Today is World AIDS Day—it also happens to be the 20th anniversary of the Fela Kuti tribute album Red Hot + Riot. To celebrate, the AIDS-fighting not-for-profit Red Hot is releasing a deluxe version of the album that featured such artists as D’Angelo, Questlove, Femi Kuti, Talib Kweli, Sade, Tony Allen, Macy Gray, Nile Rogers, Dead Prez, and Kelis covering Kuti's songs. The remastered album is also now available on streaming platforms for the first time with two hours of bonus material added to it, including an unreleased cover of “Sorrow Tears & Blood” by Bilal, an acoustic version of “Trouble Sleep” with Baba Maal and Kaouding Cissoko, and an extended version of Sade’s “By Your Side” by Stuart Matthewman.
Following Kuti's death, Questlove birthed the idea for Red Hot + Riot during the sessions for Red Hot’s Gershwin tribute album, which included a collaboration between The Roots and Bobby Womack. Evolving from an aborted plan for a Sly Stone covers album, they encouraged Red Hot to secure the rights and master recordings of Fela Kuti's music. The sessions for the project began at Electric Ladyland with a mix of the Soultronics (James Posner and Pino Pallodino, along with D’Angelo and Questlove) and Femi Kuti’s band Positive Force. D'Angelo and Femi's cover of “Water Get No Enemy” was the first cover to take form. Niles Rogers, Macy Gray and Eryka Badu (whose vocals didn't make the final mix) later joined the session.
The project celebrates Kuti's legacy and brings awareness to HIV/AIDS, as Kuti died of causes related to HIV/AIDS in 1997. The press release for the reissue shared some sobering statistics on the current status of the disease in Kuti's native continent: "Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 71% of people living with HIV, a devastating reality where 75% of global HIV related deaths and 65% of new infections occur. Of the 38.3 million people living with HIV worldwide, 27.3 million are in Sub-Saharan Africa. 7.8 million of the 27.3 million infected people are in South Africa including about 6.3 million young adults and children. To put that in context, 11% of humans live there, but it accounts for over 71% of the global impact in terms of infections and mortality."
Stream the remastered version and bonus materials below.
