Otherworldly Videos: Soul Man

Guillaume Ivernel and Blacklight Movies are producing a film project called, Soul Man, which includes a sci-fi hero with an awesome afro. Shadow and Act did an article on the upcoming film, which the company plans to release in 2014.

I Could Dance, Dance, Dance All Night…

Pierre Bennu’s (Exit the Apple) “Sun Moon Child” video highlights the connections between various black dance styles throughout history. Soda Jerk created a video, Tap Hop, which compares jazz tap dance and hip-hop breakdance. African dance has been a major influence not only throughout the African Diapora, but also throughout popular culture in general. The […]

Originally posted on The AntiJemima Life:
If a video drops in a forest of things that seem to matter a lot–like fingers waving in presidential faces and self-deportation–does it make a sound? Nicki Minaj dropped “Stupid Hoe” last week. Maybe I’m too old to have my thumb on the relevant spaces in the interwebs, but it seems like the…

Rewind: Isaac Hayes’ Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic

Released in 1969, Hayes gives a love anatomy lesson. I think this may have been the soul version of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and a precursor to Outkast’s “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.”

Haiti, Voodoo and Rebuilding…

Black Public Media released a video about the historical and present-day misconceptions about Voodoo. A voodoo priest, or hougan, Ati, gives a more accurate description of what voodoo is and its place in the rebuilding of Haiti after the earthquake. To learn more about the Haitian culture, please visit ZOE Magazine/Defend Haiti.

Nicki Minaj’s “Stupid Hoe” and Afro Futures

Last night, a great discussion on twitter took place about Nicki Minaj’s new video “Stupid Hoe” and whether she should be considered an afrofuturistic artist. Here is the conversation. My two sense on it is that it is complicated. Whereas I do not often enjoy Minaj’s music (her vocals are irritating) and her lyrics are […]

Otherwordly Videos: Alaalo

An African Epic. Alaalo (Someone Has a Story), is a short film by a Pratt Institute student, David Adeogun. The coming-of-age film deals with a “group of young African American children and their mentor, and their various struggles as young black people in a culture where Africa is hardly talked about.” To watch the whole […]

Modern Griots: Ayiti Resurrect

Carmen Mojica posted about Ayiti Resurrect, a grassroots organization whose work is centered around helping to rebuild Haiti: “Ayiti Resurrect is a team of visionary artists, community builders, mental health specialists, and holistic healers with bloodlines in Haiti and the African Diaspora. We have organized ourselves as a grassroots delegation working in collaboration with local […]

Modern Griots: Afronauts and Afro-Aliens

We are embedded in space, even if we do not travel to outer space, and social politics have revolved around the the struggle to define time and space. Several artists have appropriated the terms, astronaut and aliens, and used them in their artwork within an afrofuturist context: 1) The above video is an excerpt from […]

Otherwordly Videos: The Power of Pure Funk

“One man’s quest for freedom in a world where music has been outlawed.” If you love music and study music history like I do, you know how powerful music can be. But would music be able to subvert a future fascist state? Anything’s possible (and it has been done before). From director Marc Adamson, the […]