Lady Na Master Acrylic, Graphite and Charcoal on Canvas

In Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti's words he said "If you call am woman African woman no go 'gree She go say, she go say, "I be lady, oh"

Such an addictive rhythm to this song in 1972! The eponymous Lady is an African woman who challenges the behavioural expectations of women in post-colonial Nigerian society. Although the lyrics imply that "Lady" protested patriarchy through her actions, "Lady" is an object of ridicule for Fela. That "Lady" demonstrates all the nonchalance and aggression usually reserved for men is an aberration in Fela’s moral universe. Today, "Lady", with her insistence on being equal to men, is likely to describe herself as a feminist. But for Fela, ‘African woman’, the antithesis of "Lady", ‘know him man na master’. I prefer to think of it as him singing on the whole concept of women's liberation; It's not equality that he thinks she wants. He thinks she wants to eat, sit down, and be respected before everybody else