Modern Griots: Afronaut Funk with Mike Wird

From 900lb Gorilla Cypher: “Hip-hop Renaissance man, the artist’s artist. Mike Wird is an educator, organizer, entrepreneur, B-boy, DJ, Emcee, Poet, producer, writer, musician, recording artist, natural holistic health advocate and sustainable living practitioner, an organic permaculture gardener, Hip-hop community cultural consultant and spokesperson and community liaison. He is originally from Denver, CO and now […]

The My-Stery: My Speculative Return Home…

For the first day of “Black History Month” (although Black history should be all day, everyday), I want to give a little background history of my return to speculative fiction. Looking back, I have always enjoyed speculative fiction, including science fiction, horror and fantasy. Growing up, I love fables, books and films about talking animals, […]

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.

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.”

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: 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 […]

Moving on the Wires: The State of Black Science Fiction in 2012

Alicia McCalla, whose book Breaking Free will come out in two weeks, is part of a 7-week online discussion about black science fiction with several science fiction authors on her website. As part of the black history month celebration, each week McCalla will provide a question for everyone to respond. This is the Rasheedah Phillips (The […]

Modern Griots Review: Pumzi, The Power of Dreams

The best science fiction is the one is based on reality of the times we live in and given the current world crises of famine, water contamination and global warming, Pumzi is definitely an appropriate film. Written and directed by Wanuri Kahiu, the 20-minute film is about Asha (portrayed by Kudzani Moswela), who lives in […]

What Is Afrofuturism? Part 4

This is an article on Afrofuturism by Lisa Yaszek from The Journal of the Research Group on Socialism and Democracy. The focus of the article is Ralph Ellison’s speculative fiction novel Invisible Man. In his introduction to the 1989 re-issue of Invisible Man Ralph Ellison provocatively notes, “a piece of science fiction is the last […]