Fela Kuti invented Afrobeat. His music fused history, spirituality, and politics. It also got him into trouble.
On a tour of the U.S. in 1969, he met Sandara Izsadore, a former Black Panther. Izsadore introduced him to the work of Black radical thinkers like Kwame Ture, Angela Davis, and Malcolm X. She changed his life.
Izsadore learned about Nigeria's history from Kuti. And he learned a great deal from her, ultimately seeing the parallels between systemic racism in the U.S. and the tragic legacy of colonialism in his native Nigeria and across the continent. "..In the States people think the black‐power movement drew inspiration from Africa...They don't realize they're the ones who've got it over there. Why, we were even ashamed to go around in national dress until we saw pictures of blacks wearing dashikis on 125th St."
In the U.S., Fela Kuti came to understand how power structures work against Black people everywhere. To inspire his people, Kuti stopped singing about love and fun and began challenging the white colonial forces that many African countries had defeated in the 1960s. In "Yellow Fever", Kuti denounced the practice of skin bleaching. He wasn’t shy about criticizing the Nigerian government either.
As Malcolm X said, we're inseparably linked. Wherever you are in the diaspora, our shared ancestral history and present struggles mean that our future liberation depends on each other. None of us is free until all of us are.