Otherwordly Videos: The Power of Pure Funk

“One man’s quest for freedom in a world where music has been outlawed.” If you love music and study music history like I do, you know how powerful music can be. But would music be able to subvert a future fascist state? Anything’s possible (and it has been done before). From director Marc Adamson, the […]

Otherworldly Videos: Wicked Scientist

This song is by English rapper, Juice Aleem (sounds like Jerusalem) and it is from his Wicked Scientist Mix. Reminiscent of the visuals of early Hip Hop & Rap video, it was partly inspired by an old VHS and TDK tape footage. Not only does Aleem use mystical elements in his song, but also the […]

Otherworldly Videos: The Haunting of Sound

As I work on my honors thesis about percussive and body politics of black music, specifically in hip-hop, the focus of my paper is forming as how sound in black culture has been used as a subversive tactic. Both James W. Perkinson’s Shamanism, Racism, and Hip Hop Culture: Essays on White Supremacy and Black Subversion […]

Seven Books for Kwanzaa and Haitian Independence

Yesterday was the last day of Kwanzaa, so I wanted my first post of the new year to be a video from the Mobile HomeComing Project and Charis Books & More, called “Queer Black Intergenerational BookLUST!” Each book is connected to a principle and a day of Kwanzaa. These poetry books look interesting; I really […]

A Fantastic Voyage…

For the last post of this year, I will like to thank everyone who has joined me on this journey. This year has been great with new opportunities and new people coming into my life (for example, my first published review on Bold As Love), and you all have been wonderful. Let us sail on […]

Modern Griots: Blitz the Ambassador and Terence Nance

The pairing of rapper Blitz the Ambassador and director Terence Nance for the short film for Blitz’s album Native Sun is a coming together of two visionary minds. Ghana-born musician, Blitz the Ambassador, first gained attention with his album, Stereotype, which featured the startling image of a radio man shooting himself in the head on […]

Modern Griot Spotlight: “Studying for My PhD Mixtape”

Singer and violinist, Marques Toliver has released his new mixtape, “Studying for My PhD,” which is a compilation of 14 tracks commenting on the London riots. Toliver samples a variety of sources including Al Green, Nina Simone, Roberta Flack, Beyonce, Jackson 5, Bobby Womack, Shuggie Otis, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, James Baldwin speeches, and even […]

BABALU!!!!!!

Remember Desi Arnaz’s performance of Babalu on the show I Love Lucy? Well, Afrodiaspores wrote a post about the Afro-cuban origins of the song: “Last night was the vigil, and today the day, celebrated as that of Saint Lazarus, associated among practitioners of the Afro-Cuban tradition Lucumí with the orisha Babalú-Ayé, also called Asojano. 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 […]

Modern Griots: Exuma

Junkanoo Obeah consists of folk magical practices that are performed in Caribbean islands, such as in my parents’ islands of Barbados and Dominica. It is also practiced in the Bahamas where singer Macfarlane Gregory Anthony McKay (Tony McKay) was born in 1942, and he later adopted the name of one of its islands, Exuma. Active during […]