'My father wanted me to be an area boy' says afrobeat singer "Femi Kuti"

Femi Kuti reveals that his father, Femi Kuti,
wanted him to be an area boy.

Femi Anikulapo-Kuti has made some
startling disclosures about his relationship
with his father, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, and his
ambitions for him.
The legendary afrobeat singer » says the late
Afrobeat pioneer wanted him to forfeit his
education for music and become an ‘area boy’.
Femi says that Fela used him as a guinea pig to
prove that formal education had no sway on
being a success in life.

Speaking during an interview with The Net , Femi
said,
“My father didn’t want me to study music because I
was more of an experimental guinea pig to prove a
point that you do not need education to be
successful and he wanted to use me to prove to his
brothers that the education he got was not what
made him.
“So I was like a guinea pig which I really
vehemently protested against but when I became
successful and I complained again, my father said
‘are you famous? Are you not successful? Oya shut
up.’
“But I was still very angry because I’m more of a
street boy. I may speak well, it’s because I read a
lot of books and I’m very well informed but my
father wanted me to be more like an area boy.
“Back then if I got back from school and said I got
ZERO in Mathematics, he’ll say that’s very good.
“I used to be among the bad boys in school that’ll
jump the fence to go and watch Chinese movies at
the cinema and if we get caught and my father
hears about it, he’ll say ‘very good’.
“My father wanted me to be the head of the ‘most
baddest boys’ in school (laughs).
“If I did well in my science subjects, he was very
unimpressed but if I did bad things, he’ll be like
‘that’s my boy’ because that’s what he wanted and
in the long run you could say he proved and made
his point because I became successful."

In a way, Fela made a point as Femi who was
once written off due to his wayward lifestyle,
turned out to be a success in the end.
Femi adds, “I didn’t get the education and my mum,
his brothers were all so scared that I’ll be a
complete failure. Nigeria wrote me off, you can’t
imagine how big my father was in those days and
then his first son (me) had no school, no education,
smoking igbo, doing all the bad things everyone else
was running from.
“I was totally written off. Back then If a girl
introduces me to her parents they’ll be the end of
the relationship, even my marriage broke up
because of such stigmas of being Fela’s son.
“So if you look at it well, I’m not supposed to be
successful, but those that know my history know
the significance because I was a failure,” he
added.
Femi is the eldest of seven children born to Fela
Kuti and has rebranded what the late legend
stood for yet creating the same quality and genre
of music.