The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusicAlbum reviews

Femi Kuti and Made Kuti – Legacy+

Femi Kuti and Made Kuti – Legacy+ | Album review
3 February 2021
Dan Meier
Avatar
Dan Meier
3 February 2021

Music review

Dan Meier
★★★★★

Release date

5th February 2021

Highlights

Young Lady

Links

Twitter Facebook Instagram Website

After the past year nobody wants to hear the word “unprecedented” ever again, so this father-son joint release is better called an unusual venture – not really a double album so much as two separate records packaged together in the name of funk. The son and grandson of legendary Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, Femi and Made decided to release their new albums at the same time, in a move that wasn’t inspired by Eugene and Dan Levy.

Legacy+ comprises Femi’s eleventh record Stop the Hate and Made’s debut For(e)ward, the first a mature-sounding Afrobeat offering, the second more musically adventurous, but both sharing the DNA of Fela Kuti’s hypnotic grooves and raw social conscience.

The musical legacy runs deep in the Kuti family. Denied any traditional teaching by his father, Femi learnt music on the job, playing saxophone in Fela’s band. By contrast, Femi allowed his son Made a formal musical education in London (where Fela had also studied) and enlisted him for his band Positive Force, bringing a third generation into the musical tradition immortalised at The Shrine in Lagos (the venue created by Fela in the ‘70s and now managed by Femi).

Made plays bass, alto saxophone and percussion on Stop the Hate. The record’s uplifting, danceable rhythms ricochet between funky horns and political lyrics. On cuts titled with galvanising slogans like Stop the Hate and You Can’t Fight Corruption with Corruption, Femi simultaneously delivers universal messages and addresses specific issues in Nigeria, where he leads the call for social justice with fiery passion and vocal dexterity.

“We must now understand just how scary it is that we are facing the same problems from the ‘70s,” Made says on his track Different Streets, a tribute to his grandfather whose criticisms of the Nigerian government made him a target of state violence his whole life. Made impressively plays every instrument on For(e)ward, blending skankable brass, smooth vocals and greasy basslines, just as Fela mixed jazz, funk and highlife 50 years ago.

On the song Young Lady, Made highlights the issue of women facing harassment and abuse in the education system, inspired by a BBC documentary that uncovered widespread sexual assault at the universities of Lagos and Ghana – a feminist perspective notably missing from the politically-charged music of his grandfather, who infamously married 27 women at once. 

Femi is now the age at which his father died and remains a positive force to be reckoned with; Made is a formidable 25-year-old with an eye to the horizon of Afrobeat. At once they deliver a loving tribute to Fela and a break from tradition, one foot in the Kuti past and the other stepping into the future. Legacy+ is better than unprecedented: it’s something special. 

★★★★★

Dan Meier

Legacy+ is released on 5th February 2021. For further information or to order the album visit here.

Watch the video for the single here:

Related Itemsafrobeatfeaturedreview

More in Album reviews

Hercules and Love Affair – In Amber

★★★★★
Laura Bit
Read More

George Ezra – Gold Rush Kid

★★★★★
Bev Lung
Read More

FKJ – Vincent

★★★★★
Ronan Fawsitt
Read More

Liam Gallagher – C’mon You Know

★★★★★
Mark Worgan
Read More

Lykke Li – EYEYE

★★★★★
Georgia Howlett
Read More

Florence and the Machine – Dance Fever

★★★★★
Ronan Fawsitt
Read More

Warpaint – Radiate Like This

★★★★★
Catherine Sedgwick
Read More

Arcade Fire – We

★★★★★
Ronan Fawsitt
Read More

Blossoms – Ribbon Around the Bomb

★★★★★
Georgia Howlett
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Music review

Dan Meier
★★★★★

Release date

5th February 2021

Highlights

Young Lady

Links

Twitter Facebook Instagram Website

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Africa Fashion at the V&A
    ★★★★★
    Art
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Musical at London Palladium
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • St Vincent at the Hammersmith Apollo
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Netflix Walking Tour: From Bridgerton to The Crown, a free walking tour through the filming locations
    Cinema & Tv
  • Minions: The Rise of Gru
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Railway Children Return
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Musical at London Palladium
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The Terminal List
    ★★★★★
    amazon
  • Baymax!
    ★★★★★
    disney
  • The Railway Children Return
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Musical at London Palladium
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • St Vincent at the Hammersmith Apollo
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Netflix Walking Tour: From Bridgerton to The Crown, a free walking tour through the filming locations
    Cinema & Tv
  • Africa Fashion at the V&A
    ★★★★★
    Art
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Firefly Lane | Show review
Judas and the Black Messiah, and the Cultural Impact of the Black Panther Party