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Produced by Jay Z, the movie features high profile actors like Idris Elba and Regina King. Fela’s “Let’s Start’’ from the 1971 “Live’’ album was enlisted in the movie soundtrack by the Forever Young crooner. The track was also featured in one of the film’s trailers. Commenting on the inclusion of Fela’s song in the movie, Jay Z said the late African singer’s sounds is a representation of black people.
‘The idea of adding those landscapes to these images is super interesting. If you think about the time when Western was super popular and was the only thing on TV, it was influencing the world. So you had people in Jamaica dress up as Cowboys because these are images they had seen on TV. So there is actual that place that exists over Western music and we have a few of those. Just that juxtaposition of how art influences life and life influences culture was just interesting to us, and Fela Kuti was so hard it was just the best trailer, music of all time. That’s what I listen to in the house, Jeymes (Samuel)-director of the movie- as well; that’s what we listen to when we kicking it. So we just put the things that we really love. Cause it’s magic and magic going work.’ Jay Z
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It is not the first time Jay Z is expressing admiration for Fela publicly. The rapper was one of the sponsors and producers of the classical musical “Fela’’ on the legendary Broadway, a production about the pioneer Nigerian Afrobeat singer. Jay Z in 2016 added the popular Fela anti-military anthem “Zombie’’ to his playlist in a bid to highlight social injustice in the United States. Fela who died in August 1997 aged 58 was popular not just for his sounds but also for activism in a time Nigeria saw numerous military coups and political crises. He pioneered Afrobeat that birthed contemporary African sounds. Source Pulse NG Featured Image Source: Celebrity Profile
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