Building My Career Never Involved Winning Awards — Femi Kuti

While addressing the fact that he has never won any Grammy award, Afrobeat pioneer Femi Kuti shared that his career was never built on winning awards.

Femi, the son of late Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, was nominated for a Grammy in 2003, 2010, 2012, and 2013 in the World Music Category but failed to win the coveted prize.

While chatting with Beat FM 99.9 recently, the veteran singer talked about his music and disclosed what mattered more to him than winning any Grammy award.

Femi Kuti

He said, "My career was never built on winning awards. It was based on talking about social and political issues. If my career were built on winning the Grammys, I would probably not be based in Nigeria. 

"I would set up somewhere in America and be lobbying for it. It’s really political, you must be there, they must see you and you must be fighting for it. I would be working with the best musicians to put a big image of my people out there.

"If I use big American artists to distribute my music it is already a Grammy-nominated album. The Grammy already knows who I am. Most important for me and my career, is, if I can wake up and have electricity forever if we have good salaries for everybody, pensions are paid, the roads are good, and Africa is a big party where I can drive my car from Lagos to Nairobi, Johannesburg and the place is booming with love, no award can bring me such satisfaction."

Femi Kuti started his career playing in his father's band and established his in 1986. He has since established himself as a singer of repute, releasing ten albums and touring different parts of the globe.