This is the og of afro-beat-funk. Cool rythmic sections, perpetual beats, with jazz interludes and spoken word that hits the soul. Fela Kuti’s dead now, but his music is more prevalent than ever. It’s what music should sound like–no big headed executives, no money, just pure thought and inspiration.

“The man who would become the father of afro-beat was born into the Yoruba tribe in southwest Nigeria, where his father, like his grandfather, was a protestant minister, and his mother was a prominent feminist political activist. Against his father’s wishes, Fela sang in highlife bands at age 16. During the ’60s he studied music in London, where he formed a highlife band called the Koola Lobitos. In 1969 he spent a year in the U.S., where he linked up with the Black Panthers and others, broadening and radicalizing his political sense, which embraced Kwame Nkrumah’s pan-Africanism.” (From Rollingston.com).

It’s a sound all to its own. With 30 minute songs that never grow old. The music flows through your veins, soothing, yet sparking every nerve in your body. Any album is well worth the while, but lately I’ve been dabbing into “Coffin For Head of State and Unknown Soldier.” Check it out at last.fm.