Featured Blog Posts (535)

"Why is it so difficult for Black American men to be themselves, their essential selves and to remain who they truly are?"

Question Bridge is an interactive project using video as a format to facilitate a conversation between people who are separated by class, age, geographical, philosophical, and cultural differences.…

A redux on Art and creation from AFROPUNK Contributor Kathryn Buford, for 'Live Unchained'. Read original article and more …

"An interactive public art exhibit, dubbed You Can Touch My Hair, where strangers from all walks of life will have the welcomed opportunity to touch various textures of black hair"... This happened this week in New York (Union Square) and will happen again tomorrow (Saturday, June 8 - 2-4pm). Can you dig it or are you giving it a resounding "HELL NO"?

Un'ruly, the organizers of the event, say: "or years black hair…

Congrats to Issa Rae (aka Awkward Black Girl) who will play Nina Simone in the upcoming Lorraine Hansberry biopic. Shadow and Act reports: "What will be an unconventional biopic based on the life of playwright, author,…

By: Lindsey Rand, AFROPUNK Contributor 

On May 17th thousands of Philadelphia area students walked out in protest of the large budget cuts that are cutting many extra curricular programs from…

Go see “Born A Crime” at The Culture Project in SOHO, now. It’s a new show by Trevor Noah—South African born comic with a unique perspective on being biracial and a kid during the apartheid--that is unabashedly funny and asks some hard-hitting questions about the boxes we allow ourselves to be put in. Noah speaks with AFROPUNK to debunk the myths about what his comedy is all about, discussing the hilarity of racist pasts to what he finds funny…

Straight out of Botswana comes some of the most ferocious death metal you'll hear in 2013. Wrust formed back in 2000 when there were only a small handful of metal bands on the entire continent. Now playing the part of living legend (with singer/guitarist Stux Daemon as the sole remaining original member), Wrust just released their latest full length record Intellectual Metamorphosis.…

By: Justin Allen, AFROPUNK Contributor

AFROPUNK recently sat down with British soul musician Omar Lye-Fook, also known as …

This week Chicago decided to go ahead with Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to close 49 public schools in effort to combat the decreasing and highly inefficient budget. This kind of decision is easy to make when you don’t have to put a face to…

Vintage vs. "Mainstream" Shopping

By: Kyle Starks, AFROPUNK Fashion Contributor 

It seems like buying used clothing has become very popular recenty, like it's this "new cool thing". Everyone from A-list celebrities to regular people…

The 'Dark Girls' documentary sparked a big conversation in the AP community when we told you about it two years ago. The movie tackles colorism and features interviews of women with dark skin tones about their experiences, not only in the world at large, but also within the Black community. It will premiere on OWN network on June 23rd in the US. Check out the trailer below. Will you be…

Afropunk Fam, you may remember that we told you a few years ago about a project to make a documentary about (and with) Bad Brains frontman HR. The production team Small Axe Films launched a Kickstarter…

Kimya Dawson, Chuck D, The Roots, Tom Morello, Alice Walker, Junot Diaz, W. Kamau Bell, Rosario Dawson, Favianna Rodriguez and many more signed the "Migration Is Beautiful" artists' statement on immigration reform.

Check out their statement below and let us know what you think.

More info and petition at http://migrationisbeautiful.com. - L.…

Former Black Panther Party member Assata Shakur is the first woman to be added to the FBI's 'Most Wanted Terrorists' list, with a $2 million reward offered for her capture. Hiphopandpolitics published an opinion piece stating: "Can you imagine if the FBI was this diligent about going after Wall Street Bankers who defrauded millions of…

Grab a free download of Punk pioneers Death's unrealeased 1974 demo of their classic track 'Politicians In My Eyes'. Also, as we've told you guys before, a documentary about the band, 'A Band Called Death', has been made and will hit theaters on June 28th. Free download + documentary trailer below.…

BuzzFeed.com has us rolling on the floor with their "27 Things You Had To Deal With As The Only Black Kid In Your Class".

Staff writer Heben Nigatu compiled hilarious memes in her list, such as the infamous "you sound white" articulate Black people sometimes get, people sticking their fingers in your hair, or the timeless "She's pretty... for a black…

Ignited at the intersection of social commentary and imagination, the cultural undercurrent of Afrofuturism critiques and examines Black subjectivity through the lens of science-fiction. Popularized by such musicians as Sun Ra, George Clinton and, most recently, Janelle Monáe, the Afrofuturist aesthetic has come into conversation amongst a new generation of youth and young adults that literally experience the world as cyborgs, both existing in person and as their online avatars…

Hi guys, please tell us what you think about the piece The New York Times recently published about the Procter & Gamble campaign "My Black Is Beautiful", their new documentary "Imagine A Future", while the company also makes/markets skin-bleaching products.

Excerpts:

"The documentary does not mention that Olay, a Procter & Gamble…

Well this is a first! The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights had Yemeni youth activist and writer Farea Al-Muslimi give a testimony on why drone strikes are doing more harm to America than good. He…

Afropunk Festival alum Reggie Watts teamed up with Sarah Silverman, Michael Cera, Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim for a (not always safe for work!) Youtube channel: JASH. Some of the outrageous videos are posted below. We already told you about Watts' new satire of "mainstream" music 'If You're F*cking, You're F*cking' (which "should help clarify…