Fela Kuti

Nigerian musician who weaponized Afrobeat against military dictatorship

Blending highlife jazz with Yoruba rhythms, Fela Anikulapo Kuti (1938-1997) created Afrobeat as musical resistance against Nigeria's corrupt regimes. His Kalakuta Republic compound became a socio-political experiment challenging post-colonial power structures.

Songs like Zombie (mocking the military) and International Thief Thief (targeting multinationals) led to 200+ arrests and a 1977 army attack that killed his mother. His Yabi sessions - LSD-fueled composition marathons - produced complex polyrhythms later sampled by Nas and Beyoncé.

Anarchist philosopher Michael E. Veal analyzes how Fela's album sleeves (featuring him smoking joints on toilets) became iconic anti-authoritarian symbols across the Global South.