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The Kuti family navigate sibling rivalry carefully. Nonetheless, it is tempting to wonder whether part of what tempted Femi Kuti to break his creative silence after six years (aside a collaborative album with his son Made) is the warm reception given last year to Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head), by his younger half brother Seun. However it was prompted, Journey Through Life is an impressive stock-take that reworks and improves on past hits whilst also looking forward.
The highlight of the album is “Chop and Run”, which starts as a synopsis of his father Fela’s “Unknown Soldier”, about a violent army raid on the Kuti compound. “I can go on and on,” he sings, before summarising the recent political scandals of the country: “2018 Northern forum money . . . Finance officer tell Kano government gorilla swallow over 6mn naira . . . snake swallow 36mn naira.” His voice rises in disbelief. “Animals don’ join in the corruption . . . !”
The next track, “After 24 Years”, a long-standing fan favourite in the Shrine, the family nightclub in Lagos (with its dating and lyrics newly updated), condemns the civilian politicians of the new century. “They failed to repair our refineries/They pretend with their rivalries/They sit down together dey enjoy/While the country they destroy.” Drippy and underpowered on 2018’s One People One World, “Corruption Na Stealing” roars back into life here, complete with a tinny keyboard line and thunderous drums. “Shotan” is similarly super-powered, with guttural vocals, grungy guitars and drumlines tumbling over each other, its urgency belying the fact that its target, Olusegun Obasanjo, left the presidency in 2007.
When Kuti turns his attention inward, as on “Work On Myself”, the sentiments become more generic. That said, even though the title track’s exhortations (“Don’t hold on to material things too tight . . . Keep all of your loved ones by your side”) are stale, they are set to some of the most glorious Afrobeat of his entire career.
★★★★☆
‘Journey Through Life’ is released by Partisan
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