Femi Kuti, a multiple Grammy-nominated artist and son of late Afrobeats’ pioneer, Fela Kuti, has refuted the claims that the late legendary drummer, Tony Allen co-pioneered the genre with his father.

Allen is widely credited by both local and foreign media as a co-pioneer of Afrobeats for his works as Fela’s lead drummer and music director.

In a recent video message shared on his social media page, Femi Kuti dismissed the claims, claiming that Allen or anyone didn’t contribute to Fela’s music.

Addressing assertions that Fela credited Allen as a co-founder, Femi challenged proponents to provide evidence. “I asked those saying Fela credited Allen for Afrobeat where he did, and they can’t produce it. There is no article, recording, or footage from any interview to prove it, it is impossible that Fela would make such a statement and there is no copy anywhere,” he stated.

Femi further remarked that Fela taught Allen his drumming style, asserting that Allen’s contributions, while significant, did not equate to co-creating the genre. “Tony Allen was a good drummer, but Fela taught him his style of drums,” he noted

“They tried to sell Tony Allen so they decided to lie. Yes, he was a good drummer but Fela taught him his style of drums. Fela came up with all his drum patterns. We saw it.

“I was a child, a teenager, a man, we saw Fela do it. Fela wrote all his patterns. I keep telling them, why didn’t Tony Allen tell us which songs he did for Fela? He couldn’t because there was no song that Fela asked him to put the drum pattern for him. It is impossible.

“When Fela was writing, no one could make any inputs because he goes into trance while making music. Everyone around him then must maintain calmness and listen to his composition and instructions.

My father was a multi-instrumentalist and composer. He studied music. He knows every single part of his instrument. You probably have reas that they said he said, ‘without Tony Allen, there is no Afrobeat’. That is the biggest bullsh*t ever said about my father. It is such a big lie, he said