He may have died 18 years ago but the music of Fela Kuti resonates throughout the years. The flamboyant Nigerian was the inventor of afrobeat, and its hypnotic fusion of jazz, funk and African rhythms has a freshness and intensity that retains its power to inspire. The five bone-popping dancers feeling Fela beats in this clip are not Nigerians but New Yorkers, and answer to the names of Flizzo, Opt, Jay Donn, Sedo and Danny. Their style of street dance—flexing—originated in the east Brooklyn, and found fame in the 2013 documentary, Flex Is Kings.

The idea to match these flex-men with the classic Fela track “Zombie” came from Okayafrica, the sister platform to the Okayplayer channel, launched by The Roots drummer, producer and record archivist, Questlove, who started the original Okayplayer site 16 years ago in his bedroom, as a way to connect with fans of The Roots. Along the way, it became a home for other such artists as Erykah Badu, Common and D’Angelo, and today exists to provide a platform for music with African roots, from Stones Throw mixtapes to South African electro. 

“We saw Flizzo and Jay Donn in Flex Is Kings and were inspired when we witnessed their live performances,” says Okayafrica producer Allison Swank of the energetic short, directed by Dominick Sheldon and produced by Root Studio. “With this film, we wanted to introduce new audiences to older sounds from Africa. It aims to show the positive, contemporary story of the continent.”

Tom Horan is Culture Editor-at-Large at NOWNESS.

Head to Okayafrica for an extended performance of Fela Flex.