Forty years ago, my records were played on Nigerian radio and sold across the country. I became known. Then I walked away, pulled the plug, and went to serve my National Service. I begin with this not out of nostalgia, but to make a necessary distinction.
There is a difference between being a musician and being a celebrity. Wizkid is a celebrity. A successful one. He has played the industry game well, written love songs for young girls, danced, been marketed, promoted, and rewarded handsomely. He is a pop star of his era. But he is not a musician in the historical or cultural sense. He does not play an instrument. His lyrics do not interrogate power. His music does not challenge society. That is not a crime. But it is a category. And categories matter.
Fela Kuti was something else entirely. Fela was classically trained. He could read and write music. He played multiple instruments. He created a new musical language and used it as a weapon against corruption, dictatorship, and injustice. His songs shook governments. They also brought him beatings, prison, exile, and the death of his mother. He paid a price for truth, repeatedly. Fela was offered millions to shorten his songs, stop being political, chase radio singles, and become “bigger than Bob Marley.” He told them to go to hell. Mission mattered more than money.
And let us be clear about something history often distorts: Fela was not from the gutter. He came from an educated, upper-class, sophisticated, powerful family. Yet he chose to stand with the poor, the beaten, the voiceless. That choice is what made him dangerous. That choice is what made him great.
To boast that one is “bigger than Fela” is not confidence. It is historical illiteracy. Celebrity fades. Bank balances empty. Algorithms move on. What remains is courage, sacrifice, and contribution.
I learned to use music to tell stories and push for social change from Fela and from my time with Bob Marley. Music can entertain. But at its highest level, it also confronts, educates, and liberates.
Pop stars are free to chase charts and endorsements. That is their lane. But they do not get to rewrite history.
Fela is not a brand to be compared. He is a standard. And standards are not measured by streams, accents, jewelry, or record advances. They are measured by impact, integrity, and what you were willing to suffer for the truth.
