‘Fela Was The First Person To Rap’ — Seun Kuti

By Micheal Chukwuebuka

Seun Kuti recently stirred conversation by claiming that his late father, Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, was the true pioneer of rap music.

During an appearance on the Hits Don’t Lie podcast, the 43-year-old musician pointed to Fela’s 1980 album Authority Stealing, saying the project featured early rapping before the style was formally recognized.

“Fela was the first person to rap,” Seun said. “He did a bit of rapping on the album Authority Stealing. When he did it, we didn’t know it was going to be called ‘rap.’”

However, Seun’s claim clashes with widely documented accounts of rap’s origins. Most historians trace rap also known as hip-hop to early 1970s block parties in New York City, where DJs began isolating and extending percussion breaks from funk, soul, and disco tracks.