Art of This World: Jaszmine Asha Hawkins

Jaszmine Asha Hawkins is a New Jersey-based visual artist whose artwork is vibrantly and beautifully unusual with her “big-lipped” and “alien-looking” figures. Currently she is looking for galleries who will showcase her work. For more information about her and to contact Hawkins, visit on her facebook or twitter page.

Rethinking the ‘Fantasy’ of Africa in Roots Reggae

Professor, author and cultural analyst Louis Chude-Sokei speaks in his lecture, “When Echoes Return: Roots, Diaspora and Possible Africas (A Eulogy).” The lecture centers on the death of South African reggae singer Lucky Dube and how the fantasy of a singular Africa in roots reggae music has been both a dangerous space and a space […]

The My-Stery: Lupe Fiasco’s ‘Bitch Bad’ and the Chaotic Nature of Minstrelsy

Last week Lupe Fiasco premiered his video for “Bitch Bad.” With its use of minstrelsy and blackface, the video as well the song brings to the forefront once again the complicated position of the black entertainer in popular culture. What is the role and responsibility of a black entertainer to themselves and their audiences? What […]

Otherworldly Videos: Into Oblivion

The Seshen – Oblivion I like the ethereal quality of the song and the video reminds of a Salvidor Dali or Maya Deren film.

Modern Griots Review: Afropunk Fest Pushes Beyond Boundaries…

When councilwoman Letitia James said that Afropunk was about going beyond boundaries, she was right and this year’s festival did that in several ways. After last year’s cancellation due to stormy weather and my first attendance at Afropunk Fest two years, there have been big changes, some for the good and some for the maybe […]

Otherworldly Videos: Ghostpoet

With all the controversy over ghostwriters, let’s listen to some Ghostpoet: “Cash and Carry Me Home (Remix)” “Liiines” Listen to The Sound of Strangers.

I Could Dance, Dance, Dance All Night Part 3

The African Cypher The underworld culture of street dance in Soweto, South Africa, where dancers transcend their space and time with their bodies and minds. “The African Cypher is the birthplace of ritual celebration, council, story telling and dance … When he [Tom London] dances on the street corner with Mada [Sthembiso]; the kids, the tsotsi’s […]

The My-Stery: Haunted By the Record Part 1

A couple of weeks ago, I attended Movies at Bryant Park with my friend Jane, who I interviewed in another post. On the train, we had a short discussion about film, photography, memory and the spookiness of it. One of the ideas we discussed was the belief that photography steals your soul. My answers reminded Jane […]

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Claude McKay

Below is a 1926 poem by Jamaican-American poet Claude McKay, called “My Home.” It contains, I believe, some of the elements from both afrofuturism and afrosurrealism:

Modern Griots: United Vibrations

The name of their album “Galaxies not Ghettoes,” is the rallying cry from the London-based group, United Vibrations. The phrase implies creating spaces of inclusion and not exclusion. Inspired by the likes of Fela Kuti, Bob Marley Sun Ra and the spiritual beliefs and mythologies of the world, the four members, Ahmad Dayes (Trombone & […]