a pungent blend of funk and jazz with an African sensibility, reminiscent of James Brown but grittier, nastier and vaguely unsettling, like fermenting fruit. With Seun, Egypt 80 is as explosive as they were under Fela, combining horns, keyboards, percussion, guitars and vocals in a sophisticated and overpowering blend that is always insistent. In the 70s the band performed almost nightly at The Shrine, a club Fela established, but these days they rehearse once a week and play three or four times a month at various venues around Lagos, sometimes in huge stadiums alongside other artists. The band also tours regularly in Europe, they already hit France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, UK, Belgium, but also South Africa, Ghanaโฆ
Seun was literally born to do this, and seems unconcerned by the constant comparisons to his father. For Seun, taking up where his father left off is about building on Felaโs legacy, not trying to escape it. He wrote a song on Malaria disease for a festival in Dakar where he jammed with Manu Dibango and Tony Allen for the BBC film ยซ Africa Live : the RollBack Malaria concertยป sponsored by the UN fundation that has been bradcasted around the whole world.
"If Iโm in my fatherโs shadow then it doesnโt trouble me to be," he says. "If thatโs all I can get, itโs a very good place to be. He was a very great man." He pauses. "But of course every artist wants to define themselves." Seun says he and his father were close, and Felaโs death at the age of 58 hit the teenager hard. Fela had other children by other women, but took a special interest in Seun, who is one of only two sons to follow their father into a career in music. But having inherited the leadership of Felaโs band, Seun can be more selective about what else he chooses to take from the example of Felaโs life. In artistic terms he is also determined to chart his own course. Seun has just finished to record two original tracks, ยซ Think Africa ยป and Fire Dance ยป to be soon released in Vynil 12 inches and on I Tunes in order to innovate his own style. Seun also wants to update his fatherโs political message.
He heartily endorses Felaโs politics ("He wasnโt afraid," Seun says proudly) and relishes the fact that many of the songs he performs pillory by name Nigeriaโs current president, Olusegun Obasanjo (who was also head of state in the mid-1970s when Fela recorded some of his most biting broadsides, including a track blaming Obasanjo for his motherโs death in an infamous army raid on Felaโs Kalakuta compound). But right now Seun seems unlikely to form a political party, as his father did in the late 70s. And Seun hopes to offer his listeners a slightly different message from his fatherโs. "I want to make Afrobeat for my generation. Instead of โget up and fight,โ itโs going to be โget up and think,โ" he says. Seun once said "I have to play my fatherโs songs until Iโm ready." With an album of his own creations in the works, presumably heโs finally set to stake his own musical claim instead of trading on his fatherโs name. In so doing, perhaps he can muster the kind of iconic voice and presence that made Fela one of his generationโs most politically influential cultural artists. Itโs already clear that Seunโs name and music resonate with a new generation of Nigerians, many of whom are too young to remember his fatherโs heyday. No, it canโt be easy to be a leader to the teeming, aggressive and often undisciplined legions of Nigeriaโs youth. But maybe Seun Kuti is one man for the job. Seun Kuti just like his father, the late Fela Kuti , represents a minority of thinkers. Those who choose to question the ruling bodies, those who strive for quality of life and those who are not afraid to shine a light on the corruption that sprawls behind closed government doors. He represents a generation who act upon these thoughts and voice the truth. He does so without weapons, brutality and political agendas. He does so through music. And that music is Afrobeat. A fusion of big band jazz, funk, and traditional African sounds. Fela left behind two things he treasured most. Afrobeat: the musical style he pioneered and his band, Egypt 80. Seun chose to continue the legacy of his father by taking on the band, in partnership with its longstanding bandleader, Baba Ani. With Seun deemed lead singer, the band is a twenty-piece power house. Much of the magic of their live shows derives from the energetic exchange between musicians and dancers. It is hard to imagine that the leader, able to emulate his fatherโs songs and style with such grace, is a mere 24 years old and his sister, Motunrayo Kuti, still one of the most vibrant dancers on stage. Bearing his Dadโs looks, Seun is a great saxophonist, an activist and groovewriter. He promises a serious funk mix of new album material and Fela classics which wonโt let you stand still. The band is a power-house of explosive dance grooves, the hookiest basslines, big spectacle and politicised energy. Much of the magic of their live shows derives from the energetic exchange between at least 18 musicians and dancers. It's a full-on, funk-happy sound that'll take you to the edge and back...
http://www.myspace.com/seunkuti
Since then, he has led Egypt 80 as lead vocalist and saxophonist, the focal point of a band that his father had forged into one of Africaโs most legendary ensembles. While Seun is the front man, a star in his own right who is routinely recognized by fans on the streets of Lagos, in many ways Egypt 80 is still his fatherโs band. In performance, Seun comes across as a perfect stand-in for his famous Father but also stays very personal. His singing voice is deep like Felaโs, and his alto saxophone hits the lines and hooks his father composed with the same muscular style, although he tries to bring his own flavor to the obligatory solos on saxophone and synthesizer. And like Fela, on stage Seun lives up to a reputation as a sex symbol, shimmying, winding his hips and often discarding his shirt, to the delight of lady fans.
Felaโs Afrobeat was a pungent blend of funk and jazz with an African sensibility, reminiscent of James Brown but grittier, nastier and vaguely unsettling, like fermenting fruit. With Seun, Egypt 80 is as explosive as they were under Fela, combining horns, keyboards, percussion, guitars and vocals in a sophisticated and overpowering blend that is always insistent. In the 70s the band performed almost nightly at The Shrine, a club Fela established, but these days they rehearse once a week and play three or four times a month at various venues around Lagos, sometimes in huge stadiums alongside other artists. The band also tours regularly in Europe, they already hit France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, UK, Belgium, but also South Africa, Ghanaโฆ
Seun was literally born to do this, and seems unconcerned by the constant comparisons to his father. For Seun, taking up where his father left off is about building on Felaโs legacy, not trying to escape it. He wrote a song on Malaria disease for a festival in Dakar where he jammed with Manu Dibango and Tony Allen for the BBC film ยซ Africa Live : the RollBack Malaria concertยป sponsored by the UN fundation that has been bradcasted around the whole world.
"If Iโm in my fatherโs shadow then it doesnโt trouble me to be," he says. "If thatโs all I can get, itโs a very good place to be. He was a very great man." He pauses. "But of course every artist wants to define themselves." Seun says he and his father were close, and Felaโs death at the age of 58 hit the teenager hard. Fela had other children by other women, but took a special interest in Seun, who is one of only two sons to follow their father into a career in music. But having inherited the leadership of Felaโs band, Seun can be more selective about what else he chooses to take from the example of Felaโs life. In artistic terms he is also determined to chart his own course. Seun has just finished to record two original tracks, ยซ Think Africa ยป and Fire Dance ยป to be soon released in Vynil 12 inches and on I Tunes in order to innovate his own style. Seun also wants to update his fatherโs political message.
He heartily endorses Felaโs politics ("He wasnโt afraid," Seun says proudly) and relishes the fact that many of the songs he performs pillory by name Nigeriaโs current president, Olusegun Obasanjo (who was also head of state in the mid-1970s when Fela recorded some of his most biting broadsides, including a track blaming Obasanjo for his motherโs death in an infamous army raid on Felaโs Kalakuta compound). But right now Seun seems unlikely to form a political party, as his father did in the late 70s. And Seun hopes to offer his listeners a slightly different message from his fatherโs. "I want to make Afrobeat for my generation. Instead of โget up and fight,โ itโs going to be โget up and think,โ" he says. Seun once said "I have to play my fatherโs songs until Iโm ready." With an album of his own creations in the works, presumably heโs finally set to stake his own musical claim instead of trading on his fatherโs name. In so doing, perhaps he can muster the kind of iconic voice and presence that made Fela one of his generationโs most politically influential cultural artists. Itโs already clear that Seunโs name and music resonate with a new generation of Nigerians, many of whom are too young to remember his fatherโs heyday. No, it canโt be easy to be a leader to the teeming, aggressive and often undisciplined legions of Nigeriaโs youth. But maybe Seun Kuti is one man for the job. Seun Kuti just like his father, the late Fela Kuti , represents a minority of thinkers. Those who choose to question the ruling bodies, those who strive for quality of life and those who are not afraid to shine a light on the corruption that sprawls behind closed government doors. He represents a generation who act upon these thoughts and voice the truth. He does so without weapons, brutality and political agendas. He does so through music. And that music is Afrobeat. A fusion of big band jazz, funk, and traditional African sounds. Fela left behind two things he treasured most. Afrobeat: the musical style he pioneered and his band, Egypt 80. Seun chose to continue the legacy of his father by taking on the band, in partnership with its longstanding bandleader, Baba Ani. With Seun deemed lead singer, the band is a twenty-piece power house. Much of the magic of their live shows derives from the energetic exchange between musicians and dancers. It is hard to imagine that the leader, able to emulate his fatherโs songs and style with such grace, is a mere 24 years old and his sister, Motunrayo Kuti, still one of the most vibrant dancers on stage. Bearing his Dadโs looks, Seun is a great saxophonist, an activist and groovewriter. He promises a serious funk mix of new album material and Fela classics which wonโt let you stand still. The band is a power-house of explosive dance grooves, the hookiest basslines, big spectacle and politicised energy. Much of the magic of their live shows derives from the energetic exchange between at least 18 musicians and dancers. It's a full-on, funk-happy sound that'll take you to the edge and back...
http://www.myspace.com/seunkuti
Kuku Kee Me
Seun Kuti Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Seun Kuti:
African Problems African problems (Too much to talk about) African problems (…
Don't Give That Shit to Me Don't bring that shit to me (my brothers and sisters) Don't…
Fire Dance Na the dance, make me come here today Na to dance,…
Many Things I don hear many things (Many things) I don see many…
Mosquito Song E get one think wey we don dey live with…
Na Oil Your father and mother, dem make poi together Dem bring you…
Rise Our ear don full for your words Our stomach still empty Our…
Think Afrika I get my own, you get your own, no take…
Todo Se Mueve Cuando la percusiรณn fluye Tu cuerpo se construye y se destru…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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Olalekan Baruwa
What a song! So deep and liberating! Thank you Big Bird and Black Thought, this is fire! ๐ฅ๐ฅ ... I wish I can tap the like the button more than once lol, this is too dope! ๐
Hakeem's Rarities
This is a beautiful track... Glad Seun teamed up with the Greatest Rapper of all time.
clinton nene-eyitsede
Seun, please do more of this type of song. I also love what you did on the Vector album. So people can know you as the bad ass artist that you are, not as Fela son.
Rilwan Olalekan
Black Thought has been a problem since Organix. My favorite emcee of all time, SP 215 to the world.
I also like the joint you did with me in when we move, off Common's album. Those guys recognize the prominence of Fela better some Nigerians, From Black thought to Talib to Mos Def (Yasiin Bey) they are Fela Stan.
Joshua Mgbakor
I didn't expect anything less.. Great stuff.
DoobyBruh'tha
Youโre on a hell of a run brotha! ๐ฅ
Adeyemi Olubambo
I swear, this is my new Mantra!
Kuku Kee me!
Africa!
Queen Ayacodobae
The radio programs I work with will not play songs with profanity. Don't forget about our youth when you are creating your music of pertinent messages. We need this and more. I am homeschool teacher. I was sending my son's spoken word with awesome music to various universities and one day a professor called me and told me that they took his music down because he used profanity. I know you Express yourselves in many ways, shapes and forms . Yet, we still need the best results. Everybody needs to hear the messages.This is the real issue, the real topic and the best medicine of our times. Anybody can say. "F U", yet everybody can't make a pure powerfully productive and positive message that rhymes. It takes special skills to do this. No harm intended.
Eventions Gifts
This is unbelievably dope!
Amos Osemwengie
love this!