Tag: seun kuti

Seun Kuti, the famous Grammy-nominated Afrobeat musician, has made a bold claim about the Egypt 80 band, the band which he inherited from Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, his late father and Afrobeat pioneer.

In a recent interview with City 105.1 FM, Kuti claimed that Egypt 80 is Africa’s most successful band, boasting about his important position in society as the frontman of the band.

He said he shares his opinions freely without fear because he can’t be threatened by culture, adding that the media and African award organizers were already overlooking his music.

Kuti said, “I won’t stop speaking my mind because I’m no longer afraid of anything you’re going to do. What are you going to do? You’re not going to play my videos? Are you not already doing this? So what are you going to do?

“Even when I got nominated for the Grammys, no award organization in the whole of Africa nominated my band in any category, knowing fully well that no matter what anybody says about me, I, Seun, am the frontman for Africa’s most successful band. 54 albums. By the time I drop my next album, it will be 55 albums.

“The band that I lead is an African musical institution. If we knew what we were doing in Africa, it would go without saying that this band should be given some kind of national recognition to keep them in the forefront of the psyche of African people all over the world, to know that Africans can achieve institutions like this. But well, that is for an African who knows what he’s doing.”

Seun Kuti, the Grammy-nominated Afrobeat musician, has made a new claim about Burna Boy.

He lamented that Burna Boy is erroneously being credited for records set by him and others in the Nigerian music industry.

He recalled that Burna Boy was widely reported as the first artiste to play in Coachella in 2020 despite his (Kuti’s) performance at the festival in 2012.

He also mentioned that before Burna Boy earned his first Grammy nomination for Best World Music Album with African Giant, his elder brother, Femi Kuti had received multiple nominations in the category.

Speaking in a recent interview with The Public Republic, Kuti lamented that his album ‘Black Times’ was nominated for Best World Music Album years ago but no African award organiser considered it for a nomination.

The controversial singer stated that despite earning another Grammy nomination for his contributions to Janelle Monae’s ‘Age of Pleasure,’ which was nominated in the Album of the Year category at the 2024 Grammys, the media didn’t mention him among the Nigerian artists nominated for the 66th Grammys.

“My brother [Femi Kuti] has been nominated at the Grammys multiple times. They’ve nominated me, I was also nominated in the last edition. It was only my name that they [Nigerian media] didn’t mention among the Nigerian artists who were nominated for the 66th Grammys. That’s what they do every time as if I’m from Togo.

“That’s how they said Burna boy was the first Nigerian artiste to play in Coachella in 2020 where me I’ve played in 2012 as if I’m from Togo,” he lamented.

Seun Kuti, the Afrobeat musician, has spoken up about why his late father and the pioneer of Afrobeats, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, married 27 women in one day.

Recall that Fela got married to 27 women in one day back in 1978 in what was seen as a very daring move.

Appearing on the ‘Fresh Off The Boat’ podcast via Skype, Seun Kuti explained that his father married 27 women in one day in a bid to preserve their honour and dignity as the media was already tagging his female dancers and band members living with him as “prostitutes.”

He said: “My father was under immense media propaganda. He was very scrutinised. And most of it were directed to the women that were in his life; his female back-up singers, dancers. They all lived together with my dad but the media started calling them prostitutes.

“So my dad, in order to preserve their honour and dignity, asked them if they would choose to be his brides so nobody would call them names anymore and they all agreed. That was how the marriage happened.”

He also disclosed that Fela’s biopic is already in the works.

Seun Kuti, the Nigerian maverick singer, has claimed that only the poor will go to “heaven.”

According to him, Christianity and Islam are premised in the present, therefore, those with bank accounts and savings won’t make heaven because they don’t believe that Jesus is coming “now” by saving for the future.

Kuti, a self-proclaimed “juju” worshipper said most Nigerians would make heaven because they are poor and only 48 million out of the over 200 million Nigerians have bank accounts.

Speaking in the latest episode of the Spill With Phyna podcast, the singer said: “When people tried to preach to me, ‘Oh Seun, you’ve to give your life to Christ.’ I always ask them this particular question: ‘Do you have a bank account? If you do, you’re just like me. Anywhere I dey go when I die, is where you’re going.’

“Poor people are the ones that will go to heaven. That’s what it means. In Nigeria, it’s only 48 million Nigerians that have bank accounts. The government revealed this during COVID-19 when Nigerians were agitating for stipend to be paid to their accounts as palliatives. The government said that won’t work because only 48 million out of 200 million Nigerians have bank accounts. So, hopefully, many of those that will go to heaven will be Nigerians because they have passed the first criteria.”