3. Fela KutiThe Best of the Black President
Fela has so many good songs, but each record only has like two songs on it! So I just said the Best Of. I grew-up listening to Fela, because my dad was into Fela. He took me to see Fela when I was seven, at a 400-capacity theatre. And he had all 27 of his wives on-stage, topless, dancing, and I was seven being like, ‘What the fuck is this!?’. My mind was blown forever, I’ll never forget. At some point soon after my dad had some politician come over to our home for a meeting, and I came downstairs, like, ‘Hi! I can do the African dance!’, and got on my knees, and everyone was like, ‘NO!’ – I was an interesting child. Anyway! I write lyrics about real stuff, because I listened to people who sang about real things. Fela taught me from a very young age that music is a tool. He put Nigeria on the world map, and he was for the people. I still listen to him all the time, and I turned so many people onto him – especially if they lived in Philadelphia.
