{"id":50671,"date":"2025-11-02T18:45:34","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T18:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/02\/is-adekunle-golds-fuji-even-fuji-does-it-matter\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T18:45:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T18:45:34","slug":"is-adekunle-golds-fuji-even-fuji-does-it-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/02\/is-adekunle-golds-fuji-even-fuji-does-it-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Adekunle Gold\u2019s \u2018Fuji\u2019 Even F\u00faj\u00ec? Does It Matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tOn Oct. 4, for the first time, Afrobeats star Adekunle Gold<\/a> gave an electric performance of songs from his latest album Fuji<\/em>, which he had just released the day before. On that steamy Saturday night, he took the stage for a free concert at Spotify\u2019s Lagos pop-up Greasy Tunes <\/a>Caf\u00e9, where the streaming service\u2019s African music team reimagined Chef Imoteda Aladekomo<\/a>\u2019s sprawling Fired & Iced<\/a> restaurant in the community of Lekki as the hub for three weeks of Afrobeats programing<\/a>, from concerts like Gold\u2019s, to panels and live podcasting, to a full-fledged fashion show \u2013 all exploring how a genre of music evolved into culture and lifestyle of its own and reflects those that it was built upon. Gold sought to make a similar point with Fuji<\/em> \u2013 an album named for a distinct genre from Nigeria\u2019s Yourba ethnic group that critics like Dami Ajayi<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>and Zikoko<\/a>\u2019<\/strong>s Tomide Marv have since noted is largely absent from its tracklist. Gold\u2019s album raises questions of what it means when Afrobeats artists evoke and remix tradition on a larger platform than their forebearers could have dreamed of \u2013 and if there is such thing as a right way to do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cF\u00faj\u00ec is the grandfather of Afrobeats,\u201d Gold said in a recent interview<\/a> with Sagid Carter. \u201cBefore \u2018Afrobeats to the world<\/a>,\u2019there f\u00faj\u00ec\u00a0 there\u2019s highlife, there\u2019s apala, there\u2019s um there\u2019s there\u2019s juju, all of these sounds are what Afrobeats borrows from, but f\u00faj\u00ec is an integral part.\u201d Thought to be named after Japan\u2019s Mount Fuji by genre pioneer Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister in the 1960s, f\u00faj\u00ec took cues from the w\u00e9r\u00e9 music played during Ramadan<\/a> to wake and entertain Muslims for the Sahur meal before dawn. Barrister is said to have fashioned f\u00faj\u00ec as a way to keep performing all year long. It\u2019s full of complex and fast-paced percussion, layering drums like the d\u00f9nd\u00fan and the gbedu on top of each other, with conversational call-and-response vocals tossed between a lead singer and their backing ensemble.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\tJust last month, Barrister\u2019s son, Barry Jhay<\/a>, seemed to fashion his father\u2019s almost-tremored singing into his own vocals on rapper Blaqbonez\u2019s \u201cStacks $$$<\/a>.\u201d There, his vocal ticks transform the phantom of f\u00faj\u00ec into an unequivocally hip-hop song. Gold has said something similar about himself: \u201cMy voice is f\u00faj\u00ec. If I sing R&B, you will hear it there. It\u2019s is it\u2019s is the core of my sound,\u201d he told Carter. <\/strong>While Afrobeats artists have long taken cues from f\u00faj\u00ec, Asake may be its most popular global ambassador in recent years, ending his last album, Lungu Boy<\/em><\/a>, with the true-to-form \u201cFuji Vibe,\u201d his rawest foray into the genre yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOver time,f\u00faj\u00ec was infused with other Nigerian styles, notes critic Joba Ojelabi<\/a>, morphing into something new, as genres are wont to do. Still, Ojelabi condemned Gold\u2019s album for being \u201ca tribute in name only.\u201d Gold\u2019s Fuji<\/em> does a lot \u2013 it leans on R&B, sampling Bobby Caldwell\u2019s \u201cWhat You Won\u2019t Do for Love,\u201d and Grover Washington Jr.\u2019s \u201cJust the Two of Us\u201d with Bill Withers. You can hear hip-hop in the opener \u201cBig Fish\u201d and 6lack\u2019s appearance on \u201cLove is an Action.\u201d Gold pulls Alt\u00e9 maven Cruel Santino<\/a>, Nigerian pop star Davido<\/a>, and Zimbabwean-Australian rapper Tkay Maidza across two songs that embrace the spirit of South African house music. Ojelabi asks, \u201cIf we call this f\u00faj\u00ec, will the world understand that the music within is not the f\u00faj\u00ec that Barrister and his many successors built with sweat, faith, and rhythm?\u201d There does <\/em>seem to be a throughline of the genre on Fuji <\/em>though, like Gold\u2019s \u201cMany People<\/a>,\u201d a standout on the album. On the surface, it\u2019s is a flip of 57 year-old Yinka Ayefele\u2019s gospel tungba<\/a> hit \u201cMi O Mo J\u2019orin Lo<\/a>,\u201d but X users like Nigerian journalist Kayode Badmus<\/a> have pointed<\/a> out<\/a> that f\u00faj\u00ec artist Adewale Ayuba sang the titular refrain first \u2013 on a song literally called \u201cFuji Music<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 (Gospel tungba is a Juju-adjacent genre Ayefele is said to have coined himself.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

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