N.E.P.A. (Never Expect Power Always)

As the engineer and main driver of that telltale Afrobeat sound, drummer Tony Allen kept busy with bandleader Fela Kuti and band, barely venturing out on his own. For those wanting to hear the machinations that powered Kuti during this era, but without his stentorian presence shouting atop the grooves, this 1984 outing places Allen’s polyrhythms front and center. Paired with some tasteful drum machine percolations and electronic accents, this is a glimpse of Allen’s signature Afrobeat as proto-house music, suggesting a lineage to American funk and boogie along the way.