Otherworldly Videos: Village

“VILLAGE: An Afrofuturistic Fable” “VILLAGE: An Afrofutiuristic Fable”- “The Children in 2059” From Jos Duncan: This production was conceived as a result of listening to concerns in the African and African American cultural community. In a time when digital technology is dominating our world and political, financial and justice systems are continually failing, it was […]

Modern Griots Spotlight: Affirmative Action

Check out the new song, “Affirmative Action,” featuring rappers Animosity, Kevlar, Apex and my cousin, Rashida, aka Ms. “More Foxy Brown”. Also, go listen to the mixtape, It Was Bitten, by Avatar the Articulate (Avie Fresh and One-Take). From Kevin Nottingham: New York underground veteran emcee Avatar the Articulate pays homage to Nas’s sophomore album […]

The Percussive Approach in Hip-Hop Music

Since I just handed in my final draft for my undergraduate thesis, I wanted to talk a little bit about it. Basically, I use percussiveness as a structural basis for African diasporic music and philosophy. Percussiveness is not only about percussion instruments, but also about social impact, or how different rhythms and patterns of music, […]

Modern Griots: Do You Believe in Magic?

Have you ever heard of Black Herman? Born in Virginia in 1892, the stage magician, entertainer and hoodoo dabbler, whose original name was Benjamin Rucker, was one of the most prominent of his time. Learning his skills from Prince Herman (Alonzo Moore), Rucker took Herman’s name in honor of him after he died in 1909, […]

Otherworldy Videos: Mr. Porter

1960 What? Be Good (Lion’s Song) Be Good (Lion’s Song) Lyrics Video

The My-Stery: Independent Media

“We as Black people have to tell our own stories. We have to document our history. When we allow someone else to document our history the history becomes twisted and we get written out. We get our noses blown off.” — Erykah Badu in the Black Power Mixtape Although these series of posts will focus […]

Moving on the Wires: “Black Thought 2.0 Conference: The Future of Black Studies and New Media”

From Mark Anthony Neal Black Thought 2.0 Conference April 6-7 Public Conference Brings Together Black Intellectuals to Discuss Social Media and the Future of Cultural Studies *** Durham, NC– More than a dozen prominent African-American scholars will participate in a conference on the role of social media in cultural studies, April 6-7 at Duke University.The […]

Modern Griots Spotlight: The Decoders

Les Fleurs feat. Boston Fielder Baby This Love I Have feat. Leon Ware The Decoders are Los Angeles-based producer duo Itai Shapira (producer/engineer & studio/live musician) and Todd Simon (trumpeter/arranger for Mayer Hawthorne, TV On The Radio, The Lions, Quantic, etc.), with heavy contributions from Quincy McCrary on keys (Mayer Hawthorne) and Blake Colie on […]

Otherworldly Videos: The Haunting

Mirel Wagner – No Death This video reminds me of Death Cab for Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.” Szjerdene – Blue Lullaby I heard this song on her mixtape a while ago and loved it, so I am glad she released the video! Jamarr Hall– Gravekeeper Deep poem on love, loneliness and […]