Let me begin by congratulating Yeni, Femi, Seun, and the entire Anikulapo Kuti family, friends, and the global community of followers on the Grammy Award conferred in Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s name.

 
That said, anyone who genuinely followed Baba Fela’s life, politics, and philosophy understands this much: Fela did not live for institutional validation. He spent his life questioning, confronting, and resisting the very power structures from which such honors often emerge.Not because he was undeserving—Fela’s impact went far beyond awards—but because he was deeply suspicious of what they represented and the systems behind them.

 
Fela Anikulapo Kuti was not merely a musician. He was a political dissident, a cultural revolutionary, and a persistent critic of imperial power, local corruption, and global inequality. He openly rejected national honors from the Nigerian state, which he viewed as unjust and violent toward its own people. Consistent with that posture, it is reasonable to say he would have been uneasy—if not openly critical—of recognition coming from Western cultural institutions that he often linked to Africa’s economic, political, and psychological domination.

His resistance was not symbolic; it was ideological and lived.

Fela did not wait to be approved by establishments; he created his own spaces. At the Kalakuta Republic and later the Shrine, he built platforms where music, politics, and popular consciousness met. His idea of recognition came from the people, from audiences who understood the message and lived its consequences—not from trophies or ceremonies shaped far from their realities.

If Fela were alive today, he likely would not be celebrating awards. He would be making music, speaking plainly about today’s conditions—power in new disguises, familiar corruption, police violence, and economic hardship. And as history showed us more than once, that kind of honesty often came at a cost.

He would probably remind us, in his own words: 
“No be award go free Africa.”
So yes, the recognition is noted—and respected.
This Grammy belongs to the family, the fans, and the historical record.
But Fela’s spirit itself remains beyond awards.
It lives with the people.
In questioning power.
In resistance.
Far away from any golden gramophone.

Overtake don overtake… overtake… 
But the struggle continues.

Osezua Stephen-Imobhio, writes from Lagos