Nigerian Afrobeat legend, Fela Kuti, is your favorite rapper’s favorite singer, and we have a video to prove it.
A video that surfaced yesterday shows the rapper-mogul, Sean Combs, aka, P. Diddy, and rapper Joe Budden, flawlessly dancing to Fela at Diddy’s star-studded New Year’s Eve party in Miami.
But this is not the first time the rapper has shown his affinity for Fela, and in fact, for Africa.
On his 48th birthday late last year, the rapper-mogul shared a video of him and rapper French Montana dancing to the Fela’s song, Let’s Start (or Jeke Bere), on Instagram, captioning, “Today is my birthday and I’m feeling cute!! #BrotherLove #BlackExellence #LetsDance”.
Just a month later, the rapper-mogul shared another Fela fare, this time, a video of his sons dancing to the legend, with a voice-over by Diddy to “start them young”. At the end of the video, Diddy gives a short spiel about what he envisions would be a reception worthy for a King when he comes to Africa (one I believe will soon be realized).
Diddy joins a long list of American hip-hop artists to bite the Fela dust; Jay Z, Will Smith, Questlove, and Jada Pinkett Smith co-produced a Broadway musical in 2009 in his honor.
Fela Kuti, popularly known as Fela, was the pioneer of Afrobeats/pop music. The human rights and political activist was an outspoken Pan-Africanist who spoke often about the African and Black man’s plight and the need to unite. His influence and popularity continue to rise as a new generation of African and Afro-inspired artists sample and reference his work.
