Be the first to write a reader review

Much like the meaning of his middle name Anikulapo -- "the one who holds death in his pouch" -- Fela Kuti's musical and political vision lives beyond his time on Earth. Forty years later, Fela's son walks in his footsteps. Much like his dad, Femi Kuti rails against oppressive governments. He blows his sax sweet and hard, like an African Maceo Parker playing a form of music created by his father: Afrobeat.

Melding the joyous prolonged sounds of African highlife music with the down dirty grit of James Brown and the Horny Horns, Fela created conscious, politically charged music. Femi Kuti has taken the mantle laid down by his father when he passed away in 1998 (from complications due to AIDS) and moved Afrobeat beat into the modern era. But it's not easy to fill the shoes of a man who was practically worshipped as a god in his homeland of Nigeria.

Emerging from his father's shadow, Femi's music and message deserve to stand on their own. His two studio releases — "Shoki Shoki" in 1999 and 2001's "Fight to Win" — paint a picture of a man struggling with abject poverty and a corrupt government. Much to Femi's chagrin, the plight of Nigerians has not improved much since the days of Fela Kuti. Mixing traditional Afrobeat funk with electronic beats and a touch of hip-hop style, Femi's music uses his songs as a podium to raise consciousness of the struggle of everyday life in Africa.

Make your own list