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Afro Poppa: Fela Kuti, 1938-1997

Richard Gehr, Spin, October 1997

IN THE annals of pop political activism, taking on TicketMaster or spoofing K Mart consumerism hardly compares to the cheeky dissidence of Nigerian superstar Fela Anikulapo Kuti, who died August 2 from AIDS-related heart failure. He was 58. Harassed and vilified for his radical beliefs, the pot-smoking, saxophone-playing, gravel-voiced libertine was imprisoned more than a dozen times over the course of his career by a succession of civilian and military governments threatened by his Pan-African politics.

Total word count of piece: 573

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