On Saturday, January 31, 2026, the Recording Academy will present the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award to the legendary Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (1938–1997) during the Special Merit Awards Ceremony at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles one day before the 68th Grammy Awards.
This recognition coming nearly 29 years after his death the award is widely seen as long overdue. Here are the key reasons Fela truly deserved this honour:
Fela invented Afrobeat a revolutionary fusion of West African highlife, jazz, funk, soul, and traditional Yoruba rhythms. He took African music to the world stage long before “world music” was a category, influencing generations of artists across continents (from Talking Heads and Brian Eno to Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, and Burna Boy).
Released over 70 albums in his lifetime (many double or triple LPs) and His music was not just entertainment, it was political resistance. Songs like “Zombie,” “Sorrow Tears and Blood,” “Water No Get Enemy,” “Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense,” and “Colonial Mentality” became anthems against military dictatorship, corruption, colonialism, and cultural imperialism across Africa.
Fela wildly called Baba 70 also coined the term “African Original” and insisted on cultural pride at a time when many African elites were still looking West for validation.
Fela used his music and the Kalakuta Republic (his self-declared independent compound) as a platform for dissent. He was repeatedly arrested, beaten, and imprisoned most infamously in 1977 when soldiers razed Kalakuta Republic, killed his mother Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, and threw her body over the wall. He responded with the song “Unknown Soldier” (mocking the official cover-up). His defiance made him a symbol of resistance across Africa and the Black diaspora.
Fela was never nominated during his lifetime. The Recording Academy’s decision to award him posthumously acknowledges that his work transcended borders and genres long before Afrobeats became a global commercial force.
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The Lifetime Achievement Award honours “performers who have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording.” Fela fits that description perfectly his music continues to inspire activism, cultural pride, and sonic innovation worldwide.
By Ogungbayi Beedee Adeyemi
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