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By Oscar Okhifo
Afrobeat legend Femi Kuti has described the posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award bestowed on his late father, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, as a powerful global recognition of a life dedicated to fearless resistance against dictatorship, corruption and injustice in Nigeria.
Speaking from Los Angeles, United States of America on Saturday in a video that has since gone viral ahead of the 2026 Grammy Awards ceremony where the honour will be formally presented, Femi said the award acknowledges the extraordinary courage it took for Fela to confront successive military regimes at a time when many Nigerians lived in fear.
According to him, it is often difficult for younger generations and audiences outside Nigeria to fully appreciate the dangers his father faced in the 1970s and 1980s while openly challenging state authority through music and activism.
“Everybody is very happy. We’re excited,” Femi said, noting that the recognition validates Fela’s lifelong struggle against oppression and the heavy personal sacrifices that came with it.
Reflecting on his father’s legacy, Femi also spoke candidly about the complex realities of growing up under Fela’s intense commitment to his cause. He recalled that he and his sister, Yeni Kuti, have previously described their father as a “bad” father in terms of physical presence, owing to his constant activism, even though he was a great man whose convictions helped shape history.
Beyond the Lifetime Achievement Award, Fela’s influence continues to receive global acknowledgement. In 2025, his seminal 1976 album Zombie was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, further cementing his status as one of Africa’s most influential musical and political voices.
Femi, himself a six-time Grammy nominee, has spent decades carrying forward his father’s musical and activist legacy, using Afrobeat as a platform to confront social and political issues while keeping Fela’s message alive on the global stage.
He also weighed in on the recent feud between Grammy Award-winning Nigerian singer Ayo Balogun, popularly known as Wizkid, and Fela’s youngest son, Seun Kuti, appealing for unity and restraint.
“Seun is my younger brother and Wizkid is like a son to me. I wish the trouble didn’t start at all. Fela is a great man, that’s not in dispute. If anyone feels otherwise or says it, there’s no wahala at all. Is he not being celebrated even in death now all over the world? They should just sheath their swords. We are one big family,” Femi said.
Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the son of a Reverend and mother who was a schoolteacher and social activist, was a revolutionary musician who confronted the powers that be at great personal cost, often sacrificing his peace and comfort in pursuit of justice.
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Femi said, further underscores how deeply Fela’s genre, message and radical style continue to resonate decades after his demise.