five black queer artists you should be listening to right now!

This year has been moving so quickly it’s hard to believe we’re almost at the halfway mark already. Coming from a year without live concerts or festivals, we’ve been anticipating new talent to usher in 2021 with a bang, and so far we’re not disappointed.  The AFROPUNK team got together to compile a list of exciting Black Queer artists you should take note of this year.

1. Ivy Sole – “Dangerous” – Ivy Sole’s new single Dangerous is an enchanting cut of richly textured beats that showcases both Sole’s soulful voice and meticulous cadence – this is the first new material since 2020’s lauded SOUTHPAW EP, which demonstrated a distinct shift in Sole’s output and saw them producing and engineering autonomously for the first time. Watch newly released visuals for Dangerous:

2. Hope Tala –  “All My Girls Like To Fight” – Hope Tala is a genre-bending 23 year old artist hailing from London. The authenticity in her music is attributed to her diverse influences and her formative experiences in the city she grew up in. Hope is part of a new generation of artists ushering a revolution for LGBTQI rights and visibility in the entertainment industry. Her latest EP, Girl Eats Sun is effortlessly cool and vibrant, showcasing Hope’s writing prowess.

3. MOONGA .K – “Who’s It Gonna Be?” – Earlier this year, we got treated to a stunning visual from South African based singer/songwriter Moonga K who collaborated with visual Director, Paul Ward to create a futuristic world for the single, “Who’s It Gonna Be”.  The video follows Moonga as he roams in a dark dystopian setting searching for an escape. “Who’s it gonna be?” was birthed from reflections on complicated unrequited love scenarios and tells the story of how someone so self-destructive, and quite frankly harmful for you, can take over your whole world and leave you as an anxious, self-sabotaging mess.

4. King Isis- “Sparkly” –LA-based artist, King Isis recently put out visuals for their new single, Sparkly from the upcoming three-part EP series. “Sparkly” is a song of hope, struggle, and becoming, exploring the duality of self through waves of a new love. With their 3-part introductory EP series, split by sounds + seasons, Isis challenges both the binaries of society and the boundaries of genre, traversing through different realms of reality in their music by rejecting the limitations of the status quo.

5. Danny Denial – “White Tears Fake Queers” – Danny Denial is a melting pot of punk whose message is rooted in fighting the status quo. A filmmaker, as well as a musician, Danny Denial’s artistic expression, is always in your face, forcing you to confront the uncomfortable truths about society. Their song White Tears Fake Queers exposes the fake woke people whose allyship is performative and exploitive of queer POC.