What Is Afrofuturism? Part 8: Rasheedah Phillips

Rasheeda Phillips from The Afrofuturist Affair discusses her definition of Afrofuturism: Via Alicia McCalla’s Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal Stories of Color The Future is already Here. It’s just unevenly distributed. – William Gibson The word “futurism” embedded in the term Afrofuturism denotes a forward-looking aesthetic or theme that envisions the prospective future of humanity. If […]

The My-Stery: Bacchanal!!!!

Destra Garcia – “Bacchanal” While doing research to write one of my poems, I learned about the Greek god Dionysus/Roman god Bacchus and Bacchanalia festivals. When I heard the word Bacchanalia, I thought of how often Bacchanal is said in Caribbean Calypso and Soca music, and I wanted to know the connections between Caribbean carnival […]

Otherworldy Videos: Two Perspectives on Akan Spirituality

A few days a go, I watched these two documentaries on the religions of the West African Akan ethic group. “Return to the Land of Souls” Watch the entire film here This is the description of the film: In the 21st century, many ancestral beliefs are struggling to survive in a hostile, fast-changing world. In […]

Modern Griots: Val Inc.

Recorded by Brooklyn Independent TV, Val Jeanty, aka Val Inc., explains in this video how her Haitian background influences her career as a percussionist, turntablist, producer and recording engineer. She describes her music as “Afro-Electronica.” Listen below to her work, “Life After Dark” with trombonist and cellist Dana Leong:

Modern Griots: THEESatisfaction

MTV Iggy recently released a new article about THEESatisfaction, “Space is the Sound: Investigating Afrofuturism With THEESatisfaction:” THEESatisfaction is the musical project of Stasia Irons (Stas) and Catherine Harris-White (Cat). Together the couple forms a two-woman, self-produced R&B/hip hop/psychedelic soul operation with strong cosmic overtones. Stas does a bit more rhyming while Cat is known […]

Otherworldy Videos: I Am Other

From Kiss My Black Ads Pharrell Williams always seems to have something cooking, so it should come as no surprise that the renaissance man has launched an uplifting video for his media venture, i am OTHER. Seen as way more than merely a record label, and instead a cultural movement of sorts, i am OTHER […]

The My-Stery: Enter the Dragon Ladies

A few weeks ago, I read an article about the oldest known spiritual ritual in the world — a 70,000 year old python ritual of the San people in Botswana. In another article, the author discusses the history of snake or serpent worship. In many religions, mythologies and rituals all over the world, serpents (snakes, […]

Otherwordly Videos: Deluge

Via Liberator Magazine “Nijla Mu’min’s “Deluge” / Magical Realism, post-BP oil spill New Orleans, and Black Mermaids” By Kameelah Rasheed Nijla Baseema Mu’min is a writer and filmmaker from the San Francisco Bay Area. A 2007 graduate of UC Berkeley, she is now pursuing a dual MFA degree in Film Directing and Writing at Calarts. […]

…An Album By Its Cover: The Roots’ Rising Down

Via Lostinurbanism and Karnado Fear of Negro rule was still evident in 1900. Rising Down, the eighth studio album of The Roots was released on April 29, 2008. Above is the original drawing used the for the cover, “The Vampire that Hovers Over North Carolina,” a cartoon by Norman E. Jennette, which was published in […]

Modern Griots Spotlight: B. Slade

B. Slade‘s Deep Purple His description: Imagineer that has released 30 albums in less than 12 years. A Prophetic Visionary with no boundaries musically spiritually or vocally. The future is now. Come aboard.