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 […]
Read More What is Afrofuturism? Part 3The Original 7ven, originally The Time, is back with their first single, “Trendin’.” Including members Morris Day, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Jellybean Johnson, Monte Moir, Jesse Johnson and Jerome Benton, this group became popular in Prince’s film “Purple Rain.” Two of its members, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, became well-known producers for artists like Janet […]
Read More #Trendin’“Honey” Erykah Badu is known for her distinct album covers and her video for her song “Honey” (one of my favorite songs) highlights her affinity for album covers. Go to Soul Bounce to see the list of all the albums she referenced. Her recent album covers for New Amerykah and New Amerykah Part Two: Return […]
Read More … An Album by Its Cover: Erykah BaduTwo weeks ago, I was studying Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo opera in my Antiquity to Baroque music history class and by coincidence the singer Imany released her song, “You Will Never Know,” whose video is a take on the 1959 Brazilian film, Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus). For those who do not know, Orpheus was the Greek story […]
Read More Orfeu NegroVV Brown feat. Chiddy Bang- Children Does this tune sound familiar? Hear ice cream trucks play it all the time? Well, this tune is actually over 150 years old. It was a well-known American folk song from the early 19th century. Originally popularized with blackface minstrel performers, the tune was associated with several songs — […]
Read More Zip Coon to VV Brown…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 […]
Read More Cosmic SlopVia 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 […]
Read More The Sound of the Machine…For the past couple of years, I have gained an interest in studying Vodun and all the other religious systems that stemmed from it. So, I have become sensitive to portrayals of those religions (they are not cults), especially when they are put in binary to Christianity. I watched Florence and the Machine‘s video for […]
Read More Yo Flo, I Have Some Words About Your Video…Via Arc Direct (posted 2 months ago) “During the next few weeks I will highlight some of the audio elements that make up weeksvILLe puMzI X, an afrofuturist/black speculation fiction themed sound collage. Each of the production’s sound elements was placed to create a sense of thematic significance. In the case of “Secret Wars, Pt. 2 & Superfly Meets […]
Read More Black People and Comic Books? Part IINas feat. Olu Dara- Bridging the Gap I remember seeing this video a few years ago and I remember liking it, but it did not fully connect with me until recently when I started my research on jazz, blues and hip-hop for my senior projects. My appreciation of Nas increased knowing that his father is […]
Read More Rewind: “Bridging the Gap”
Sherese Francis 