BANTU is a self titled international debut studio album by BANTU. It was released in 2004 on Nitty Gritty Music. The album features Adé Bantu and his brother Don Abi aka Abiodun sharing lead vocal duties on all songs. The subject matter of the album centers around Pan Africanism, racism, xenophobia, love and a strong yearning for home. Most of the lyrics on BANTU are in English. A few choruses are sung in Yoruba while Pidgin English is interspersed to create a distinct Nigerian flavor. Other languages sung or rapped in by guest vocalists include Wolof, Spanish, Swahili and German. The album BANTU also features a remake of the Third World 1983 classic "Lagos Jump".[1][2] The album was described by music critic Karsten Frehe as a colourful mix of Afrobeat, Pop, a little Reggae, Funk, Soul & Hip Hop[3]
The album BANTU was recorded over a two-year period with various producers based in Germany (the only exception being "Omowale" which was produced by Mbegane N'dour in Paris). Production duties where handled by Rub Nuca ("ile"), Beatschmieda ("Lagos Jump", "One Vibe One Flow pt.2"), Trulaikes ("Watchout", "Blood A Go Run"), Pionear ("Temperature's Boiling") and BANTU band member Don Abi ("Dance To My Boogie", "No More No Vernacular", "How Many MC's", "Me, You & The Moonlight"). The production style of the album is a combination of programmed beats, samples and live instruments played by studio musicians notably amongst them are Jamaican drummer Sly Dunbar and Peter Tosh guitarist Earl "Chinna" Smith who both feature on the song "Omowale". Guests vocalists include African Rap pioneers Positive Black Soul and Pee Froiss from Senegal on "One Vibe One Flow Pt.2", Sami Sosa who raps in German on "How Many MC's", Kenyan-Rwandan sisters Sonia & Priti Kaitesi handling lead or chorus duties on ("No More No Vernacular", "Blood A Go Run", "Temperature's Boiling" & "Me, You & The Moonlight") and Cuban singer Mirta Junco Wambrug ("Add Subtract"). The album Introduced "The Sound Of Fufu" a term coined by Adé Bantu to classify BANTU's genre of music which is a combination of Hiphop, Dancehall and Afrofunk elements [4][5]
