See how Burna Boy was inspired by the late legend, Fela Kuti to make most of his songs.
Christened; Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, aka Fela Anikulapo Kuti aka Fela Kuti or simply put, fela, is no doubt the number one pioneer of Afrobeats.
Fela was an Afrobeats and highlife singer, multi-instrumentalist, musician, composer, and human rights activist.
Born on 15 October 1938, the Well known legend died at the age of 59, on the 2nd of August, 1997, after 39 epic years of doing fabulous and unfading music.
As we all know, Fela is a kind of god that young and upcoming artists, especially those in the Afrobeats music genre look up to, including yours truly; Burna Boy.
The award-winning Grammy Nominee and BET star surely has a deep musical connection with the Afrobeats god, as his grandfather happened to be the late Fela Kuti’s manager.
Admittedly, the “Ye” singer grew up In admiration of fela and wanted so much to carry on his legacy and be just like him.
I mean, we can tell by his style of music, composture, and even physical appearance. Talk about Fela always performing with just pants on and a microphone at hand, Burna does that too!. Though, not with Fela’s short pants (Lol).
Asides those, some hard facts have just recently surfaced the internet, pointing out some lines of Fela’s songs, In which Burna incorporated into his own songs.
Little wonder most of them end up as hits, they have this irresistible Fela vibe in them!.
Now, Let’s talk about some of the Burna Boy’s songs, which contain parts of Fela’s classic jams.
- If you listen to Burna Boy’s “Boom Boom Boom“, and Fela’s famous “Lady”, there’s this verse “I never tell e finish o “. It’s present in both songs, same beat, same pattern, same melody!. A part arrives where Burna goes “e nor finish, e nor finish ….”. When we check out Fela Kuti‘s “Army arrangement”, we have that same scenario.
- Then there’s his 2018 hit; “Gbona“. it begins with and contains slight gibberish, then a slang, “Odiworokoto”. Now believe me when I say Fela Kuti was the Originator of this slang. Check out his song; “Army arrangement” to confirm.
- Next, we have his verse on Skales’ song; “Temper“. There, he goes;
“Eh-ya, everybody run run run
“Eh-ya, everybody scatter scatter…..” and so on”.
Listen to Fela’s “Sorrow, tears & Love” and watch out for this verse, I promise you’ll find it.
- We Can’t even miss out on the African giant’s “Ye“, which screams “Fela Anikulapo” in it.
In Fela’s “Sorrow, tears & love”, He goes;
“I no wan die, I no wan peme, I no wan quench, I wan build house….”
We definitely don’t need a Ph.D. in rocket science to figure out that exact part in “Ye”.
All these songs listed above and others which, unfortunately, words cannot describe, are surely heavy proof that Fela forms a huge part of Burna Boy’s music.
It technically seems that of all the artists who love to sample the Afrobeats legend in their songs, Burna Boy is the most intense.
When we think about a singer who has carried on Fela’s legacy, our thoughts are incomplete without Burna Boy in it.
After reading this article up to this point, I’m sure that by now; you understand and believe the fact that Fela Kuti no doubt inspired most of Burna Boy’s mad jams!!!.