Fela Kuti’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Celebrated in SoCal with Special DJ/Dance Party Events During Rock Hall Weekend
Featuring DJ Rich Medina & Guests:
November 15 at The Regent / Los Angeles
November 13 at Pappy and Harriet’s / Pioneertown
Induction Ceremony to Take Place November 14 in Los Angeles
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Fela Kuti, the pioneering Nigerian musician, activist, composer and creator of Afrobeat, has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2026 class. The official induction ceremony will take place on November 14 in Los Angeles, and two nights of celebrations in SoCal during that weekend have just been announced: Sunday November 15 at The Regent in Los Angeles, and on Friday November 13 at Pappy and Harriet’s in Pioneertown.
**Sunday, November 15 - The Regent Theater, Los Angeles
A rare California appearance by DJ Rich Medina’s Jump-N-Funk, featuring visuals by The Marksman, and live music. A globally respected DJ, producer, recording artist, curator and lifelong devotee of deep grooves, Medina created Jump-N-Funk to celebrate Fela’s music and spirit. Jump-N-Funk became an important early platform for Afrobeat music in the U.S.
Expect an unforgettable dance party driven by Afrobeat, with visuals timed to the music. Special guests will be announced closer to the shows.
Doors at 6PM
**Friday, November 13 - Pappy and Harriet’s, Pioneertown
Fela Forever! A Fela Kuti Dance Party: DJ Rich Medina will spin Fela Kuti's music alongside other great Afrobeat artists for a special night of dancing and deep grooves in the desert.
Doors at 8:30PM
Recognizing Kuti’s profound global impact on music, culture, and political expression, the posthumous honor will take place at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on November 14. The 2026 class of inductees also includes Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, Sade, Luther Vandross, Wu-Tang Clan, Celia Cruz, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Gram Parsons, Linda Creed, Arif Mardin, Jimmy Miller, Rick Rubin and Ed Sullivan. Kuti is being honored with the Early Influence Award, and is the first African solo artist to be inducted. He joins a distinguished list of Musical Influence Award recipients including Warren Zevon and Salt-N-Pepa.
The celebration of Kuti’s music and legacy continues this fall tied to two of Kuti’s landmark recordings, Zombie and Expensive Shit. A limited edition Zombie collaboration with Tremaine Emory’s Denim Tears was just released, while a 50th Anniversary Edition of Expensive Shit is available for pre-order now and will be released on November 20.
This past January, Kuti was also honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award issued by the Recording Academy®. Kuti received the Lifetime Achievement Award alongside Carlos Santana, Chaka Khan, Cher, Paul Simon and Whitney Houston, and it was accepted by Fela Kuti’s children Femi, Yeni, Kunle, and Shalewa during the Special Merit Awards Ceremony. Kuti has also recently been featured as a clue on Jeopardy!, Mayor Mamdani commented that the Broadway musical Fela! was a foundational piece of art from his youth, actor Andrew Garfield told Track Star that he prepared for his role as Spider-Man by listening to Kuti’s music, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame just highlighted some of the musicians that have sighted him as an inspiration–from Beyonce to Brian Eno to Nas.
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[Credit: Bernard Matussière] |
About:
Fela Anikulapo Kuti (1938-1997) was a Nigerian musician, producer, arranger, political radical, outlaw, and father of Afrobeat. Fela’s legacy spans decades and genres, touching on jazz, pop, funk, hip-hop, rock, and beyond. In the 1960s, he created the genre and popularized it by combining funk, jazz, salsa, calypso, and a blend of traditional Nigerian rhythms.
Fela recorded over fifty albums during his lifetime, becoming one of the most revered musicians across the world. Beyonce paid homage and incorporated his track “Zombie” into her iconic 2018 Coachella performance. Paul McCartney, Bono, and Ms. Lauryn Hill have all visited the Shrine, the venue where Fela performed in Lagos. Talking Heads’ album Remain In Light nods heavily to Fela’s album Afrodisiac (the expanded version of Remain In Light includes an album outtake titled “Fela’s Riff”). Thom Yorke cited Fela’s style of storytelling as a major source of inspiration for Atoms for Peace. In Miles Davis’ autobiography, he named Fela as one of three artists that he considered the future of music. His music has been sampled by Kelly Rowland, Wyclef Jean, Earl Sweatshirt, Common, J Cole, Mos Def, Nas, The Roots and countless more. In addition to the musicians he’s inspired, Fela has also greatly influenced “Afrobeats,” the new wave of pop music in Nigeria.
A titanic musical and sociopolitical voice, Afrobeat’s revolutionary politics brought Fela into violent conflict with successive Nigerian military regimes, which made many attempts to suppress him and once sent in the army to burn down his communal home, Kalakuta Republic. His mother later died as a result of the raid. Fela refused to be silenced. He rebuilt Kalakuta and his Lagos club, the Afrika Shrine, and continued to make fierce and supremely danceable music until a few weeks before his passing in 1997. His funeral was attended by over one million people, the highest number of attendees recorded at a ceremony of this nature in Africa, surpassed only by Nelson Mandela’s.
Fela! The Musical had a two-year run on Broadway from 2008-2010 and was backed by Jay-Z and Will & Jada Smith. Director and choreographer Bill T. Jones won the Tony Award for Best Choreography for Fela! in 2010. Fela was inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2026. His music has also been used across the world in film, TV, advertisements and games such as The Harder They Fall, Beast, Queen and Slim, Atlanta, Narcos, Gucci, Guinness, Ciroc, Nike, Grand Theft Auto & many more. Fear No Man - a 12-episode podcast series, presented by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground and Audible, and produced by Talkhouse and Western Sound, debuted in 2025, and Fela’s life story has been documented in multiple films, including 2014’s Finding Fela! (directed by Alex Gibney), and 1982’s Fela Kuti: Music Is The Weapon (directed by Jean Jaques Flori and Stéphane Tchalgadjieff).
Fela’s legacy continues to live on through his family. His son Femi leads The Positive Force. Fela’s other son, Seun, leads Egypt 80, and his daughter Yeni and son Kunle are the keepers of the Kalakuta Museum and the New Afrika Shrine. Mádé (Fela’s grandson) has played alongside his father, Femi, and has recently launched a solo career of his own. An annual celebration in honor of Fela, known as Felabration, takes place in Lagos and around the world each October. In 2009, Knitting Factory Records and Partisan Records began reissuing his catalog, including six vinyl boxsets, curated by Questlove (2011), Ginger Baker (2012), Brian Eno (2014), Erykah Badu (2017), Chris Martin & Femi Kuti (2021), and Idris Elba (2023).