Grammy-nominated Nigerian musician, Femi Kuti, has revealed that school was “depressing” for him for being the son of the late Afrobeats legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
The multi-instrumentalist stated that some teachers and fellow students attempted to bully him. Some even shamed him because of his father’s excesses, but he stood up against it.
Femi Kuti disclosed this in an interview with popular media personality Chude Jideonwo.
He said,
“School was a very depressing time for me because you’ve teachers that liked him [my dad Fela] and teachers that didn’t like him. So, if I got into trouble with a teacher that didn’t like him, that teacher will just beat me because he didn’t like my father. I later came to the realization that they had a vendetta against my father.
“Don’t forget, the elite’s children were in the school. So, you have the rich children in the same school and they didn’t like me because I was Fela’s son. They would say, ‘your father smokes igbo [Indian hemp], your father is pant.’ And I would reply, ‘your father too is a slave.’
“My mouth was like a razor blade. If you abuse my father, by the time I abuse you, you will cry.”
