Femi Kuti

His first release in four years, Day by Day is classic Femi, from the deep Afro grooves to the familiar Kuti-style political haranguing. Considering that this is his first complete and original solo album since his 2001 release, Fight to Win, Femi shows his affection for jazz and his band, Positive Force, sound as tight as ever. The verbal war on organized religion, poverty and corruption continues and at times, Femi shows signs of improvement on the lyrical side but for some reason, it's all just not enough. The high points are solid but some of the drawn-out grooves tend to fall short. Perhaps it's because I'll always unfairly compare Femi to Fela but this time around the groove loses some of the sexual grit that it once had. Day by Day reminds us that before Obama there was another black president.