Bleep

Having inherited the Egypt 80 from his late father Fela in 1997, recent times have seen the youngest Kuti son really grow into his role as band leader. His fourth LP Black Times has Seun at once moving out of his father’s shadow and retaining the incendiary fire that burned in Fela’s most groundbreaking work. The likes of ‘Kuku Kee Me’ and the Carlos Santana-featuring ‘Black Times’ are stirring Afrobeat numbers that can go toe-to-toe with anything like ‘Water No Get Enemy’ or ‘Shakara’; ‘African Dreams’ and ‘Bad Man Lighter’ show Seun taking shots at unjust laws; and closer ‘Theory of Goat and Yam’, with its frantic groove and raggedy call-and-response, is pure power-music.