Femi is the son of the legendary Nigerian Afro-Beat pioneer Fela Kuti. Femi is a worthy successor to his father and has added a new dimension to the polyrhythmic sound in which his father specialised. Born in London in 1962 he rose to fame when he appeared in place of his father at the Hollywood Bowl after Fela was arrested at Lagos airport on a dubious fraud charge. Femi delighted the audience with the strident saxophone style and self-assured stage presence.
Fight To Win Femi's strategy appears to be the courting of the Western market and connecting with the American black music scene. there are strong R&B, funk, and reggae undercurrents throughout the album. Femi grew up with both those strands, and the 12 compositions on Fight To Win deftly dovetail Fela's heritage with the best of new black music.
The music is more dancefloor, radio and remix friendly. No bad thing for djs hesitant about playing Fela's originals. European and American dancefloors simply aren't used to Fela's often slowish tempos and 18-minute tunes. To cement the connection to the American market, rappers Mos Def and Common make guest appearances, while the title track features great vocals by the Badu-like singer Jaguar Wright. The strongest tracks here are "Eko Lagos" and "Alkebu-Lan (Cradle of Civilization)" which are masterpieces of groove architecture with that underlying booty-shaking twitch. Femi's singing voice makes no unnecessary attempt to conceal the fact that he's his father's son. Icing on the cake is the reponsive-but-not-overpowering chorus of Yeni and Funke Kuti and Omolara Eluyode, and of course Samuel Aina's superb kit-drumming: just as effective as Fela's original drummer Tony Allen. Fight To Win will sound at home on the most urban of modern r&b radio stations.
Shoki Shoki Femi is not Fela. He renews the legacy and makes it his own. Young Femi Kuti played sax is his legendary father's legendary band. keeping the rhythms that make this music and adding a completely contemporary sound, that's Shoki Shoki's background. The CD is very hot, full of great dance numbers and politically aware lyrics that come across as much more heartfelt and bitter than his dad's. Each song seeps with the realism and brutal honesty of Nigeria's state, such as "Blackman Know Yourself" a song speaking to Africans and even African Americans, to come realize who they really are. Beng, Beng Beng" who is one of the only songs that talks about his relationship with a woman delivers and is probably the best song in terms of music, on the CD in my opinion."Truth Don Die" and "Eregele". Femi's music is filled with so much energy that it's hard to stay still when listening to it.
Femi is the son of the legendary Nigerian Afro-Beat pioneer Fela Kuti. Femi is a worthy successor to his father and has added a new dimension to the polyrhythmic sound in which his father specialised. Born in London in 1962 he rose to fame when he appeared in place of his father at the Hollywood Bowl after Fela was arrested at Lagos airport on a dubious fraud charge. Femi delighted the audience with the strident saxophone style and self-assured stage presence.