Otherworldly Videos: Premiere of Fakepakt, Atilla +Daví ‘s “Clear” (and Other Videos You Should Also See)

Fakepakt, Atilla and Daví – “Clear” About the song and video: “The video and single were done in both Istanbul (Turkey) and NYC (USA); Daví and FAKEPAKT have never met physically. FAKEPAKT discovered Daví on Soundcloud and after a few messages back and forth, the collaboration was soon set underway. As Daví and Atilla have been longtime […]

Otherworldly Videos: Danger Word+HowDoYouSayYamInAfrican+Old Money+Tiombe

Film: Here is the Web premiere of the short film Danger Word, directed by Luchina Fisher and starring Frankie Faison and Saoirse Scott. The film, which is based on Devil’s Wake from Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes, follows a 13-year-old girl and her grandfather in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. If you enjoy zombie […]

Modern Griots Recap: OmniPresent

Thursday, I attended the science fiction magazine, Omni Magazine, reboot reception and although I was not overwhelmingly impressed with the exhibition, there were a few highlights from it that I took away: *DJ and musical creative King Britt was there to show off his skills, including his A Different View mix (listen below), and some […]

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 […]

Modern Griots Reviews: Daví

It’s not that often today that I come to witness an artist who reminds me of some of my favorite musical artists and excites me because of the force of the creativity that they bring to their performance and musical work. One of them is artist, choreographer and DJ, Daví I first saw him at […]

Otherworldly Videos: Moonchild + Seun Kuti/Dead Prez + Raye 6

Moonchild‘s “Go Starring” (co-written by Tshepang Ramoba of Blk Jks).

Modern Griots Reviews: Man From Tomorrow – The Time Wizard Jeff Mills

Last week, I attended the premiere of the Detroit techno icon Jeff Mills‘ film, Man from Tomorrow, and the film and following conversation stirred some thoughts. Overall, the 45-minute, Jacqueline Caux-directed film was a surreal journey into Mills mindset as a DJ, mixing his music with Caux’s otherworldly imagery. There are obvious abstract influences from […]

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 […]

New Year’s Treat: I Am Singing the Ishmael Reed Blues

I am nervously posting these since I have not recorded and posted myself singing anything for a few years now. But I was reading Ishmael Reed’s (author of Mumbo Jumbo) collection of all his poetry and noticed that he wrote a number of blues poems. While reading them, I felt compelled to sing them and […]

Time Forward Music List

For the last day of 2013, here is a list of some recent releases to vibe to as we go into 2014. Happy New Year!