Vinyl Me, Please Releases Fela Kuti Box Set After Delay

Music club Vinyl Me, Please (VMP) has finally released the anticipated "The Best of the Black President" Fela Kuti box set, originally announced in 2024. The 4xLP collection is now available under VMP's current ownership and has been released on October 15, which would have marked the Afrobeat pioneer's 88th birthday.

The box set experienced delays due to a previous ownership change, but VNYL Inc., which has operated VMP since 2025, has completed its production. The release is hand-numbered and limited to 1,000 copies, with lacquers cut by two-time MPG Mastering Engineer of the Year, Cicely Balston. The release coincides with Felabration, the annual festival held in Kuti's honor in Lagos.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti, a pioneer of Afrobeat, fused highlife, jazz, funk, and Yoruba rhythms in the late 1960s and 1970s to create lengthy, hypnotic songs that critiqued corruption and brutality under Nigeria's military rulers. His influence spans hip-hop, jazz, and the global Afrobeats movement. This year, he became the first African artist to receive the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award.

"It's impossible not to be moved by how much Fela Kuti risked for his music," said Nick Alt, CEO of VMP. "He made some of the most fearless recordings of the last century. This box deserved to exist, so we finished it. His birthday is the right day to put it out."

The box set features four 180g black vinyl LPs housed in full-color jackets, along with a "Fela for President" bumper sticker. The release is offered as part of VMP's membership.