Fela Kuti didn’t just make good music; he made great music that could be expressed in terms of activism, culture, and life and even be sampled years after his death.

To this date, Fela is recognized as a spiritualist, Pan-Africanist, revolutionary, and the Father of Afrobeat music all over the world.

While he has been sampled several times by Nigerian Artists, Foreign artists have also made use of his discographies to create a record of their own.

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To honour Fela Kuti and his lasting impact on music, we’ve compiled a list of songs that sampled his work.

Whatcha Gonna Do- Missy Elliott, Timbaland

In 2001, Missy Elliot dropped “Whatcha Gonna Be.” It featured Timbaland, artiste/producer, on the song and sampled Fela’s “Colonial Mentality”.

Timberland had a good time on the chorus of this song from 2001. ‘Whatcha Gonna Do,’ as is typical of his work, departs from Fela’s concept of rawness in sound to reveal a raunchiness commonly found in nightclubs. Missy’s outlandish rap styles bolster the theme even further.

“Whatcha Gon’ Do” was released on Elliott’s Miss E… So Addictive album

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J. Cole- Let Nas Down

Fela’s music has got a strong following outside of Nigeria, who sometimes appear to value it more than Nigerians do.

J. Cole, a talented American hip-hop musician, sampled Fela’s song “Gentleman” on the tune “Let Nas Down.”

The song which appeared on his 2013 studio album, “Born Sinner”, peaked at number 55 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs of Billboard music chart.

The song begins with Fela’s stunning sax renderings and gradually transitions into fairly constant beats and smooth rapping. Fela’s sample colours J. Cole’s freestyles in bold strokes, despite the fact that their themes aren’t the same.

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Common, Lonnie “Pop” Lynn- Pops Rap III… All My Children

Common released “Pops Rap III…All My Children” in the year 2000, which featured his father, Lonnie “Pops” Lynn. When you first hear the song, you might not notice the Fela Kuti sample; in fact, it begins out sampling Erykah Badu’s “Next Lifetime.”

The delivery of Fela’s melodies in ‘Pops Rap III… All My Children is so subtle that it can be overlooked. However, a close listen reveals Fela’s relaxing arrangement hidden behind Pop’s pure spoken poetry and dreamy, sunset soul vibes. To make its mark, the music relies on a catchy riff from ‘Water No Get Enemy.’

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Kelly Rowland- Hitman

Those familiar with Fela’s work will be able to determine the origins around the 3-second mark on Kelly’s Hitman.

She absorbs the instrumentation on ‘Mr. Follow Follow‘ hook, line, and sinker, and deftly sprinkles pop components.

It’s packed with head-bopping beats, but it can’t equal the soul conveyed by Fela’s sax.

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The Roots- I Will Not Apologize

After a chance encounter with Fela’s music, Questlove and his band, The roots a hip hop/neo soul band, formed in 1987 became fascinated with Fela’s sound.

Because of the band’s interest in Fela, their 2009 song “I will not apologise” sampled Fela’s “Grammarticalogylisationalism Is the Boss.”

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Worthy Mentions

• ‘Fear Not for Man’ sampled on Mos Def, ‘Fear Not of Man’
• ‘Zombie’ sampled on Beyoncé, ‘Deja Vu’ (‘Homecoming Live’ version)
• “Sorrow Tears and Blood” sampled on Obie Trice, “Spend the Day”
• “Sorrow Tears and Blood” sampled X-Clan, “Grand Verbalizer, What Time Is It?”

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As a show of remembrance, Mp3bullet compiles a list of 10 greatest songs the rapper, DMX leaves behind.

Earl Simmons best known as DMX fronted one of hip-hop’s most prolific record labels, Ruff Ryders, on his road to enormous success. The Yonkers artist found fame in the ‘90s and ‘00s with his unmistakable, hoarse vocals.

Stop Being Greedy (1998)

With the barking dog snippets and that haunted house organ running throughout, DMX managed to sneak a hardcore hip-hop Jekyll-and-Hyde tale onto the Hot 100 with “Stop Being Greedy.

DMX is the rap game’s Robin Hood on “Stop Being Greedy”, portraying two distinct personas on the track.

The song is the second single from his debut studio album. The single peaked at No.79 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.

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Blackout (feat. Jay-Z and The Lox) (1998)

It wouldn’t be right if Yonkers’ DMX didn’t do something with an artist or two from P.Diddy’s Bad Boy stable, one of the most notable New York labels ever. In comes The LOX, a group comprised of Yonkers’ Jadakiss, Styles P, and Sleek Louch, who were signed to Bad Boy before jumping ship Ruff Ryders in 2000. Just when you thought ‘Blackout’ couldn’t become more New York, the smooth-talking, Rocafella big shot Jay-Z

 

How’s It Goin’ Down (It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, 1998)

For an entire generation of hip-hop fans, nothing will be as instantly transportive to the summer of 1998 than the fat bass and smooth electric keys hitting on the intro to “How’s It Goin’ Down. It was released as the fourth single from his debut studio album, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot. The song features R&B singer Faith Evans.

The song would go on to be a modest hit, peaking at #70 on the Billboard Hot 100!

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 Go to Sleep (Eminem featuring DMX and Obie Trice) (2003)

Beef is a part of hip-hop, so Eminem tagged in DMX and labelmate Obie Trice for a triple-team attack on Ja Rule and fellow rapper Benzino, who infuriated Eminem by calling him “2003 Vanilla Ice”.

The rapper encourages Slim Shady as he tells Ja Rule to “die nameless” on one of Eminem’s greatest diss tracks.

Ruff Ryders’ Anthem

Ruff Ryders Anthem’ should be the first song you think of when you hear the name DMX. This adrenaline-fuelled ‘It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot’ track takes you back to the golden age of MTV, a time defined by highly produced, strobing ’00s music videos such as the one that accompanies this classic. Surprisingly, X originally didn’t rate the Swizz Beats-produced track, dismissing it as “rock’n’roll” and insisting “it’s not hood enough”.

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What’s My Name (1999)

Before “Party Up” became the breakthrough hit from DMX’s blockbuster 1999 album …And Then There Was X, it was preceded by lead single “What’s My Name,” an absolutely ferocious chest-thump that followed a dominant run to mainstream hip-hop’s mountaintop in the late ‘90s.

The single peaked at #67 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S and was produced by Self and co-produced by Irv Gotti.

 

X Gon’ Give It To Ya (Cradle 2 the Grave, 2003)

This is the quintessential DMX anthem. As a matter of fact, everybody knows who X is and what he’s going to do. As the lead single on the Cradle 2 the Grave soundtrack, DMX delivers his signature bark and to-the-point bars. The song saw a major resurgence in 2016 when it was featured in Marvel’s Deadpool.

Who We Be (The Great Depression, 2001)

This is a song about relentless struggle, with each new obstacle faced by underpaid people of color replacing the one that preceded it before the listener can fully process the tension.

With his flow transformed into a list of the issues beating down upon his community every day, DMX tries to both represent the voiceless and explain the systemic conflict to the millions buying his albums that had been shielded from it.

Party Up (Up in Here) (1999)

DMX and longtime collaborator Swizz Beatz were capable of producing frequent hits when they worked together. “Party Up” is DMX’s most successful song in the US and for good reason, despite its confrontational lyrics toward unnamed rappers, Swizz Beatz’s production anchors the track as the seminal club banger that it is.

10 greatest Songs from DMX: Remembering the Ruff Ryders Icon

• Stop Being Greedy (1998)
• Blackout’ (feat. Jay-Z and The Lox) (1998)
• How’s It Goin’ Down” (It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, 1998)
•  Go to Sleep” (Eminem featuring DMX and Obie Trice) (2003)
• Ruff Ryders’ Anthem 
• What’s My Name
• Slippin
• X Gon’ Give it to Ya
• Who We Be
• Party Up (Up In Here) (1999)

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