Femi Kuti, Afrobeat icon, says ‘Shoki Shoki, an album he released in 1998, transformed Nigeria’s music scene.
The musician said his variant of afrobeat is what modern artistes built their music on.
“Many of them wil not give me credit but the album that changed Nigeria’s scene was Shoki-Shoki, the remix,” he told TheCable Lifestyle.
‘Shoki-Shoki’ contained some of his best hit like ‘Beng Beng Beng’, ‘Sorry Sorry’, ‘Truth Don Die’, ‘Blackman Know Yourself’.
Kuti lamented that he never receives recognition for his contribution to music in Nigeria, saying: “They give Fela credit. Yes, they can. But they never give me credit.”
The instrumentalist said he stopped socialising when people began to spread false reports that he was mentally unstable.
At parties and events, he said, people began to look at him as if he was mad, judging his every move, waiting for justification that he was truly psychologically unwell.
The ‘One People One World’ singer said he has not actively socialised in 18 years.
“I stopped socialising. And I have been sitting here, where you met me, since 2000. 18 years now,” he told TheCable Lifestyle.
“I had to stop going for parties because if I did anything, they’d say ‘see he’s mad!’”
“Have I sounded crazy to you? A lot of people still believe that I am crazy.”
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One of the greatest Nigerian instrumentalists and music Icons of our time. I never knew his music inspired the shoki song and dance moves. Well, I’m not old school and I wasn’t around in the 80s. Nigeria really needs a solid copyright law that can be easily enforced to give artistes the true worth of their efforts.
So true😢