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Nigerian musician Seun Kuti has shed more light on his relationship with his dad, the musical icon Fela Kuti, noting that losing him was like losing a friend, father and family member at once.
Speaking with popular media personality Chude Jideonwo, he started by describing his relationship with his dad, stressing that their dynamic was different than with his older siblings. Jokingly, he noted that he used to feel bad for his older ones because their dad had become a laid-back version of himself when he was born.
He began, "Fela was a model father; he was very different from the stories I heard of my elder ones. I feel bad for them. I can’t lie. I tell them all the time, I enjoyed it for you guys. Trust me, I held it down. I did not slack. By the time he had me, he was 44; he was always home, so my relationship with him was very different from that of my siblings—very, very different. I know that for a fact."
Going on, Seun went into detail about his grief after his father passed away in 1997. Losing him was a different kind of pain from which he had not recovered because nobody was as close to him as he was. He added that the loss was so heavy for him that he grieved for a long period.
The singer added, "I grieved for my dad because he was the closest person to me, and he was the first person I know that died, so for me, it was a really impactful experience losing my dad; it was like losing my best friend, my dad, and a family member, all in one. I really grieved for a long time. I grieved for my dad."
Next, he spoke about his mother whom he was not able to properly grieve over when she passed away because he was on a music tour at the time. For him, he did not get closure after she passed, unlike his dad. And as a result of that, he is still actively grieving over her to this day.
In his words, "The one I didn’t grieve was my mom. I had a tour. There was no time to break down. If I’m going to share some of my mental issues on your show, it’s like I think I’m grieving my mom in stages; kind of, I’ve not really had time to really delve into that, but the bad part is past, and I still grieve her from time to time. I don’t have complete closure for my mom like I do for my dad."
See the full interview below: