Maverick Nigerian musician Seun Kuti has claimed that his late father, Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, was also a pioneer of rap music.
Speaking on a recent episode of the Hits Don’t Lie podcast, Seun said Fela experimented with rap-style delivery on his album Authority Stealing, even before the genre was formally named.
He explained that at the time, neither Fela nor his listeners recognised the style as what would later become known as rap.
“Fela was the first person to rap. He did a bit of rapping on the album ‘Authority Stealing.’ When he did it, we didn’t know it was going to be called ‘Rap’,” he said.
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However, this claim contrasts with widely accepted hip-hop history. DJ Kool Herc, regarded as one of the founders of hip-hop, introduced the breakbeat style in 1973, while Authority Stealing was released in 1980.
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti remains globally celebrated for creating Afrobeat — a fusion of funk, jazz, salsa, calypso and West African rhythms — as well as for his political activism.
Rap and hip-hop culture, on the other hand, are traditionally credited to pioneers such as DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash.
