Why Beyonce and Jay Z want to include Fela-inspired track in upcoming joint album?

Fela himself talk am.

I witnessed an episode of that talk at the original Afrikan Shrine in Ikeja where Fela Anikulapo-Kuti reigned supreme as the incomparable Abami Eda. During his famous Yabis session that night, he empirically boasted that despite the deluge of American music labels offering him juicy record contracts and promoters jostling from all over the world for his signature on lucrative concert shows, he turned all of them down. Fela said he did so because he knows the reverse would be the reality soon because he knows it in his spirit that top artistes from America and other Western nations would soon be scrambling to record Afrobeat songs because Afrobeat is not just music, it is a philosophy, an Underground Spiritual Game that will by itself compel the world to its doorsteps not the other way round. I loved him but I smirked at that announcement, it seemed too far-fetched in the early 90s.

But now, I  recall those words vividly, as news broke that Beyoncé and Jay Z's highly anticipated joint album might sound like the sound of the legendary Afrobeat musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

Grammy-winning producer The-Dream recently annotated "End of Time" off the R&B diva's fourth studio album "4" via acclaimed lyrics site Genius.com, revealing she has already made many tracks influenced by the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist's African sounds and elements.

"We did a whole Fela album that didn't go up. It was right before we did '4,'" he said. "We did a whole different sounding thing, about twenty songs. She said she wanted to do something that sounds like Fela. That's why there's so much of that sound in the 'End of Time.'"

With that being said, it is highly possible that the "Crazy in Love" duo might include the unheard music in their upcoming record. And if so, this would be principally due to Jay Z's influence. His exposure to reggae and Afrobeat music especially in the late 1970s and 1980s in renaissance Brioklyn led to his age-old fascination with Afrobeat and Fela. During his visits to Nigeria, he organises his itinerary to ensure his attendance at Fela's son, Femi Kuti's New Afrikan Shrine Sunday night shows. He facilitated the production of Fela on Broadway to his friend, US actor Will Smith who thereafter, collaborated with him, alongside his wife Jada Pinkett, on producing the year-long production in 2010.

If Fela was to still be alive today, I can imagine his reaction to the news of the obsession that American artistes and audience has for his life and work. He won't swoon. Stoically, he might just say, "I no talk am?" in that tone of his, that always confidently indicate his self awareness, ingenuity and talent which by itself command recognition and praise, amidst jubilation from adoring fans at another Yabis session.

I agree Baba 70. You talk am. #FelaLives