Femi Kuti, a Grammy-nominated musician and the son of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, has strongly denied the popular belief that drummer Tony Allen helped create the Afrobeat genre with his father.

Tony Allen, who was Fela’s lead drummer and music director, is often described as a co-founder of Afrobeat by both local and international media. But Femi Kuti disagrees with this view.

In a recent video shared on his social media, Femi explained that his father, Fela Kuti, was the true creator of Afrobeat. He said Fela came up with all the drum patterns and taught them to Allen and other musicians in his band. According to him, no one, including Tony Allen, added their own ideas to Fela’s music.

Femi said, “My father was a music composer and multi-instrumentalist. He understood every part of his music. The story that Fela once said ‘without Tony Allen there would be no Afrobeat’ is a complete lie.”

He added that people made up that story to boost Tony Allen’s image. Even though Allen was a skilled drummer, Femi insisted that Fela trained him in his own unique drum style. He said Fela created every drum pattern himself and expected everyone around him to stay quiet while he composed music.

Femi challenged those claiming that Fela credited Tony Allen to show any proof, like a video or article. He said there’s no real evidence that Fela ever made such a statement.