Photo Credit: Kola Oshalusi
Executive Produced by Lenny Kravitz,
Featuring Damian Marley and Sampa The Great
Performing at Coachella on April 11th and 18th 2025
More 2025 Spring US Tour Dates Coming Soon
Listen: “Dey ft. Damian Marley (Gaudi & Don Letts Remix)”
In October, Afrobeat virtuoso Seun Kuti released his highly acclaimed new album Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head) via Milan independent label Record Kicks. Arriving 6 years after the Grammy-nominated LP Black Times, this album marks a pivotal moment in Seun Kuti’s illustrious career, showcasing his evolution as an artist and activist. An exhilarating 6 track collection, it has earned global praise by outlets such as The Guardian, Le Monde, MOJO, Uncut, the Financial Times and Rolling Stone Africa, with many calling it “his greatest and most powerful album yet”.
In support of the record, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 will be performing at Coachella 2025 next April 11th and 18th. The festival will be held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California and Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 appear on the lineup alongside headliner Lady Gaga, Missy Elliott, Benson Boone, The Marias, Lisa, The Prodigy and many more. Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 will be on the road in the US leading up to the festival, with dates being announced soon. More information will be available here.
In November, Record Kicks unleashed “Dey (Gaudi & Don Letts Remix)”, an infectious dub remake of the Damian Marley-featuring album standout. The original version marked a historic moment for African unity and art: the Kuti and Marley families collaborating for the first time ever on a record. The Gaudi & Don Letts remix is a thrilling harbinger of more special remixes and reworks Kuti has planned for the new year.
Listen / Share: Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head)
Executive produced by legendary musician Lenny Kravitz and Fela Kuti’s original engineer Sodi Marciszewer (artistic producer), Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head) delivers a sonic experience like no other. With both Kravitz’s and Sodi’s expertise together with Seun Kuti’s unmatched talent, the album redefines the boundaries of contemporary music while staying true to the roots of afrobeat. Featuring six electrifying songs, each track on Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head) embodies the spirit of resistance, resilience, and revolution.
“This project has been very special to me from the moment I conceived it, speaking to Lenny Kravitz, who has shown me such a brotherly love and respect,” Seun says. “He has brought me to his home. I met his daughter Zoe and he has guided us with fierceness. Since we spoke about the album three years ago, as the executive producer of this project, he has always been by our side and very supportive. I want to thank Craig Ross and Sodi, the producer of this project. We had a great time. It was the first time for me in the studio with Sodi and I was really impressed by his work and his fatherly advice and dedication.”
Each song on the album is a testament to Seun Kuti’s unwavering commitment to using music as a tool for social change and empowerment. As a musician and pan-African activist, Seun has been involved in a number of campaigns in recent years, including #EndSARS – a social movement against police brutality in Nigeria. Significantly, he’s revived the Movement of the People (M.O.P.), the political party his father set up in 1979, which was quashed by the military government not long after Fela’s failed presidential bid. Through his powerful lyrics and infectious grooves, he continues to carry on the legacy of his father, the legendary Fela Kuti, while carving out his own path in the world of music.
Seun Kuti is the youngest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. He has spent most of his life preserving and extending his father’s political and musical legacy as the leader of Fela’s former band Egypt 80. As a developing saxophonist and percussionist, he entered the formal ranks of the band before he was 12. In 1997 when Fela passed, in fulfilment of his father’s wishes, Seun assumed the mantle as head of Egypt 80 and he has run it ever since. During his career, Seun Kuti released 5 albums with Egypt 80 and collaborated with many great artists such as MC extraordinaire Black Thought, Janelle Monae, Talib Kweli, MadLib and Damian Marley.
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