The undisputed king of Afrobeat music is Fela Kuti, and NEVER underestimate the power of a king.  Ghanaian born Nicholoas Addo-Nettey (later professionally known as Pax Nicholas) moved to Nigeria in the early 70's with dreams of becoming a professional musician.  Despite desires to follow his idols of American Soul, including James Brown and Otis Redding, he was introduced to the budding Afrobeat scene and ultimately to Fela Kuti, becoming a percussionist in his Africa 70 band along side drummer Tony Allen among others.  Being in the most dominant band in African popular music gave Nicholas access to the best studios and engineers leading him to produced his first solo album, Mind Your Own Business, in 1971 with a 1973 follow up Na Teef Know The Road Of Teef.  You don't become as legendary as Fela without being a little...I mean, really really bull headed.  Upon hearing Na Teef and seeing the reaction to it's strong collection of songs,  Fela was quoted as saying, "Don't you ever, EVER play it again!".  In a kingdom, you never disobey the one ruling king.  As a result, the album was buried  in the minds of those who created it and left to be forgotton.

Fast forward 36 years, Daptone Records (Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings) are releasing this lost gem thanks to DJ SoulPusher's deep deep crate digging leading to it's re-discovery.  It fits complimentary beside the classic Fela albums and will satisfy anyone hungry for new but authentically 70's Afrobeat Funk jams.


So where is Pax Nicholas now?  In line with Fela's legendary story, Pax was present at the times of the notorious police attacks on Kuti's Kalakuta compound which he had proclaimed indepentant of the Nigerian government.  After repeated attacks and 9 unjust months in prison Pax and other Africa 70 artists decided to make new lives for themselves in Europe while on tour there.  Despite remaining a professional musician since starting a family in Germany it can be assumed that Daptone's reissue will be a vindication of his past work and worth as more than a liner note in Fela's catalogue.