Modern Griots Interviews: Nichol Bradford and The Sisterhood Part 1

Syncing up with my work as the literary director of the Queens Book Festival, my first official return post is my long overdue interview with Nichol Bradford, author of the novel, The Sisterhood! Nichol Bradford has had an accomplished career, first as an executive in the gaming industry, and now as founder and CEO of […]

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 Interviews: Daví

Previously, I reviewed musician, dancer and DJ Daví‘s work, now here is an interview with him where he discusses his show at the Brooklyn Museum, The Beginning of Everything eating, his love for Wangechi Mutu’s work, his first EP, Got the Seed and lessons he learned from Kerry Washington, David Alan Grier, Melvin Van Peebles and […]

Otherworldly Videos: Transmission Series

Ekari (Ashleigh Ekari) is developing a series called TRANSMISSION: Afrofuturism as an Archive as part of her senior capstone project for the class Re-Imagining the Archive. She describes it as “exploring the ways in which speculative fiction, namely Afrofuturism, functions as a ‘future archive,’” or in other words, “a collection of speculative future possibilities, a collection […]

Modern Griots Interviews: RebelMatic

RebelMatic, a New York City punk/hardcore band with a hip-hop twist, are coming out with their album, Elephant Amnesia, the next one after Prey for the Vulture. I asked them a few questions about the inspiration for the album and it’s cover: 1) In the wake of police brutality and killings of people like Kimani […]

Modern Griots Interviews: X Black Superheroes

The New York City-based duo of Sefu Kafele and Rachel Burrell joined forces to form X Black Superheroes. Together, Kafele, the Malcolm X-inspired lyricist, and Burrell, a singer and poet with Tracey Chapman mixed with Lauryn Hill style and sound, use their music to raise awareness of people, political, and social issues that often do […]