Afrobeat singer and activist Seun Kuti has opened up about his late father, the legendary Fela Kuti, and how he was raised.
Speaking during his recent Instagram live session, Seun revealed that Fela often had white women living in their household alongside his many black female companions. He recalled growing up with at least two white women in the house and how he got used to it over time.
My father had white women in his house, when I grew up there like two white women at least living with us. He always had white ones with the black ones.
The activist emphasised his father’s grounded nature, stressing that he stayed firmly on his roots and never tried to change to please the Caucasian women.
Instead of Fela to wear a suit and tie so that the white women would see him as fine but the women were the ones who started wearing shrine regalia and African hairstyles. Fela never changed because of them but they changed because of him because Fela already knew who he was and his love for Africa.
Seun Kuti has always been open about his upbringing in Fela’s home and his relationship with the iconic activist. Back in September 2024, he likened being Fela’s son to winning a lotteryduring his appearance on the Zero Conditions podcast.
I won the daddy lottery, my father is still my favourite person in the world. He’s my favourite person that I ever met, even though I only spent 14 years with him, they were 14 awesome years. He was my best friend and everything; he was a cool dad to me.
You don’t know how spoilt I was growing up. Up till now I still haven’t done laundry in my life, I still don’t know how to wash anything. I’m not bragging o, when I was going to school, I was sleeping in British Airways and snoring. In my dream, the thought crossed my mind ‘How will you wash your clothes?’ That thought woke me up like someone slapped me. Then I remembered washing machine and slept back.
