Don’t think for a moment, Jidenna has left her fantastic path. By reconnecting with his ancestors in West Africa, The Classic Man has been renamed “sapeur” by OGs with special authority to point fingers. What the American public might not know about Jidenna is that he spent a part of his childhood in his father’s native country, Nigeria – where, because he wanted to trace his roots back to a reliable cohort, he found himself in the royal palace of Seun Kuti. Egypt 80 – big band occupied by his father Fela Kuti for almost half a century.
Of all the pieces on 85 To Africa, “Worth The Weight” which features Seun Kuti outperforms Jidana’s most true Pan-African idealism, or wants to enjoy her past and present glory. For his appreciation, Jidenna did not return to the sound of the big band, or do anything completely out of character; Seun Kuti’s role in the song was exactly how I described it. He was there to direct traffic, as a good leader should do.