The Afrobeat(s)/dancehall fusion is a long-established one and now it has had the seal of approval from both genre’s most famous dynasties. Seun (born Oluseun) Kuti, the youngest son of Fela Kuti, and Damian Marley, the second to youngest child of Bob Marley, have collaborated together with Fela’s band, Egypt 80, on new single “Dey”.
In a surprise turn, Lenny Kravitz is billed as executive producer and, adding to the Kuti familial legacy, Fela Kuti’s original engineer, Sodi Marciszewer, is credited as artistic producer. A timeless meeting of generations and genres, the track manages to stay loyal to Afrobeat past and present, as well as dancehall, without really sacrificing on any front.
“I’m very honoured to have Damian on this track,” says Seun. “It’s an historic moment. This is the first time that the Kutis and Marleys have recorded together. We are two performers, both from the dynasty of Africa, with a huge continental divide, singing about similar struggles. To have the legacies of these great movements that represent African people is an amazing thing. It shows the similarities between the experiences of Black people all over the world. I think this collaboration is an affirmation of the righteousness of our messages.”
Seun added that the song “depicts African unity and African art. It doesn’t matter where we are positioned in this world, very few African people receive notability; we are, for the most part, seen as the underdog. Therefore, this song is all about embracing and championing who we are. It’s about human beings not having to be special, to be special. As African people, one thing that I hate about the way the world relates to us is that only special Africans are human. We can’t just be humans. That is removed from the Black African experience. So, this song is about how we’re special, and how we shouldn’t feel the need to constantly prove ourselves to anybody.”
Well said. Listen to “Dey” after the jump.
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