WORDS: Sue Bowerman
PHOTOGRAPHY: Alexis Maryon
DESIGN: Tom Silverstone

Seun Anikulapo Kuti, the prodigal son of Afrobeat, revels in the state of affairs in his homeland, Lagos, Nigeria, speaks about Obama’s inherited debt to the world and why Afrobeat lives on.

Adorned in red, green and gold, Fela’s heir apparent lounges on his hotel room bed and holds court with regal equanimity. The relentless smog of African herb that accompanies my questions swirls around the small room, leaving me equally intoxicated by his responses as by passive inhalations. It’s immediately obvious that the Seun Anikulapo Kuti I met with four years ago in Lagos has grown into his leadership shoes physically, mentally and metaphorically. It has been a development period for growth and a time for reflection. As he mentions the passing of his Mother, Fehintola, his closest ally and full-time member of his band, an awkward pain enters the room and we quickly move the conversation elsewhere, to the burning issues at hand.

Seun’s disdain of the corrupt, hierarchical leadership in Nigeria alone is an overriding message for which he has Many Things to say in his aptly named debut record. With a truly Afrobeat signature, Many Things seems to have intentionally embraced the traditions of this music and a commitment to the continued legacy of Fela Kuti and Egypt 80.

“Both your suggestions are correct”, Seun responds, the trademark grin widening as he pauses before divulging, “I am very inspired by my father’s music between 1972 and 1984 and when I write music, that’s in my head, that’s how it tends to come out, so I think it’s something that’s in me. For every artist that wants to be an artist you have to have something in you, something special that gives you that edge over everybody else. People call it talent. I had to do what my spirit told me to do.”

Read on in SHOOK 006.