Track Listing

1. Fela Mentality (Intro) - Fela Kuti
2. Kalakuta Show - Gab & Lateef
3. Interlude: Live At Kalakuta - Fela Kuti
4. Shuffering & Shmiling - Dead Prez, Talib Kewli, Jorge Ben and Bilal
5. Interlude: Gimme Sh*t - Mixmaster Mike
6. Water No Get Enemy - Mixmaster Mike
7. Water No Get Enemy - D'Angelo, Femi Kuti, Macy Gray & The Soultronics (feat. Nile Rodgers & Roy Hargrove)
8. Gentleman - MeShell Ndegeocello & Yerba Buena (feat. Ron Blake)
9. Years Of Tears and Sorrow - Common & Djelimady Tounkara
10. Shakara/ Lady (Part One) - Cheikh Lo
11. Shakara/Lady (Part Two) - Cheikh Lo, Les Nubians and Manu Dibango
12. Don't Worry About My Mouth O (African Message) - Fela Kuti
13. Zombie (Part One) - Bugz In The Attic (feat. Wunmi)
14. Zombie (Part Two) - Nile Rodgers & Roy Hargrove
15. No Agreement - Res, Tony Allen, Ray Lema, Baaba Maa, Positive Black Soul & Archie Shepp
16. So Be It - Kelis
17. Interlude/This Is An Ashanti Proverb - Fela Kuti
18. By Your Side - Sade (Cottonbelly Remix)
19. Colonial Mentality - Yerba Buena
20. Trouble Sleep Yanga Wake Am - Baaba Maal & Taj Mahal (feat. Kaouding Cissoko)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21640 in Music
• Released on: 2002-10-15
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Never has there been a more appropriate Red Hot tribute than this one dedicated to the music of Afrobeat founder Fela Kuti, the Nigerian legend who died from AIDS-related complications in 1997. The artists and groups heard here, nearly 40 all told, cover the musical spectrum: hip-hop (Blackalicious, Roots), jazz (Roy Hargrove, Archie Shepp); soul (Sade, D'Angelo), Afrobeat (Tony Allen, Femi Kuti), world music (Baaba Maal, Jorge Ben), electronic music (Mixmaster Mike, Money Mark) and rock (Nile Rodgers). They have come together to raise money for the 25 million Africans now infected with the AIDS/HIV virus. Red Hot efforts often pair different artists together on the same song, and this album features many once-in-a-lifetime collaborations. Fela's music has been refashioned and mixed together here according to the styles of the artists, rendering several of the 20 songs barely recognizable in comparison with the originals. But such is the strength of Fela's music that even such singular-sounding artists as Macy Gray and Dead Prez get into the Afrobeat spirit of things. --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Reviews

Worthy of Fela's name
There is some great new afrobeat on this disc; super respectful of Fela and his legacy and never bound by his forms. The hip-hop is incredible and amazingly constructed; the Water Get No Enemy cover with Fela's son Femi Kuti, D'Angelo, Macy Gray, and Roy Hargrove is a definite higlight-- not at all what you'd expect from such popular names, no ego in the way. Tony Allen's No Agreement cooks like a house fire and the keyboard solo is really great (meandering, inattentive improvised solos being an achilles' heel of much afrobeat for this reviewer). There's nothing bad here. I was initially a little disappointed that the Sade track is a remix of a previously recorded song (a half-hearted contribution, I thought at first) but it's still a good mix.

Perfect Tribute for a good cause!
Fela was the founder and king of Afrbeat, and an inspiration to acts as diverse as fellow Nigerian Lagbaja, and US prog rock duo The Mars Volta (Yes!!). Sadly he succumbed to AIDS related complications in 1997. Fitting then that this tribute CD raises money for AIDS relief in Africa. The CD liner notes talk extensively on this.

Chock full of a diverse array of musical talent; Nile Rogers, Macy Gray, D'Angelo, Sade, The Roots, Les Nubians, Meshell Ndegeocello, Femi Kuti, Baaba Maal and Cheikh Lo to name a few. Most of the songs are reinterpretations of songs by Fela in the artists own unique style, usually arranged differently from the originals. Fela's original vocals are interspersed during interludes. An excellent blend of African meets African American.

`Water no get enemy' featuring Femi, Macy Gray, Nile Rogers, Roy Hargrove and D'Angelo stays faithful to the original; shuffling beats, rich percussion, and lots of blaring horns. It's a real treat hearing Macy and D'Angelo singing in pidgin English.

The vocals of Sade's `By your side' are imposed on a shuffling dubby Afrobeat rhythm. Echo-ey vocals and rich percussion, dreamy sounding. Excellent!

`So be it' featuring Kelis on vocals is the other non Fela composition. It is a calming R&B song with some African sounding backing vocals and great horns played by Ugochi Nwaogwugwu.

`No Agreement' by Res, Tony Allen, Ray Lema, Baaba Maal, Positive Black Soul & Archie Shepp is another outstanding performance. Great jazzy breaks and wonderful horns.

`Zombie (part 1)' is a bouncy hip hop/Afrobeat affair featuring Bugz in the Attic & Wunmi, with lyrics about the robot mentality of soldiers blindly taking orders from above. Written during the days of military rule in Nigeria.

`Zombie (part 2)' with Nile Rogers and Roy Hargrove is an excellent instrumental piece, closer to the original. An energetic horn laden, percussion rich number, with faint electronic tweets.

Another outstanding piece is `Shuffering and shmiling' featuring Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, Bilal and Jorge Ben. Transformed with skittery beats and some skat singing and rapping, and horns that stay true to the original. Beautiful!

Each song is musically rich and captivating in it's own way, be it `Gentleman', `Shakara/lady (parts 1 and 2)' with excellent guitar work, talking drums and razor sharp horns, to `Trouble sleep, yanga wake am'. The attention to detail is astounding, everything in its right place.

A beautiful CD showing the wealth and beauty of African music. Not meant to replace the originals at all, and a perfect tribute to the king.

Afrobeat for the masses
Shuffering and shmiling alone is enough to make this cd a solid purchase. Underground hip hop luminaries Talib Kweli and Dead Prez combine to remake the song while keeping the same general beat and theme. It's an unbelievably compelling song that does no injustice to the original, rare in a tribute album.

The fun doesnt stop with Shuffering though. Sade's track is a standout and Femi Kuti does his daddy proud. Buy this CD, your ears will thank you.