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 […]

Moving on the Wires: Mark Anthony Neal’s Left of Black

Professor of African & African-American Studies at Duke University and blog owner of New Black Man, Mark Anthony Neal began producing the weekly webcast Left of Black last year. Neal calls the series, “a contrarian view of blackness,” and it is due to his wide range of guests on the show who discuss a variety of […]

Otherworldly Videos: The Exquisite Corpse

Based on the surrealist parlor game, The Exquisite Corpse, this film series, called Little Minx Exquisite Corpse, consists of the films that were produced based on the last line of text of the previous director’s script and the Minx signifier only. The 2007 film series was created by Little Minx & Idealogue. Above is 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 […]

Modern Griots: Yaba Baker

Remember the Disney film, Princess and the Frog? Did you know Princess Tiana was based on another princess, Princess Briana. Creator of the Just Like Me series, Yaba Baker started the company in 1996 with How African American Inventions Changed America, Just Like Me – The Beginning of Civilization and Just Like Me – The […]

“I AM A MAN: Black Manhood & Sexual Diversity”

This film addresses the historical, social, political, media and religious contexts of black masculinity and black male sexuality in Africa and America. A panel, including Marc Lamont Hill, Esther Armah, Cleo Manago, Rev. Al Sharpton, Bishop John Selders, and Dr. R. L’Heureux Lewis, also contribute to the discussion of sexuality in the African Diaspora. This […]

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 […]

Alchemy of Ideas

A few days ago, I watched Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child documentary and one of my favorite quotations from Basquiat involved the. rethinking of influence and borrowing from the past, which everyone does. He described it as more of a transformation of ideas, taking old ideas and putting them in a new context. Basquiat said, […]