Pharell Meets Fela Kuti in ‘Happy’ Remix

    The late Nigerian music legend Fela Kuti created songs characterized by serious themes such corruption and dictators but one thing it did aside form make you think was make you happy! The cultural rhythms and African inspired melodies were nothing short of phenomenal. Many of us still listen to Kuti’s music and some are still inspired by it such as Jeff Lawrence, a.k.a. DJ 100 Proof. He came up with the idea of colliding Fela’s song “Colonial Mentality” with Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy.” Lawrence wanted to remix “Happy,” he says, and the not-predictable choice was Fela. “One of the things I find interesting about Fela’s music is it always does have sort of a happy feel to it, even though the lyrics are serious and political and real,” he says. To combine the overall “vibe of happiness from that song and blend it with the lyrics from Pharrell that are genuinely really positive,” he says, “I chopped up the saxophone and the horn parts to go with his chorus, and it really turned out better than I would’ve imagined.” It is great to know that Fela still lives in today’s music! You can listen to this track at; https://soundcloud.com/dj100proof/fela-x-pharrell-happy  

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This article was first published on 15th April 2014

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