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Popular Nigerian musician Femi Kuti has spoken out against his father Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s (the Afrobeat pioneer) decision to leave the band.
During his most recent visit on the Afropolitan podcast, Femi made the confession.
Femi Kuti revealed that he quit Fela’s band to find himself because “I did not have any possibility of my life” when asked about his choice to leave.
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“Are you going to be like your dad or won’t you play music? Everyone would ask that question when I was a kid in school. My father’s example was set high for me to follow.
Being Femi Kuti was an absolute must for me as a musician. The mathematical reasoning that I am not Fela was also mine. I started dressing similarly like my dad and my mum as I used to live with them before I ran away to live with my dad.
Since dad often clothes me like himself, I felt like little Fela. I simply felt the need to quickly find myself, lest I become a very miserable man. I returned to my mother as a result.
His legion of fans flocked to me the second my band was created. Back then, there was no internet to help me explain myself, and the press despised me, so it was hard to discover positive coverage of me.
While I was living with my dad, I was unable to pursue any dreams for my own life, including starting a family of my own. Seeing aspects of his life that mirrored mine, the 63-year-old said.