Astro-Caribbean Series!

This month I will be heading to the island of Barbados, where my mother is from, for a few weeks. So I thought why not do a few posts dedicated to speculative imagination of the Caribbean while I’m there! As one exhibition and book were titled, Who More Sci-fi than Us? Below is a video from […]

Space:Queens: Shanté Paradigm Smalls

Greetings Everyone! Welcome back to the next installation of my Space: Queens segment! Last Saturday, I attended the 2nd annual Afrofuturism conference at The New School and in the panel I attended, Conjuring Black Futures, moderator, Jamal Lewis mentioned that conjuring is associated with possibility, the “otherwise.” I had the pleasure to interview Shanté Paradigm Smalls, […]

Moving on the Wires: News, Posts, New Music

*Get Futuristically Ancient t-shirts for $20 on teespring. *Subtletea’s “David Herrle reviews NEAR KIN: A COLLECTION OF WORDS AND ART INSPIRED BY OCTAVIA ESTELLE BUTLER:” David Herrie writes an analysis of Butler’s work and her influence on the anthology, Near Kin. By the way, he include me and my poem in the review. Cool! *Check […]

Modern Griots Interviews: Boshia Rae-Jean

I recently met Boshia at the Little Miss Creative event in New York City where she recited her poem, “I Have a Galaxy in Me:” “These organs are not only my make up but they make up my galaxy/I am a goddess of the galaxy that reproduces life/This is why I believe in me because/I […]

Otherworldly Videos: Busdriver’s ‘Colonize the Moon’

Rapper Busdriver along with Pegasus Warning presents the video for “Colonize the Moon.” If you can get through his fast rapping style, which might be fueling his faster-than-the-speed of light acceleration through space, you will hear a song filled with head-spinning stream of consciousness as he lists off various social commentaries about living on the […]

Modern Griots Interviews: Colored Girls Hustle Part 2

*Become a patron and support my blog and other writing endeavors on Patreon! __________ Here is part two of yesterday’s interview with Colored Girls Hustle’s Taja Lindley and Jessica Valoris.In this part, they talk about their plans and expectations for the mixtape and Colored Girls Hustle, and how their work is both futuristic and ancient. Enjoy! […]

Modern Griots Interviews: Colored Girls Hustle Part 1

*Become a patron and support my blog and other writing endeavors on Patreon! __________ Hey, everyone! I’m returning after a short break with an interview I did with Colored Girls Hustle’s Taja Lindley and Jessica Valoris. A few weeks ago I did a review of their Colored Girls Hustle Hard mixtape and below they talk about […]

Modern Griots Reviews: Colored Girls Hustle Hard Mixtape

Become a patron and support my blog and other writing endeavors on Patreon! ____________ What is your hustle? Colored Girls Hustle featuring founder Taja Lindley and Jessica Valoris released their first official mixtape, Colored Girls Hustle Hard, a 19-track compilation reimagining the conventional ideas of what it means to hustle and giving positive encouragement and […]

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Digital Griots and Does Africa Dream of Androids?

While searching for random stuff through the internet again, I came across Adam Joel Banks 2011 book, Digital Griots: African American Rhetoric in a Multimedia Age. The book looks at the intersections between African American cultures and community building, and new technology and new media, the intersections between tradition and innovation and the constant search […]

Rewind: Dapper Ladies

Currently, when we think of a black woman artist who showcases an androgynous or gender-bending look, we think of Janelle Monae. But, before Monae, other black women have challenged gender coding and in less accepting times, and possibly with less conventionally attractive features. Black women doing gender-bending often received less attention than when it is […]