IANA Blog- February 2026

 Blog

Happy February and Happy Black History Month,

For the February blog, I actually want to talk about something that happened in January. I wanted to talk about a recent feud that has been brewing up between legendary Afrobeat artist and activist Seun Kuti…and the fanbase of legendary Afrobeats artist Wizkid, aka Wizkid FC.

Like I said, this happened in January, on January 11th, which was Seun Kuti’s birthday. As I was getting ready to post “Happy Birthday” to Seun Kuti online, I saw this video featuring Seun Kuti where he addresses Wizkid fans aka Wizkid FC, who apparently have been going online and comparing Wizkid to Fela Kuti, or saying he’s bigger or better than Fela Kuti.

In the video, Seun says

“Let me say this thing, straight up again. Keep Fela’s goddamn name out you Wizkid FC fanboys f**king mouths! Keep Fela’s name out you Wizkid FC mouths! First of all, what makes this thing funny is that you people try to steal the man. You try to steal the man. You try to claim that your fake ass artists are [the] new Felas. You try to make this tw*t become the man. That was everyone’s stance. New Fela, New Fela, New Fela! Then when you people saw that he couldn’t wear [Fela’s] pants, that the shoes were too big to fill and people like me did not allow you to get away with those insults. New Fela, New Fela of where? Can you ever…you people have no respect.”

After watching the video, I had to see what Wizkid fans had to say. What I saw was disgusting behavior from Wizkid fans. They were mocking Seun, saying that no one listens to Seun’s music, they’re claiming that Seun is tainting his father’s legacy and then they continued to prove Seun right, by mocking Fela Kuti. Saying stupid things such as Wizkid is bigger than Fela, or bragging about how Wizkid sold more albums or has more Grammys than Fela. They were not only discrediting Fela’s career as an activist, but discrediting his contribution to the creation of Afrobeat. I’ve seen some of these “fanboys” and “fangirls” say that King Sunny Ade had a bigger impact than Fela did. I’ve seen one of those “fans” credit Orlando Julius as the creator of Afrobeat. I feel that they are only bringing that up just to spite Seun.

Now, I’m gonna give my take on this feud. Let me first say that I have spoken on both Fela Kuti and Wizkid in my blogs, especially Fela. Fan of both, more of Fela. Wizkid is definitely a legend. I always credit him, Burna Boy and Davido for helping bring Afrobeats to the mainstream. With that being said, Wizkid cannot hold a candle to what Fela did for Nigerian music and for Nigeria. 

As I mentioned in the August blog, Fela was more than just a musician, he was a historical and political figure, he was a revolutionary, he was a freedom fighter. Wizkid may be more popular, but that’s because there was no such thing as “social media” back in the day or “going viral” or “streams”, and that was because Fela was using his music to fight back against the system, against colonialism. The Nigerian government and military tried taking out Fela multiple times physically and mentally, they banned his music, they arrested him multiple times, they made him a political prisoner, they burnt down his compound, they assassinated his mother by throwing her out of the window of that compound. Come back to me when Wizkid leads a rebellion against the Nigerian government, or calls out Tinubu, or does anything close to fighting for Nigeria and Africa like Fela did.

Other points that Seun brought up was how in Jamaica, the up-and-coming and the current/top Reggae and Dancehall artists and their fan base never disrespect Bob Marley. Of course I talked about Bob Marley in the past and talked about how his songs were bringing people together, and had social messages in his lyrics. I notice that too, especially when I watch music videos with Reggae artists like Kabaka Pyramid or Protoje. I never see them disrespecting legends like Bob Marley or Peter Tosh or Bunny Wailer. They are doing songs and music videos with members of the Marley family. I was in Jamaica in 2023, and I never see Jamaicans disrespecting Bob Marley.

Seun also brought up how the top South African artists or young music fans in South Africa will never disrespect legends like Hugh Masakela or Miriam Makeba. Even when late South African Reggae artist Lucky Dube never disrespected Bob Marley when people were trying to compare Lucky to him.

Seun also brought up how these fans only compare Wiz to Fela, not Sunny Ade or other legendary Nigerian artists, although I did see some Igbo Wizkid fans say that legendary Highlife artist Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe is better than Fela. Seeing all these Wizkid fanboys disrespect Fela reminds me of what reggae/dancehall artist Buju Banton said. For those that remember in 2024, I wrote about Buju Banton criticizing Afrobeats music for not being conscious enough. After seeing these “fans” disrespect Fela and say that Afrobeats is bigger than anything Fela ever made, I was like, “Buju was right about everything,” because you fans don’t care about any messages or consciousness or freeing Africa with the way I see you talk about the Anikulapo-Kuti family, y’all just care about f**kery.

What also annoys me is that there are platforms on social media making videos criticizing Seun for blasting Wizkid FC, when he has every right to defend his father’s legacy. Idiots really getting on social media saying that Seun is diminishing his father’s legacy and I’m just like, “Man, get the f**k outta here!” Of course Fela was not perfect, he was a flawed man whose promiscuity costed him his life, but the fact that there are Nigerians who want to disrespect Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, an artist who used his music to fight for Nigeria, is f**king embarrassing, especially when their favorite artist, Wizkid is a die hard Fela Kuti fan and is good friends with Seun’s older brother and fellow Afrobeat legend, Femi. 

Unfortunately, being a Stan is nothing new. You got Drake fanboys who disrespect everyone else to praise their favorite rapper, you got Beyonce fans aka the BeyHive who will disrespect every singer just to praise Beyonce, in the NBA, you got Michael Jordan fans, Kobe Bryant fans and especially LeBron James fanboys who will disrespect other basketball players or teams just to praise their favorite player. Don’t get me started on Caitlin Clark fans, for those that watch the WNBA. I’m not innocent either, there were times I was doing too much when I was fans of certain artists, celebrities, etc. 

With that being said, Fela Kuti is a legend and he deserves more respect, any Nigerian out there that has been disrespecting him should honestly be thanking him, because even if you don’t like his music or if you think Wizkid is the greatest artist to come out of Nigeria, he wasn’t just making music for any commercial gain, his music was a form of resistance, music was his weapon, he was able to create a new genre of music. Without Fela, there is no Afrobeat, without Afrobeat there is no Afrobeats, and without Afrobeats, we possibly wouldn’t have Burna Boy, Davido or Wizkid, or any other Afrobeats artist out right now.

As for Wizkid FC, I’m definitely looking at y’all differently. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen Nigerians disrespect members of the Anikulapo-Kuti family. I remember last year, some nobody was disrespecting Fela’s grandson and fellow Afrobeat artist Made Kuti, just because his wife is Igbo instead of Yoruba. It’s just stupid to see, like with the shift happening and all the unrest going on in Africa, with the rise of the Sahel Alliance, the people resisting  against the unrest going on in South Africa, Kenya and other countries, Black Americans returning to Africa, especially in Ghana, Trump is attacking Nigeria with weapons, but this is what Nigerians want to do, get online and disrespect the Anikulapo-Kuti family and Fela Kuti, who has done more for Nigeria than some of these Nigerians will ever do.

With that said, stop comparing Wizkid to Fela, because that’s an unfair comparison, he’s already a legend for his contribution to Afrobeats, so let Wizkid be Wizkid, but most importantly, for Wizkid FC, like Seun said, keep Fela Kuti’s name out your f**king mouths!

That’s all I really have to say. What do you think IANA? Let me know.