I can almost hear the anger in some of you. I know, how DARE I, DARE I insult such a man: a music man, a Nigerian political hero, a man who everyone seems to think is soooo sooo talented and has, since his death, become the embodiment of African Music/Pride? WHY?
B/c Fela Kuti, in life, was a TOTAL PIECE OF SHIT. And b/c im kinda horrified that there is almost NOTHING on the internet about how FK barely qualified as a human being. Im pretty good at separating art from artist, and i try very hard no to allow the idiocy of one to affect my appreciation of the other. But some peeps are just SO FOUL. FK is one of em.
I remember DISTINCTLY how he acted when AIDS hit Africa- how he kept doing/espousing his polygamist/fuckeverythingthatmoves philosophy when he, in fact, had AIDS. And rather than take his status as a man with incredible political power and use it to fight rumors like "bleach kills aids if you douche with it", he stuffed it, fucked it (didnt bag it though) and died, taking a bunch of people with him. I wonder, how many groupies/wives died because of him? Dunno b/c its completely not spoken about. The only reason i know this stuff is because I read the NYT religiously at that point, and FK was a big problem for those trying to address AIDS in Africa. I remember thinking "what an asshole". And its pretty sad that now this asshole has become some sort of patron saint of pan africanism?
BULLSHIT. Africa has many, MANY, other talented, caring and giving people to choose from if you are looking for people to be proud of. Why him? Can you pick someone better to idolize? Someone both talented AND with a conscience?
Fela Kuti is such bullshit. I need a cup of coffee. And possibly a sedative.
PS. his music stank too people. Sorry!
Here is the ONE thing i found from http://www.jaybabcock.com/fela.html (thank you sir!)
I Will Never Die." (ed note: Wrong Em Boyo!)
Fela told the press that recent his skin rashes were spiritual in origin-he was "changing skin," with a new skin scheduled to appear on January 1, 1992. (ed: lizards and snakes shed skin). He claimed he was still making love three hours a day-as well as brushing his teeth for an hour and taking 45 minutes in the bath, during which he would do "a series of body-building exercises." (ed: unless its heaving and crying to work out his gag reflex, i aint interested)
Smoking one of his 15-inch-long igbo joints, the 56-year-old Fela even claimed he was immortal: "I will never die; my ancestors have told me so." (ed: Well then Fella you need new people!)
Fela's Choice (ugh.)
But Fela's health had begun to deteriorate. It was obvious to those close to him that something was seriously wrong. The sexually promiscuous Fela-who had refused to use condoms his entire life, on the grounds that they were synthetic, non-African and a conspiracy against black men experiencing full pleasure-had AIDS. He refused anything but traditional African folk remedies.
"I think he thought he could not catch the disease," says Femi (Ed: Femi is his less offensive son). "I don't know why. But back then, nobody has really taken the disease very seriously. So many people have died from the disease in Nigeria and we don't hear because nobody comes out to say 'Yes, he died from AIDS.' Everybody believes that it's a shameful disease."
(Ed. THIS IS WHY I CANT STAND HIM)
"Fela did not have to die from AIDS," says Sandra. "People don't have to die from AIDS in the '90s. That was the choice Fela made.
