Fela Kuti: Expensive Shit

Sunday is jazz day. Continuing my focus on the music of 1975, today’s song is an Afrobeat classic by Fela Kuti. Kuti developed Afrobeat by combining Western jazz with funk and traditional African music. The title track to his album Expensive Shit tells the story of his arrest for marijuana possession after the police planted a joint in his compound. After he ate the evidence, he was taken into custody so that his shit could be collected by the police as evidence. He evaded their tactics by replacing his shit with that of a fellow prisoner. It was the classic “you shit my shit, I’ll shit yours” legal maneuver. This has always been my favorite of all of the fantastic Fela Kuti albums.

If you are interested in other years, check out my Year in Review series.

To listen to all of the songs of the day, check out the Radio Faux Show Song of the Day playlist.

• Best of 1975
• Intro to Jazz
• Sunday Jazz