Art of This World: Michael Ray Charles

“You’ve got to think of how these images were used in American culture…they were everywhere and they were used to market anything from oils to ink, from food products to clothing…People operate from an emotional place when they see these images because they think of the past as being something that happened and that the […]

The My-Stery: Images of Mami Wata

The more I study mythology, religions and popular culture, the more I realize the mythological symbolism in a lot of popular culture. For example, in two of Aaliyah’s last videos, “We Need a Resolution” and “Rock the Boat.” The video for the first song contains scenes where she appears to be in a underground setting […]

Otherworldy Videos: Phone Home

Copperwire– Phone Home This group produced the album “Earthbound,” a hip-hop space opera. “Phone Home” uses NASA recordings of the cosmos and the video takes them through the land of Ethiopia as well as space. I strongly suggest that you check them out!

Modern Griots: Poetry Reading

This is me reading a couple of my poems at Baruch’s Celebration of Women in the Arts last month. I was so nervous that day! I hope you like it!

Otherworldly Videos: Village

“VILLAGE: An Afrofuturistic Fable” “VILLAGE: An Afrofutiuristic Fable”- “The Children in 2059” From Jos Duncan: This production was conceived as a result of listening to concerns in the African and African American cultural community. In a time when digital technology is dominating our world and political, financial and justice systems are continually failing, it was […]

Modern Griots Spotlight: Affirmative Action

Check out the new song, “Affirmative Action,” featuring rappers Animosity, Kevlar, Apex and my cousin, Rashida, aka Ms. “More Foxy Brown”. Also, go listen to the mixtape, It Was Bitten, by Avatar the Articulate (Avie Fresh and One-Take). From Kevin Nottingham: New York underground veteran emcee Avatar the Articulate pays homage to Nas’s sophomore album […]

The Percussive Approach in Hip-Hop Music

Since I just handed in my final draft for my undergraduate thesis, I wanted to talk a little bit about it. Basically, I use percussiveness as a structural basis for African diasporic music and philosophy. Percussiveness is not only about percussion instruments, but also about social impact, or how different rhythms and patterns of music, […]

Modern Griots: Do You Believe in Magic?

Have you ever heard of Black Herman? Born in Virginia in 1892, the stage magician, entertainer and hoodoo dabbler, whose original name was Benjamin Rucker, was one of the most prominent of his time. Learning his skills from Prince Herman (Alonzo Moore), Rucker took Herman’s name in honor of him after he died in 1909, […]

Otherworldy Videos: Mr. Porter

1960 What? Be Good (Lion’s Song) Be Good (Lion’s Song) Lyrics Video

The My-Stery: Independent Media

“We as Black people have to tell our own stories. We have to document our history. When we allow someone else to document our history the history becomes twisted and we get written out. We get our noses blown off.” — Erykah Badu in the Black Power Mixtape Although these series of posts will focus […]