It goes without saying that Fela Kuti is one of the most revolutionary musicians of all time. He was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, composer and vocalist that created his own style of music that merged funk, jazz, and psychedelic rock with traditional West African rhythms. Afrobeat, as he came to call it, wasn’t only used to unite people in groove but also in discontent with the corrupt Nigerian government.

Fela’s very public opposition of the government led to rampant raids of his commune, the Kalakuta Republic. In one of these raids, the Lagos police attempted to plant a joint on him and arrest him for the possession of marijuana. Fela quickly ate it, and was dragged into custody while the police waited for him to excrete feces abundant with THC. Apparently that fecal matter never came, and Fela was set free. That little tidbit of information sets the stage for his 1975 release, Expensive Shit. In recent years ES (as abbreviated) has been re-released with another 1975 album, He Miss Road.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I have no known family of direct African descent, much less do I even know anyone in my family who’s been to Africa. I got hip to Fela through Mos Def’s Fear Not of Man*, and that was back in the days of Limewire, the-breaks.com, DeMatha, etc. I still didn’t give Fela my good ear until my dissection of iNi’s Center Of Attention, which is by all means one of the best produced albums I’ve ever heard. Pete Rock sampled Fela’s Water No Get Enemy* for the song Grown Man Sport* and since then, I went diving head first for Fela’s music.

Mind you, his discography is extremely deep, but ES/He Miss Road is a great place to start. The 10+ minute songs are perfect for the sunny days when you have the house to yourself and you can just crank up the stereo and let the music play. So next time you find yourself looking for something new, check out something old. The new stuff probably came from it anyway.

- antoine