Rethinking Black Studies…

Professor of Sociology, African American Studies and Library and Information Science, Abdul Alkalimat, has recorded several lectures about theory in black studies. The five lectures are available at the eblack studies website. In his lectures, Alkalimat discusses ideology, methodology, history, tradition and debate. So far, I have seen only the tradition lecture in which he […]

Modern Griots Spotlight: “Soul Krops Presents: The Promised Land”

Rapper Kenny’s Myth released last week his new mixtape, “Soul Krops Presents: The Promised Land.” Sampling several sources, including afrobeat music, the album mixes afrofuturism and holistic spirituality. This is the description of the album: The Promised Land is the overstanding that every man is ONE and thus we are all created perfectly. Standing on […]

MJ in the Aquazone

What is Afrofuturism? Part 3

Here are two posts expanding more on the term afrofuturism: “Afrofuturism: A Beautiful History, A Brave New World” by Nicole D. Sconiers “We have a beautiful history, and we shall create another in the future that will astonish the world.” — Marcus Garvey AfroFuturism is a culture that has emerged to render a portrait of […]

Cosmic Slop

One of my favorite songs is Parliament Funkadelic’s Cosmic Slop. Just a few days ago, I found out about a collection of films called Cosmic Slop, which was produced by the group. Basically, this is the Afrofuturist version of the Twilight Zone. The first film is about what would happen if America was in shambles […]

The Sound of the Machine…

Via analog-blog Lee “Scratch” Perry – Roast Fish, Collie Weed And Cornbread “I returned to music through machines. The difference is that the machines are clean, and the machines are not corrupted. What I create here cannot hurt people, but you can bring an impure musician to play in your studio and create your own […]

Modern Griots: Cauleen Smith

Several months ago, I saw a few of Cauleen Smith‘s short films, including “The Changing Same” and “Green Dress,” at the Studio Museum of Harlem. Smith is an experimental film director with an Afrofuturistic focus, dealing with issues about identity and black women. Her alter ego’s name is Kelly Gabron, a character that allows her to […]

Aqua Incognita

“Could it be possible for humans to breath underwater? A fetus in its mother’s womb is certainly alive in an aquatic environment… During the greatest holocaust the world has ever known, pregnant America-bound African slaves were thrown overboard by the thousands during labour for being sick and disruptive cargo. Is it possible that they could […]

Processing, Processing… Recap of Kodwo Eshun Lecture

Last Tuesday, I went to Kodwo Eshun‘s lecture, “In the Hour of the Halogen Wolves,” that was part of the Afrofuturism series and as the the title suggests, it was very dense. This man has a lot to say and he is definitely sesquipedalian (go look it up), but I did learn a lot. So, […]

What Is Afrofuturism? Part 2

Alondra Nelson speaks about afrofuturism and the concepts embedded within it, such as alienation, modernity, subjectivity, utopia, and speculation, in a Feed interview. She also mention different musical acts who explored afrofuturism, such as Sun Ra, George Clinton, Janelle Monae, Prince and Labelle (Patti Labelle, Nona Hendyx, Cindy Birdsong). Source: Kunst and Xoias