Black Girls/Black Women Are From the Future: Thoughts on LaBelle and “Lady Marmalade”

When some think of the song “Lady Marmalade,” one of their first thoughts is that it is a song about a New Orleans prostitute. On the surface it may be, but the song is much more nuanced and has deeper meaning beyond that. Listening to the song, I realized how ambiguous it is. First, the […]

Behind the Mask: D. Denenge Akpem

Here is another segment. Its focus will be fashion – hair, clothes, carnival costumes, etc. First, D. Denenge Akpem’s performance-lecture on Afrofuturism and fashion, “Constructing Future Forms.” Update: Read her two articles from Chicago Arts Magazine Constructing Future Forms: Afro-Futurism and Fashion in Chicago, Part I Constructing Future Forms: Afro-Futurism and Fashion in Chicago, Part […]

What Is Afrofuturism? Part 2

Alondra Nelson speaks about afrofuturism and the concepts embedded within it, such as alienation, modernity, subjectivity, utopia, and speculation, in a Feed interview. She also mention different musical acts who explored afrofuturism, such as Sun Ra, George Clinton, Janelle Monae, Prince and Labelle (Patti Labelle, Nona Hendyx, Cindy Birdsong). Source: Kunst and Xoias