No Place For My Dream
Femi Kuti has been the crown prince of Afrobeat since he started his own band (Positive Force) in the ‘80s after years of playing with his dad, Fela Kuti. While the elder Kuti’s Afrobeat tended toward loose, open-ended jams with jagged saxophone and keyboard solos, Femi’s music is notable for its tightly arranged songs that make their point in relatively brief bursts of four to six minutes. This lends the son’s songs an additional urgency that goes along with the political messages, which are as important a part of Afrobeat as the unstoppable grooves. Here on Femi’s seventh album, *No Place for My Dream*, he covers the hot-button topics of political corruption, corporate malfeasance, the plight of the downtrodden, and the ravages of war. Standout tracks include “The World Is Changing” with its call-and-response vocals and dramatic arrangement. Positive Force\'s horns have rarely sounded better than on the opener, “Nothing to Show for It,” while Kuti’s message has never seemed more convincing than on the title song. Femi Kuti once again honors his father, but there\'s no doubt that the son has truly carved out his own vision of Afrobeat.
Throughout his career, Femi Kuti, eldest son of Fela, has sought to establish his own musical identity while being the torchbearer (along with his younger brother Seun) of his late father's legacy.
But on No Place for My Dream, Femi Kuti doesn't just reinforce the message; he beefs-up the whole damn medium.