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The drummer and unofficial music director of the late Fela Kuti's band, Africa 70, from 1968 until 1979, Tony Allen (born Tony Oladipo Allen) helped create the sounds of Afro-beat. With his solo recordings, however, Allen has refused to remain stagnant, incorporating dub and avant-garde hip-hop influences into his modern African dance music. A self-taught musician, Allen began to play drums at the age of 18 while working as a technician for a Nigerian radio station. Within nine months, he had embarked on a professional career as a drummer. Although they had known each other since the early '60s, when they performed on the Nigerian music circuit with different bands, Allen and Kuti began playing American-style jazz together in 1964. Before long, they shifted to a more African-influenced style of highlife jazz, which they continued to play for five years. Forming Africa 70 in 1969, Allen and Kuti began reaching out to an international audience. A few months later, while touring North...