What I went through as Fela Kuti’s son — Femi Kuti

Femi Kuti, the eldest son of legendary Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, has recalled how people despised him as a child because he was Fela’s son.

Femi revealed this while appearing on this week’s episode of #WithChude. He also discussed his experience as a single father, the death of his parents, and the impact it had on his life.

When asked about his childhood experiences as Fela’s son, Femi stated, “people didn’t like me because I was Fela’s son.” School was a very depressing time for me because some teachers liked my father while many others did not. So, if I got in trouble with a teacher who didn’t like him, that teacher would mercilessly beat me because they didn’t like my father. Then there were the wealthy students at the same school who despised me because I was Fela’s son. “As a result, I was fighting for the majority of my time in school,” Femi recalled.

According to him, another traumatic experience he had as a child was being beaten by his father.

Femi also discussed how he dealt with grief after the death of loved ones, particularly his mother. “I’ve also known death.” My mother’s death was probably the worst time because she was like a pillar to me, and when she died, I was lost. Until about three or four years ago, I would wake up wanting to go say good morning to her and say, ‘Hold on!’ Fela had just left, as had my sister and cousin. Some people predicted that 12 of us would die, and I wondered if this prediction would come true. Then we had internal family issues, my wife left, and they said, ‘Femi is going insane.’ But I’m glad I overcame it; I believe it’s what made me a better person.”

“When I was bringing my son up, he was all that mattered to me,” the Afrobeat singer said of his relationship with his son. My mother had died, my wife had left, and he was my joy. Fela had left, and the only thing I had left was him. He also reminded me so much of my youth; people thought it was so nice because we were Fela’s children. So, as I previously stated, where do I believe Fela went wrong in my life? Where I believe he went wrong, I will correct it with my son, and where I believe he was correct, I will emphasize it and bring it up with him so that he understands that I am not a perfect father.”

“When he was growing up, we spent six years in the shrine because they were sending thugs and policemen to raid the place,” he continued. So the only way to stop it was to relocate to the shrine. I took all of my adopted children and my son upstairs, and then someone said to me, “What if they kill your son?” So, because I was very political at the time, I assumed it was a political message. Social media was not always as prevalent as it is today. As a result, people would raid the shrine, and police would also raid it. Nobody would speak up, and the press was biased against me for whatever reason. My son, my older sister, and her daughter were all I had. But because he is my son, he was closer. So I molded him and gave him every musical and non-musical opportunity I lacked. As a result, everyone assumed I was raising him as a spoiled child and that I was spoiling him. ‘He’s like a flower,’ I’d say, ‘I’m giving him sunlight and watering him.”