In Conversation: Seun Kuti
Nigerian musician Seun Kuti, youngest child of afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, recently linked with hip-hop veteran Black Thought to complete the collaborative EP, ‘African Dreams’. The three-track EP takes the less-is-more approach, and is a re-imagination of Seun Kuti’s Grammy-nominated album, ‘Black Times’.
‘African Dreams’ seamlessly fuses jazzy afrobeat and nostalgic hip-hop production creating a unique
musical sound, complimented by Black Thought and Seun Kuti’s powerful lyricism which explores Black liberation, sacrifice and freedom. Seun Kuti merges his musical talents with the phenomenal lyricist Black Thought, and never loses sight of his father, Fela Kuti’s vision.
In the track ‘African Dreams’, Kuti proclaims, “I’m the reflection in the glass. The shadows in the grass / The arrow with the wings of a sparrow in its path…” Fela Kuti’s music acted as a voice of rebellion against military corruption within Nigeria and Seun Kuti upholds this by heavily politicising his music, speaking of the sacrifices made by black people to see the freedom of our people, throughout the entirety of the EP.
To celebrate the new release, Clash deep-dives into conversation with Seun Kuti, discussing all things afrobeat, Black liberation, and the sacrifice of the African people.
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Firstly, I want to congratulate you on your EP release with Black Thought! Such a powerful body of music which beautifully highlights black liberation and seamlessly fuses afrobeat with US hip-hop. What would you say was the main inspiration behind the album?
Big thank you! Well this remix album was actually inspired by the situation we found ourselves in, that everybody was stuck at home. My very good friend Alex Jennings (Molotov), who produced the project, told me that he had been making remixes from my Black Times records, so I asked him to send them to me so I could listen to it. When I heard them I was also talking to Black Thought at that time, so I thought that this must be a sign. There are these two artists, two Africans, one in Africa and one in the diaspora. Maybe we should have a different conversation, maybe we should talk about something. I told him and he said “Yeah let’s do this”, it was really exciting. I sent him the music, he sent me back some verses, and boom, that’s how we got the project going.
This is your second collaboration with Black Thought, following Common’s ‘When We Move’. A legendary collaboration, as the merging of afrobeat and hip-hop is something I haven’t heard before. How was the process of fusing these two genres together? Did you find the fusion of sounds difficult to get used to?
Seun Kuti: No, not really because for me it is still African music. Afrobeat is African music, hip-hop is African music. Regardless of the part of the world it is played at, you know, African music is still African music. So even if people listen to African music that is made in America, it’s still African music because hip-hop is something that is made by African people. So for me, the transition wasn’t that difficult. The coming together wasn’t that difficult, let’s put it that way. I was speaking to my cousin, musically, it was so seamless, I have to say.
In the track, ‘African Dreams’, you shout out revolutionaries, African activists and pan-Africanists, including Thomas Sankara, Kwame Nkrumah, and of course your grandmother Funmilayo, speaking about the sacrifices they made. Would you say politics has the most influence on the lyricism behind your music?
Politics is politics. People use it as some sort of blanket word. Because, when you say politics, people can just say ‘well I don’t like politics’. I feel as African people we are not bad people. Our situation is quite peculiar. Many of the things that I talk about come from lived experiences of African people. And I want to talk about the majority of our people, I don’t want to do what most Africans do and just want to showcase the maybe two or three percent of Africans that are able to afford some comfort. I don’t like this narrative of us being a happy people, you know. Resilient people. Those words kind of rub me the wrong way because that is not the normal response to oppression. So I want to feel like my lyrics come from a place where we are actually dedicating our talents to the development of our nation.
I believe in giving our talents to people. And not just as musicians or artists. Even as engineers, as social workers, as bankers, as teachers, lecturers, nurses, doctors. With the talent we have in professionalism, we must push it as African people. The system makes us feel like it’s for personal use. We must remove our talents from the conversation of developing our nation. So I feel like that’s where a lot of my lyrical inspiration comes from.
Moving on from ‘African Dreams’, the second track on the EP ‘Badman Lighter’, introduces more instrumentalisation, with the saxophone solo closing the track. Could you do a breakdown of this track and the inspiration behind it?
The inspiration comes from the original track as well. So, being a pothead myself, I have written a few songs celebrating the use of this spiritual herb. ‘Badman Lighter’ continues with that tradition. I’m always politicising the relationship between society and marijuana, in a sense that I’m having a conversation about getting high, but the numerous ways that we can economically as African people and spiritually also look at the economic aspect, and use this herb as some kind of awakening and healing herb, as it should be. I feel as though abuse comes from some people not understanding it. I feel as though a lot of people are on that line, in so many aspects of life and are funny about marijuana. So for me, as African people, I want us to see it from that aspect not just as a way of escaping.
Throughout the album, you both talk about Black liberation and freedom. Following the pan-Africanist movements from the past, how would you say black people of today can contribute towards the black liberation movement?
I think we need to educate ourselves more about who we are. One of the things we say today is that our grandfathers sacrificed a lot for us to be where we are today, and we as a people have kind of gotten inside the door that was opened…
Let me put it this way, a lot of people have climbed the ladder that was built for them, and they have knocked it over. So that the rest of us can be looking at them at the top, instead of building more ladders, to elevate more of our people. Because as African people, we are children of sacrifice. So for you to go to school, somebody had to die, for you to vote, somebody had to die. So this is who we are. And for us to act, and to understand that these gifts must be paid for to the next generation.
For me, it’s really a great disservice for those that gave their lives for us, for us not to remember, for us not to teach it. Even in mainstream media and culture. Because culture is strengthened by symbols and if you’re looking at mainstream black culture, not African culture, but black culture of the world and today, none of our symbols had any meaning in the mainstream world. They would rather have the green, red, green of Gucci, than the red, black and green of Marcus Garvey. You don’t ever hear anybody say Marcus Garvey Records. It’s Roc A Fella Records, Death Row Records. White stuff. So that’s what I feel it should be.
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What was your favourite part of creating this album as a whole?
Writing new lyrics to songs. That was my favourite part. I could say some things now that I couldn’t say before in the original song because I had already said a lot. The remix gave me the opportunity to say more things that I wanted to say.
Do you have a favourite song on the album, or I guess one that you enjoyed creating the most?
Yeah, my favourite song on the album is ‘African Dreams’. But I’m looking at the world and you guys are choosing ‘Badman Lighter’.
Haha, I think for me it’s between ‘African Dreams’ and ‘Badman Lighter’. It’s a hard one but yeah ‘Badman Lighter’ is just vibes! It’s a difficult choice.
You guys say ‘Badman Lighter’ but I want ‘African Dreams’. I’m sorry haha.
When was the exact moment you fell in love with afrobeat?
Oh, well I was born in music so I can’t really put a finger to it. And I had the privilege of watching Fela perform every week.
Tell me a bit about your story and how you started your journey in music.
I started in a band when I was 8. So all my life I played in a band. That was the beginning of my journey. As I said, I grew up in a house with music all around me and my dad always took me on tour with him so I’d get to see him perform every night. Backstage, the atmosphere, the ambience. I was like, this is easy, this is what I want to do with my life. Just get me on that stage and let me make things happen.
How has your father, Fela Kuti’s music influenced yours? Would you say it’s been a big driving force in the style of music you make?
It is the driving force. Not only his music but also his mission. Mission for me is everything. People always mistake my mission for my fathers mission, and I say to them all the time, my father is also standing on the shoulders of his mother, of Nkrumah, of all the great revolutionaries all over the world who have fought for humanity or for the people to reclaim their power. So that mission for me is sacred.
What’s next for Seun Kuti musically? What can we expect in the following months?
I’m going to release my main album, the main project. I also have a lot of features coming out next year, I can’t say nothing for now but I’m working with other artists for next year so there are more projects going to come out and I’m really looking forward to my name being in all these new special projects. I’m also diving into TV, so if you see this mug *points at face* on the screens trying to act…
I’ll be keeping a lookout haha!
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‘African Dreams’ is out now.
Words: Yohanna Delaportas