Girl
Pharrell Williams
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Reviews (3)
AllMusic
2014
By
By
Thom Jurek
2014
"A Long Way to the Beginning is the most ambitious and angry record in Kuti's catalog. Its Afrobeat attack is hyper aggressive. It hammers the anger home in most tunes, and that's exactly what he feels young people around the world are projecting. He's telling them they're not only heard, but that he feels it too".
DownBeat
2014 July
By
By
Sean J. O'Connell
2014 July
"Kuti carries on the family tradition while adopting a few noble ideas of his own, making for an engaging album on numerous fronts".
fRoots
2014 June
By
By
Rick Sanders
2014 June
"Crackling horns, surging rhythm and uncompromising vocals: Seun Kuti and the band - his late father's last band, with assistance from various rappers and producer Robert Glasper's jazz keyboards - are taking no prisoners. Everything and African man does, Kuti says, is political. Everything relates to survival. This edge fuels the album, his third and most polished to date ... The opening track IMF sounds like a Fela composition but actually isn't (all songs are by Seun) ... Kalakuta Boy really does sound like Fela singing, while African Smoke is another Fela-like call to arms. This is a battling band, consciously working the legacy. But it can be sensuous too. The closing track, Black Woman, is smooth and elegant. Still Afrobeat, words stil agitprop - with namechecks for Nina Simone, Angela Davis and Maya Angelou - but a pleasure to the ear. It's the dreamy sax and the vibes that do it".