The AfroBeatles: John, Paul, George, Ringo and Fela

The World

The end of the Beatles some said marked the true end of the British empire.

And one of the former British colonies, Nigeria, is where Afrobeat King Fela Kuti was from.

And he was all about rejecting the influence of colonial power.

But their music comes together courtesy of DJ Rich Medina and Producer Mark Hines.

Their musical project is called: AfroBeatles.

Mark Hines says the pairing of The Beatles’ “Get Back” and Fela Kuti’s song “Colonial Mentality,” makes sense both musically and lyrically.

“It’s speaking to the colonial power of London, but at the same time it’s investigating that relationship between power and the oppressed. So, looking at ‘colonial mentality,’ which is about Africans getting back to a true sense-of-self instead of a distorted one that may have been overlaid on them through the colonization projects. It offers an opportunity for a revolutionary mindset,” Hines says.

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