Fela Kuti – Gentleman

"Gentleman" is a song by Fela Kuti, released in 1973 as the title track of his eighth album with his band Africa 70, on the EMI label. Kuti wrote the track as a critique of the colonial mentality behind Africans wearing heavy European style clothing in the African heat, an argument echoed by the album cover's image of a monkey's head placed on a suited body. After saxophonist Igo Chico left the band that year, Kuti himself picked up the tenor saxophone for the first time and opened the track with an extended solo before switching to electric piano for the vocal sections. The album became widely regarded as the first fully realized Afrobeat record and preceded other politically pointed Africa 70 albums Kuti released later in the decade, including Expensive Shit and Shuffering and Shmiling.