Audu Maikori’s Chocolate City has announced its signing of Afrobeat superstar, Femi Kuti, to an exclusive management deal. The signing comes in the wake of Femi Kuti’s 7th studio album release titled No Place for My Dream.
Chocolate City’s General Manager, Aibee Abidoye said, “We love good music here at Chocolate City and are big fans of Femi Kuti and his work. This deal marks another significant milestone in Chocolate City’s development as the leading entertainment company in and around Africa.
“The Afrobeat genre has found new interpretation through Femi’s prolific body of work, and we believe that through this partnership we will not only revive the Afrobeat genre (distinct from Afrobeats) as a movement locally but also ensure that it is well positioned internationally and hopefully we can (finally) bring home that much deserved Grammy.”
The artiste himself had earlier said on Twitter: said on twitter, “Signed a management deal with Chocolate city to manage me in Nigeria. Hopeful to do great things in Nigeria with CC.
“Yes I’ve been in business for a long time with a lot of international experience but what I love most about Chocolate City is that they are young and have great ideas too.”
Like his father, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Femi has shown a strong commitment to social and political causes throughout his career.
He created his own band Positive Force in the late 1980s with Dele Sosimi (Gbedu Resurrection), former keyboard player of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. His international career began in 1988 when he was invited by the French Cultural Centre in Lagos and Christian Mousset to perform at the Festival d’Angoulême (France), the New Morning Club in Paris and the Moers Festival in Germany.
His first studio album was No Cause for Alarm in 1989 followed by M.Y.O.B. in 1991. 1995 saw the release of self-titled Femi Kuti on Tabu/Motown. He conquered Africa and beyond with the release of Bang! Bang!! Bang!!! (Shoki Shoki) in in 1998.
In 2001, Femi collaborated on his album Fight to Win with a number of U.S. musicians, including Common, Mos Def, and Jaguar Wright.
In 2002, Femi’s mother, who had played an influential role in Femi’s life, died at the age of 60. Femi’s son currently appears as part of his act, playing alto saxophone.
Also in 2002, Femi contributed a remake of his father’s classic song, “Water No Get Enemy”, to Red Hot & Riot, a compilation CD in tribute to Fela Kuti that was released by the Red Hot Organization and MCA. His track was created in collaboration with hip hop and R&B artists, D’Angelo, Macy Gray, The Soultronics, Nile Rodgers, and Roy Hargrove, and all proceeds from the CD were donated to charities dedicated to raising AIDS awareness or fighting the disease.
Femi Kuti’s voice is featured in the videogame Grand Theft Auto IV, where he is the host of radio station IF 99 (International Funk 99, described as “playing a great selection of classics from West Africa, the US and elsewhere”).
In similar fashion as his father, there have been complaints of Kuti’s criticism of his homeland Nigeria, specifically in the song “Sorry Sorry”. “What Will Tomorrow Bring” and “97”.
Femi has been nominated for a Grammy award four times in the world music category in 2003, 2010, 2012 and 2013 but has never won.
