In Fela’s candid opinion, the album wasn’t good. According to Femi, he says “Fela condemned my first album. He said it was a very useless album.”
Fela Kuti might be the outspoken one and anyone thinking he’d be lenient with his words with his children is wrong. Totally.
The first son of the Afrobeat maestro, Femi Kuti, who has gone on tours with his father since he was a kid and has closely observed music from his father and his band revealed recently in an exclusive interview with Pulse, a foremost Nigerian media outfit that his father had harsh words for his debut album Femi Kuti, recorded in 1994 and released the following year.
In Fela’s candid opinion, the album wasn’t good. According to Femi, he says “Fela condemned my first album. He said it was a very useless album. He even went public to insult me, he abused me very well.”
Seeing that Femi Kuti has gone on to feature prominently in the world of music as a multi-instrumentalist and musician par excellence, it goes on to reiterate that tough love actually works. With his numerous Grammys nomination (which critics think bar politics, he should have won by now) and respect among peers even in other genres, Fela’s words no doubt must have pushed him to make better art.
Musicians seldom get it at first try and with his subsequent album, Fela revealed himself as a proud father to Femi, a precocious talent.
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