Femi Kuti, the Grammy-nominated Afrobeat artist, has disclosed that his late father, Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, once faced poverty and struggled to provide for his family.
Femi explained that when Fela’s first hit song ‘Jeun Ko Ku’ was making waves, the family was in abject poverty despite the singer’s fame.
Speaking in a recent interview with Afropolitan, Femi said, “Fela was very poor. He couldn’t even afford food for us his kids. I mean, really really poor. Then we were living at No. 14A Agege Motor Road, this was all before Kalakuta.
“Every music story was playing Fela’s first Afrobeats hit ‘Jeun Ko Ku.’ I think he too was surprised at the reception he got.”
Recall that Femi Kuti’s son, Made Kuti, also made similar claims that his grandfather, Fela Kuti, died poor.
He explained that Fela made a lot of money during his lifetime but died broke because he was excessively generous.