[Cover photo credit to Virginia Santos]
Afrobeat artist Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 has shared new single “Na Dem” featuring Rock & Roll and Metal Hall of Fame Inductee Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, Prophets of Rage).
The collaboration, announced previously by Kuti on social media, gives a new version to the track, which had never been recorded but went viral last year thanks to videos shared by Coachella, along with videos from fans following his live performances.
Kuti shares:
I strongly wanted to collaborate with Tom Morello because he represents the ultimate expression of protest music. Beyond any musical genre, we need artists like him. Just as my father did in the past and I do now, we need to convey messages that make listeners reflect.
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 are currently on a world tour which will also reach Australia and New Zealand, Europe, before arriving for two special dates in the United States in the Fall: My Life in Movement on October 9 in Los Angeles at The Regent Theater, and on October 14 in New York City at Webster Hall.
The setlist will also include the track “Na Dem” which Kuti & Egypt 80 have been performing live for over a year. The new version of the track was produced by Femi Koleoso of Ezra Collective.
This marks a new chapter following the release of the album Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head) in 2024, which featured contributions from Damian Marley and Sampa the Great. The 2025 deluxe version included POS of De La Soul, Adi Oasis, Kamasi Washington, and Alborosie, with Lenny Kravitz on Production. The album led Kuti to perform more than 130 concerts in 13 months around the world in Australia, South America, United States, and Europe.
Seun Kuti is a Nigerian musician, singer, and songwriter renowned for his captivating performances and socially conscious music. He is the youngest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. Seun has spent most of his life preserving and extending his father’s political and musical legacy as the leader of his father’s former band Egypt 80.
In 1997 when Fela Kuti passed, in fulfilment of his father’s wishes, Seun assumed the mantle as head of Egypt 80 and he has run it ever since. As a musician and pan-African activist, Seun has been involved in a number of campaigns in recent years, including #OccupyNigeria and #EndSARS, a social movement against police brutality in Nigeria. Significantly, he’s revived the Movement of the People (M.O.P.), the political party his father set up in 1979, which was quashed by the military government not long after Fela’s failed presidential bid.
On May 30 2025, Seun Kuti shared the Deluxe Edition ofHeavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head)via Record Kicks. Seun expands the sonic and political scope of the original album, presenting a suite of remixes, reworks, and new collaborations that bring new perspectives to his message of resistance, empowerment, and cultural pride.
