So I’m shopping around in the iTunes world section and I run into an album called ‘Inspiration Information 4’ by Jimi Tenor and Tony Allen, both pretty bad ass old school artists so I had to pay my due respect. Turns out the album is awesome and I find my latest favorite song being Selfish Gene. For those of you unfamiliar, Tony Alllen is a Nigerian drummer who is pretty much the godfather of what is now known as African pop music. Think Fela Cuti and so on. Jimi Tenor is an unbelievably talented Finnish musician thoroughly respected in the so called World Music circle.
These dudes couldn’t be any more different but somehow that unlikely mixture makes for a deadly combination. It’s like those couples you see that are from totally different backgrounds. They look like they have nothing in common but somehow hit it off better then you could imagine. That’s why it’s good to keep an open mind. Thee second you chose to define yourself and preferences so strictly in your mental box is the second you have limited yourself of some wonderful possibilities…
“The best form is no form.“
Long story not so short this song rocks. The drum ride reminds you why Tony Allen is the Afropop boss. The vocals, lyrics and production couldn’t fit the songs theme of selfishness better. Tony Allen pretty much embraces his issues of selfishness but if I know anything about the clever genius I’d say he was being very sarcastic. Selfishness is an interesting concept, one I think everyone should really explore. A lot of people have these extremist views on the topic, you’re either a selfish prick or your an altruist, it’s hard to take anyone like that serious sometimes because with any extreme view you’re bound to be full of contradictions. Sometimes to grow you need the help of others but at the same time you may need to do something alone to be able to return the favor. Either way this is a great song from some very talented musicians, enjoy.