Popular singer and activist, Femi Kuti has opened up on his childhood experience as Afro-beat pioneer, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti‘s son.
Speaking with OAP Ebuka Obi-Uchendu on Channels TV, Femi said he had complete freedom that was questionable.
According to him, the liberty he had as a child afforded him the privilege to be smoking cigarettes and driving when he was 12-year-old.
In the course of the interview, Femi also said he was profiled as a useless child, not only because of his waywardness but his refusal to be like Fela.
His words: “Fela wasn’t the conventional father at all; the kind of liberty I had as a child was extreme. Like I was driving a car at the age of 12, and smoking cigarettes at 12. I mean, I was completely free. I was going to nightclubs at 16. I was driving civilian buses at 15. I was doing incredible things, and the police were chasing me around the town.
“Then, I used to put a pillow in the car seat to drive, it was a hip. I’ll just drive into Baptist academy for instance, which was my second School, everybody will say Femi has brought a Range Rover to school and I thought that was life.
“Everybody wanted me to be like my father; they wanted me to take over. I refused and told him, I cannot be you, which caused a big fight between us. And you know, in the African culture, you must be your father and if you are going to tow that place, you are expected to look like him and dressed like him.
“At some point, it dawned on me that I was already dressing like, wearing the same shoes, and the same clothes. I was like a puppet that was protesting inside, but I could not show it because it was taboo. You can’t fight Fela.
“Interestingly, I eventually got the courage, and when that happened, everybody started saying this boy is a useless son. I mean everybody went totally against me but I think it was the best decision I made to find myself make my name find my own style of music.”
