Pioneering musician, activist, and bandleader
Fela Kuti is the first word in Afro-beat, making such strides in the genre over the course of his career that his contributions are foundational and nothing less than legendary.
Unnecessary Begging (also known as
No Bread) comes at a formative time in
Fela's massive discography, between two of his most championed releases, 1975's
Expensive Shit and 1977's
Zombie. While
Unnecessary Begging was one of no less than five albums
Kuti released in 1976, its use of wiry synthesizers intermingled with bright horns and energetic Afro-beat rhythms makes for a bedding of increasingly interesting sounds on top of which
Fela lays down his sung-spoken political poetry lyrics. ~ Fred Thomas