Seun Kuti shares “Move (Keep Moving Version)” feat. Kamasi Washington taken from “Heavier Yet Deluxe Edition” out May 28 via Record Kicks and featuring De La Soul’s Pos, Adi Oasis and announces the European tour.
Today, April 23, Afrobeat royalty Seun Kuti joins forces with jazz icon Kamasi Washington to share “Move (Keep Moving Version)” via Record Kicks. Listen here. The track is a reimagination off his critically acclaimed, Lenny Kravitz-produced, album “Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head)”. This new version is part of the album’s deluxe edition to be released next month on May 28, with additional features from De La Soul’s Pos, Adi Oasis and more. Coming off two knockout performances at this year’s Coachella, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 have just announced the “Heavier Yet Deluxe Tour”, a new set of spring/summer European shows including the UK, Portugal, Romania, the Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia, France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Poland, North Macedonia and Germany. All dates and tickets here.
The Kuti and Washington collaboration is a powerful melding of Afrobeat and spiritual jazz—a meeting of minds and movements where both artists, known for their social commentary, come together with purpose. Washington’s sax amplifies Kuti’s lyrical urgency, creating a transcendent rhythmic call to action that overwhelms the senses with revolutionary positivity from every angle.
Saxophone giant Kamasi Washington is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader born and raised in Los Angeles. His four bodies of work to date— “The Epic”; “Harmony of Difference”; “Heaven and Earth”, and “Fearless Movement” —are among the most acclaimed of this century. In 2020, Washington scored the Michelle Obama documentary “Becoming”, earning Emmy and Grammy nominations for his work. Also in 2020, Washington co-founded the supergroup Dinner Party with longtime friends and collaborators Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, and 9th Wonder—their EP “Dinner Party (Dessert)” was subsequently nominated for a Grammy for Best Progressive R&B Album. In 2021, he contributed a cover of Metallica’s “My Friend of Misery” to the band’s “Metallica Blacklist” covers project. Washington has toured the world, collaborated and shared stages with Kendrick Lamar, Florence + the Machine, Herbie Hancock, and many more.
Seun Kuti is the youngest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. He has spent most of his life preserving and extending his father’s political and musical legacy as the leader of Fela’s former band Egypt 80. As a developing saxophonist and percussionist, he entered the formal ranks of the band before he was 12. In 1997 when Fela passed, in fulfilment of his father’s wishes, Seun assumed the mantle as head of Egypt 80 and he has run it ever since. During his career, Seun Kuti released 5 albums with Egypt 80 and collaborated with many great artists such as MC extraordinaire Black Thought, Janelle Monae, Talib Kweli, MadLib and Damian Marley. His latest album is Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head), praised by critics as “his greatest and most powerful yet.”