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Afrobeat musician Femi Kuti has opened up about what it was like growing up as the son of legendary Fela Kuti, and how he found his own path in music.
Speaking on the Afropolitan podcast, Femi recalled the heavy pressure people placed on him from childhood:
“In school, at the bus stop, everywhere — people would say, ‘Are you not going to be like your father? Won’t you play music?’ The pressure was too much. You must be like your father.”
But Femi explained that he came to a turning point when he realized he could never be anyone else — not Charlie Parker, not John Coltrane, and not even Fela.
“If God wanted me to be Fela, I would have been Fela. I had to be Femi Kuti.”
He shared how he once lived with his father, even dressing like him, but eventually decided to break away and form his own band. That decision came with backlash.
“His fan base descended on me. They hated me. The press hated me. There was no internet then, so I couldn’t even defend myself.”
Femi also revealed how his grandmother gave him the tough love he needed when he was on the verge of losing focus:
“She said, ‘What kind of lousy musician are you? You’ve been here for two weeks and you haven’t picked up your horn.’ I cried all night. But those words saved my life.”
Looking back, he said the struggle was necessary to truly stand as his own man:
“I had to feel my pain. I had to strive for my own success. Being under my father’s roof, I couldn’t even see that dream.”
