Featured Blog Posts – July 2012 Archive (12)

Woo! Stream The @Noisettes' show on the BT River of Music Africa Stage, honey bunny.

You can watch the FULL set now at http://thespace.org/items/e0000lg2. "The BT River of Music event, a celebration of global music, took place in London at six venues on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd July."…

With his 100th birthday, and the let's-not-call-it-a-depression-because-that's-depressing “economic downturn” there's been a renewed interest in the music of folk legend Woody Guthrie this past year. But hardly anyone's talking about one of Guthrie's biggest influences and collaborators, Huddie Ledbetter. Better known to the world as that original punk rocker Lead Belly.



Words by Nathan Leigh



Each…

Take that homophobia! Rapper Murs breaks barriers in his latest video 'Animal Style', going as far as playing the role of a gay boy, kissing a man on camera, and sporting a "Legalize Gay" T-shirt (calling for the repeal of California's ban on same-sex marriage Prop 8).

This shouldn't be a big deal, but let's face it, it still is.

Murs says: "Animal Style is a song I did for many reasons. The first was to be an advocate for people close to me who are out, and those who…

What do you guys think of writer Touré's latest piece for the Washington Post about the war on drugs and hip-hop?

Excerpts: "In the early 1980s, most of the socially conscious hiphop records mentioned drugs as one of the many problems affecting black Americans, not the central one. When they did touch on drugs, they were almost always depicted negatively; doing drugs was a character failing, and the songs usually portrayed the speaker as a bystander trapped in a ghetto,…

About the project: " 'Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People' is a two-hour documentary film and multimedia project that explores the ways black communities have learned to use the medium of photography to construct political, aesthetic and cultural representations of themselves and their world."

Produced and directed by filmmaker, Thomas Allen Harris. Co-produced by scholar, curator, and author, Deborah Willis PhD who is Chair of the New…

On August 9 comedian and AP member W. Kamau Bell's new late night series "Totally Biased" expands a fresh FX lineup to humorously translate opinions on socio-political issues. The six episode run is executive produced alongside award winning comedian Chris Rock, whom he credits for this opportunity. Bell says: 'I wasn't getting anywhere just being a comic and that's when I started my "Bell Curve" show…

You're a heartless mofo if you don't love these three 11 year old Brooklyn kids who write and play their own heavy metal/hard rock music. :-P Do your thing Malcolm Brickhouse (electric guitar), Jarad Dawkins (drums) and Tyree Johnson (vocals)!

Check out a few of their videos below. Ain't that something?…

Voting is over! Congratulations to the following TOP VOTED 16 Bands in our 'Battle Of The Bands' for a chance to perform at the Afropunk Festival 2012: School Ov Thought, Tess, (I Am) Isis, Blind Benny, Femi The DriFish & The Out Of Water eXperience, London Bridgez, Sweatshop, Joe Jordans Experiment,…

We know many of you guys are real excited about the upcoming Jimi Hendrix biopic starring Andre 3000. As we've told you before, Hendrix's estate refused to authorize the use of original music or copyrights created by Jimi Hendrix. So the team had to get creative to work around this. Producers told magazine Rolling Stone that they will use new recordings of songs that…

Afropunk is more than music and fashion it’s a lifestyle. It’s the spirit of youth- having a vision and not waiting for permission to see it manifested. I'd like to tell you about the Lil Raggamuffin Summer Camp – an arts and entrepreneurship summer program located in the mountains of Jamaica. Many members of the Afropunk community are volunteering this year (and have been for the past 6 years!).…

Another find right from the AP community: Ms. Johnnie Heartbreak and the rAdiCaL Legs. If the demo for 'Shotgun' is any indication, we should be in for some kick-ass tunes when they're done recording their project. Rocking and rolling with a dash of hip-hop. "Urban rock", as they put it. The vocals go back and forth between smooth sensuality and defiant fierceness. You can say you heard them here first. :) - Lou…

Since WTT, Lil Wayne and A$AP all decided to make statements out of the American Flag the new trend has become exactly that: The AMERICAN FLAG. Punks who were never one to be blinded by trends are now clamoring to the American flag trend. My question is: Are they who they really say they are? 'Punk' used to be considered Anti-fashion, and argued that punk should be defined by their music or their ideology, yet it seems that with the right amount of tattoos, ripped or tattered…