Seun Kuti, one of the sons of Afrobeats maestro, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, has said it is disrespectful for anyone to call himself the ‘New Fela’.
In an interview with Cool FM on Wednesday, Seun Kuti said in Jamaica there is respect for Bob Marley and “you don’t see people coming out to say they are the new Bob Marley”.
”Fela’s legacy belongs to his family. It is disrespectful to call yourself the ‘New Fela’. We the kids are told that we can’t be our father and outsiders are trying to take that. No! You can’t go to Jamaica and hear people calling themselves the next Bob Marley. They wouldn’t disrespect him like that,” he said.
On October 15, 2018, Seun Kuti had taken to his Instagram page to too many people wanted to step into his late father’s shoes, but for the wrong reasons.
His words: “People will never understand you without going through the education you have tried to promote. Every Tom Dick And Ashy is the new Fela just because they want to smoke Igbo and chase women. How about the sacrifice? How about duty? They want to be Fela and at the same time be the darlings of all the oppressors. All these new Fela’s and those possessed by his spirit hobnobbing with white supremacists.
“They think you are great because rappers mention your name; they don’t know that rappers mention your name so they can feel greatness. What do they know about sacrifice? What do they know about the trauma that first-hand violence has inflicted on our family? The blind leading the blind listening to the deaf speak! Happy 80th. The struggle intensifies!!!”
