Kuti, Fela – Ikoyi Blindness (1975) [White Vinyl] – New LP

Pressed on iresi (opaque white) vinyl.



Fela used the cover of Ikoyi Blindness to announce his change of middle name from Ransome, which he now considered a slave name, to Anikulapo, which means “he who carries death in his pouch.” The front cover shows Ransome crossed out and Anikulapo added above it. Fela also used the album cover to announce the Africanisation of Africa 70’s name, changing it to Afrika 70. In the title track, Fela draws attention to the economic chasm separating the haves and have-nots of Nigerian society, contrasting the get-rich-at-all-costs mindset of the residents of the prosperous Lagos suburb Ikoyi with the more community-minded attitude of the poor inhabitants of the Mushin, Maroko, Ajegunle and Somolu neighborhoods. Ikoyi residents are blind to the sufferings of less fortunate people, says Fela. 

Fela returns to the topic on the second track, “Gba Mi Leti Ki N’Dolowo (Slap Me Make I Get Money).” In Lagos in 1975 and 1976, there had been an upsurge in police and military personnel assaults on people in the street; motorists were commonly pulled out of their vehicles and given a whipping for minor traffic offenses. Scandalously, the police and soldiers were being allowed to get away with corruption in broad daylight. In the lyric, Fela demands that the judiciary administer the law equally, without fear or favor.

Fela’s definition of mental blindness is a person who, with his eyes wide-open, misses his direction and keeps turning round in circles without ever getting to his destination. Ikoyi Blindness refers to the Nigerian elite class who choose wrong professions because it provides them status in society rather than job satisfaction. Not only are they in the wrong professions, they are also blind to the sufferings of their fellow countrymen who live in ghettos like: Mushin, Ajegunle, Somolu, Maroko and even Kalakuta. Pointing to the example of a lawyer; who instead of buying law books, chooses hammer as his trade tool, or a musician who chooses spanner as his trade tool. Fela says there is still some hope for such men, if they could channel their way of thinking towards their environment. ‘…them miss road! Them find road again oh!’. Those social-climbers who see the status quo and stepping into the shoes of former colonial administrators as a sign of moving up in society. They are forgetting that the majority of their folks are still struggling in the ghettos. Such people must realize that they are worse off than a blind person living next to a river. They are going to fall: “shallow” into more ‘Ikoyi mental’ Blindness.

Gba Mi Leti Ki N’Dolowo (Slap Me Make I Get Money): 1974 was a turning point for the judicial system to live up to its sworn goal of upholding the law. Particularly, in a country where the rich constantly took advantage of the poor with impunity. A series of lawsuits involving people from the lower echelons of society, against high society and influential men, resulted in the rich paying high fees as damage to their poor accusers. Fela sang about the issue making the point that you cannot take advantage of anyone and get away with it. If you slap me, I will get money. For as long as I respect myself, I won’t go beyond my bounds — if you slap me you will pay.

- Mabinuori Kayode Idowu