Jad Abumrad unpacks his latest work — Fela Kuti: Fear No Man — alongside writer & poet, Hanif Abdurraqib.
Fela Kuti wasn’t just a musician; he was a movement. His songs called out dictators, built community, and rattled the walls of power. Abumrad’s new Audible series — produced by the Obamas’ Higher Ground — reimagines that legacy through journalism, oral history, and more than 200 voices, from Burna Boy and Questlove to Paul McCartney and President Obama.
“What I love about Fela,” Abdurraqib said, “is that he never separated the dance floor from the revolution. He understood that joy wasn’t an escape — it was evidence that we were still alive.”
Abumrad called Fela’s sound “an act of defiance” — a language that spoke for the people when words alone couldn’t. With Abdurraqib beside him, he peeled back the layers of how rhythm became resistance, and how, even in the face of oppression, joy can still be the most radical act of all.
“Music is a weapon. Fela’s songs weren’t for the dance floor — they were political manifestos set to irresistible rhythm.”
— Jad Abumrad
Fela Kuti’s life blurred the line between prophet and provocateur. In 1978, he married 27 women in one ceremony—his dancers and singers, whom he called his “Queens”—a radical act of defiance and devotion. From his self-declared Kalakuta Republic, he built a world where music, sex, and politics collided in the name of freedom.