Seun Kuti has pushed back against his "nepo baby" tag by turning the argument on its head, pointing out that even his legendary father, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, owed a debt to the family name he was born into. 

Speaking on the Ada's Room interview, the Grammy-nominated musician argued that Fela's rise was inseparable from his lineage as the son of nationalist and women's rights activist Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. In his words:

"In life, nothing comes from nothing. Even my father, Fela, cannot be as great as he is if he wasn’t Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti’s son. If Fela was not born by Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, there would be no Fela. You would never have heard about him. So, nothing comes from nothing. But the good thing about my family is that you have to work. There are no shortcuts to it."

He added:

“I can be a Nepo baby, but my father is not on stage playing my sax or writing my songs or touring with me. My father’s name would definitely open doors for me, but as soon as you slide in, there is pressure on you to meet the standard he set. The fact that you are from a great family, people expect you to have that greatness. Nobody in the professional world wants to be patient with you and watch you grow or invest in you as an artist. They just assume you have greatness in you, and that puts you under a lot of pressure.”

Seun leads Egypt 80, his late father's band, and has spoken separately this year about being blacklisted from Nigeria's mainstream music industry for over a decade due to his politically conscious approach to Afrobeat.