"Red Hot + Riot" - A tribute album to the late great Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Net profits of this go to help fight AIDS in Africa and around the world. For those who don't know Fela, I suggest you read the liner notes for a brief history and then check out his CDs and LPs we have in the library. This album is made up of tons of musicians including Femi Kuti (his son), Tony Allen (his drummer), and many other famous artists like Sade, Common, Gift of Gab, Antibalas, MixMaster Mike, and more. Some songs sound almost exactly like the originals and others are only loosely based on Fela songs. Every song has a nice afrobeat sound at the base and range from slow groovers to fast dance songs. With the exception of 1 song I liked the whole album. I would recommend this to anyone: hip-hop kids, world music lovers, funksters, anyone. It's infectious groovy music that you can't help but like. Plus, it's got some nice political messages. Play it now!!
My Picks: 2, 4 (fcc), 6&7, 13 &14, 18, 20
Katie P. 10/21/02

1) Samples, loops, and scratches from Fela songs courtesy of MixMaster Mike. Pretty cool but kinda short.
2) What would Fela sound like if he had been a hip-hop artist? Find out. This is cool. Based on Fela's song but with some extra lyrics.
3) Short live piece.
4) Very groovy. This might be Femi's band backing them up. Again, based on the original song with a few extra lyrics. This is really nice. Fcc: says "bullshit."
5) Cutting and looping from MixMaster Mike once again. Very short. Fcc: says "shit."
6) My favorite Fela Kuti song played by his son Femi. If you've heard Femi do this, you know it's great. This is the instrumental intro and goes right into #7 so I'd suggest playing them together. Sort of a midtempo groover with great horns and percussion.
7) Part 2 of song (should be played with #6). D'Angelo and Femi on vocals. Fortunately Macy Gray is on backups (and doesn't stand out too much). This is so amazing. How I love this song!!
8) Nice percussion and horns. Solid Afrobeat sound that changes to a bit more produced sound, but still pretty cool. Driving faster dance beat. Fades into #9
9) Based on the song "Sorrow, Tears, & Blood" but with new lyrics by Common. Nice percussion, guitar, and horns. Quiet and soft with a sample of Fela talking. Short.
10) Ooo, very nice groover. This one sounds a lot like the original, but with some cool differences. This is part one and goes into #11 without a real break.
11) Part 2 from #10. This has a more drum machine sound for percussion, but the rest sounds nice. Cool horns and nice vocals. Solid groovy dance beat.
12) Mixed piece with some Fela samples. Almost electronica sounding. Short.
13) Almost a goofy version of Zombie. Jerky and sharp. I think they have at least part of Femi's band. Actually turns into a cool version of this song. Part 1 and goes right into #14.
14) From #13, this is part 2. Sounds a bit more like the original than part 1. Fast afrobeat with some kooky keyboard sounds. Instrumental with just a few samples of talking.
15) Tony Allen (Fela's drummer) does this one. Groovy organ kicks it off. Just slightly smoothed out from the original, but still some nice afrobeat.
16) Starts out with some Fela sounding horns and then falls into an over-produced drum machine smoothed-out R&B jam. Ick. I really dislike this one. This is an original song (not one of Fela's). I only enjoyed the backup vocals.
17) Mixed up samples of Fela (really short).
18) Slower groove. Nice solid percussion. Sade does this one. It's an original song, but using samples of Fela songs. Sexy and smooth (but not in a bad way).
19) Another slow groover. Pretty cool but short.
20) Starts with guitar and some singing. Then someone doing this weird grunting noise. Back into singing. Sweet and soft. Anitbalas plays on this one. Wow, really nice.