Afrobeat torchbearer and Grammy-nominated musician Femi Kuti has sparked heated conversation following his recent claim that legendary drummer Tony Allen did not co-create Afrobeat alongside his late father, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
In a revealing interview, Femi described the widespread belief that Allen helped shape the Afrobeat genre as “the biggest lie ever told against his father.”
“Yes, he was a good drummer, but Fela taught him his style of drums. Fela gave him all his drum patterns,” Femi stated, recalling how he personally witnessed the evolution of Afrobeat from childhood into his teenage years.
He detailed his father’s meticulous creative process from gathering instrumentalists like the drummer, percussionist, and guitarists for rehearsals, to finally incorporating vocals and horns. According to Femi, Fela’s musical structure was entirely his own invention.
Femi also dismissed narratives by international media, referencing a 2027 encounter with an American journalist who insisted that Tony Allen co-created Afrobeat.
“There’s no credible source where Fela credited Tony Allen as a co-creator. Even in Carlos Moore’s biography of my father, ‘Fela: This Bitch of a Life,’ there’s no such claim.”
While he acknowledged Tony Allen’s contributions as a talented drummer, Femi made it clear that Allen was a student of Fela’s direction, not a pioneer of the Afrobeat blueprint.
“Fela was a sound engineer who helped Tony put his compositions together. He engineered everything.”
Tony Allen, who played on over 30 albums with Fela, has long been celebrated as a driving force behind the Afrobeat sound making Femi’s recent comments a controversial revision of one of African music’s most influential collaborations.
This revelation adds another layer to the complex legacy of Afrobeat and reignites debates on creative authorship and historical accuracy in Nigerian music history.
