Strut presents the new album from the modern day leader of Afrobeat, Seun Kuti. The youngest son of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti is as incensed by injustice as his father ever was and, with his mighty new album Black Times including a feature from Carlos Santana, he honours the revolutionaries who have gone before and rallies the torch-bearers to come.

Strut presents the new album from the modern day leader of Afrobeat, Seun Kuti.
The youngest son of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti is as incensed by injustice as his
father ever was and, with his mighty new album Black Times including a feature
from Carlos Santana, he honours the revolutionaries who have gone before and
rallies the torch-bearers to come.
Black Times is the fourth album by Seun & Egypt 80, the extraordinary dance
orchestra created by Fela as a conduit for the common people. Inherited by the
14-year-old Seun in 1997, the younger Kuti has been building to this, his most
accomplished and honest album yet. “Black Times is a true re?ection of my political
and social beliefs,” says Seun, 34. “It is an album for anybody who believes in
change and understands the duty we have to rise up and come together. The elites
always try to divide the poor people of the world. The same oppression felt by
workers in Flint, Michigan is felt by workers in Lagos and Johannesburg.”
Here, then, are tracks designed to spark conversation and realign priorities. The
elegant ‘African Dreams’ insists that commercial success counts for little. Pay no
heed to examples set by “accepted” African-American celebrities, says Kuti, and
marvel instead at the philosophies of great thinkers like the late Pan-Africanist
Doctor Amos Wilson. “The message,” Kuti sings, “is free.” ‘Black Times’, featuring
Carlos Santana, gives us truth. Lyrics such as “Understand your history / rise to
be free” shine a forensics-style black light on that which is otherwise hidden. ‘Bad
Man Lighter’ is a horn-heavy track calling out duplicity and defending the right to
smoke the good weed; the politically charged ‘Corporate Public Control Department
(C.P.C.D)’ is a roiling protest anthem directed at Muhammadu Bahari’s Nigerian
government and indeed, at deceitful politicians the world over. Co-written with
veteran Egypt 80 saxophonist Abedimeji ‘Showboy’ Fagbemi, the frenetic, fngerpointing ‘Kuku Kee Me’ borrows from a Nigerian saying (“When someone is always
on your case, you’re like ‘Save yourself the stress and kuku kill me now’”) while
‘Theory Of Goat And Yam’ ridicules a homily invented by former Nigerian president
Goodluck Jonathan, who justifed corruption by likening politicians to goats
tempted by yams: “By taking money meant for a hospital or to build roads, they are
actually costing human lives.” ‘Last Revolutionary’ is a paean to authentic leaders
past, present and future, name-checking homegrown African revolutionaries and
freedom fghters like Kwame Nkrumah and Thomas Sankara. “I say the names of
these men who died for us without any promise of resurrection,” says Seun Kuti.
“Maybe people will Google them, then set out on a journey whose destination is
unknown.”
‘Black Times’ is released on Strut on 2nd March 2018 with the title track released
as a single on 7th December 2017, accompanied by a video directed by Jamie
Delaney of Black Dog Films.

CD tracklist
1. LAST REVOLUTIONARY
2. BLACK TIMES feat. Carlos Santana
3. CORPORATE PUBLIC CONTROL DEPARTMENT
(C.P.C.D.)
4. KUKU KEE ME
5. BAD MAN LIGHTER (B.M.L.)
6. AFRICAN DREAMS
7. STRUGGLE SOUNDS
8. THEORY OF GOAT AND YAM

KEY POINTS:
- Fourth album from the modern day torchbearer of Afrobeat
- Title track features special guest Carlos Santana.
Video in January directed by Jamie Delaney of Black Dog Films
- Full priority worldwide PR campaign and marketing
- Release supported by major Europ