Veteran showbiz maestro and foremost activist, Charles Oputa, popularly known as CharlyBoy, has paid tribute to late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, following his posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Recording Academy honours the Afrobeat pioneer with the Lifetime Achievement Award, 29 years after his death, making him the first African artist to receive such honour.
The award ceremony took place in Los Angeles on Saturday, the night before the main ceremony of the 68th Grammy Awards, with Femi Kuti and his siblings accepting the award on their father’s behalf.
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The milestone has continued to generate accolades from Afrobeats lovers around the world, with many describing it as “win for African musicians, particularly voices that spoke against injustice and oppression’’.
CharlyBoy celebrated the late singer in a post on his social media page, descrbing him as “a fearless voice of the masses, who confronted injustice through music’’.
CharlyBoy wrote: “Fela no just wake up to live, he wake up to fight. Every morning na battle plan, every night na drum and sweat.
“Kalakuta be him country, him law, him refuge. No fence between life and message.
“He insult power with chest full, collect beating, prison, exile and still come back louder; For Fela, lifestyle na sacrifice; If body break, so be am.
He added: “Charly Boy burn different. No be wildfire, na controlled flame; Black clothes, piercings, bike roarm image sharp like blade.
“Fela choose chaos as language; Charly Boy choose symbolism.
“One sleep inside war, One walk through am with caution.
“But make nobody lie, both get fire; Both refuse silence.
“Both no bow…”
