systemic racism is under attack in uk grime legend marci phonix’s musical molotov cocktails
Marci Phonix burst on to the scene in the early 2000s like a match to an oily rag in a glass bottle. Though he lay low for a few years, over the past year, he’s come roaring back. First with the incendiary single “RIOT,” and most recently the cutting social criticism of “Liberties,” Phonix is speaking up to a UK in the throes of deportation scandals, Brexit, and racist immigration policy.
Marrying classic grime bass with ultra-now production, and his trademark take-no-prisoners delivery, it’s a sound that’s as fierce and defiant as his message. Rock this loud.
For more, check out a recent interview with Marci Phonix on UK Channel 4:
video premiere: yoruba heritage unifies ibeyi and brazilian mc emicida in the joyful “hacia el amor”
While Ibeyi were in Brazil touring their incredible sophomore album Ash this past winter, their paths had a chance crossing with Brazilian MC Emicida and their engrossing single, “Hacia El Amor” was born. “Sometimes you meet an artist and you don’t know why or how, but they instantly become part of your creative family,” Ibeyi tells AFROPUNK. “That’s what happened with Emicida. No need to speak for hours, the song came naturally, the energy was beautiful. Pure joy!”
Photo by Adilson MP
Recorded at the Lab Fantasma in São Paulo, Emicida’s hometown, the artists later reconnected in Paris, where Ibeyi live, to film this alluring visual shot by Christian Beauchet. A lyrical metaphor for breaking barriers, defying the notion of respectability politics by embracing the authenticity of the community, its landscape, and its people. Celebrating love.
“Yoruba culture came on ships that brought stories of much suffering, but they also brought stories of strength,” says Emicida. “This culture arrived in Brazil and also in Cuba and being a fruit of the African diaspora unites us directly to Ibeyi, to have this proximity to black religions, I feel that in this music we thank for our way and the light that we receive, for the rivers that guide and protect us and have made us believe that love is a medicine that can cure everything.”
See Ibeyi live at AFROPUNK Brooklyn this August.
HEA Mural shot by Maya_Zined
decolonize & reclaim! the latest afropunk mixtape is streaming now
Decolonize land. Decolonize thought. Decolonize bodies. Reclaim the narrative. What does it mean to decolonize? What does it take to reclaim? Those are the questions asked by our latest Mixtape: Decolonize & Reclaim. Songs from artists like Angelo Moore, Childish Gambino, Le Vice, DOOKOOM, Baloji & Shingai, and many more wrestle with these complex questions, and envision worlds free of internal and external colonial bullshit. Turn it up and take it back.
01. Le Vice – Boys & Girls
02. Interlude: Quetzala Carson (August 2017)
03. The Internet – Roll (Burbank Funk)
04. Aphrotek – River Styx Ride (ft. Mike Ladd)
05. Interlude: Decolonize This Place (April 2018)
06. Monoculture – Movement
07. All Cows Eat Grass – Air Castle
08. Ajo – Gotta Love It
09. MTA Interlude
10. Yuno – No Going Back
11. Pete Wilde – Lucy
12. Unlikely Heroes – Tazzy
13. Vodun – Spirits Past
14. DOOKOOM – Gangstaz
15. SCARLXRD – Burns
16. DUCKWRTH – Boy
17. Interlude: Now This / Decolonize the Brooklyn Museum
18. Angelo Moore & The Brand New Step – Inner City Blues (ft. Butterscotch)
19. Baloji – Soleil de Volt (Shingai Remix)
20. Childish Gambino – This Is America
Album artwork photography by Sammy Sampson / @Sammysampsonphotography
feel the bone shattering explosion of punk/hip-hop band samurai shotgun’s “the blast”
“We are many
There is no beating us”
Since their bone shattering appearance at the 2015 AFROPUNK Battle of the Bands in Atlanta, we’ve been all about Samurai Shotgun. The hip-hop / punk outfit’s last record Riptide took the explosive energy of their live show and bottled it. Their latest single “The Blast,” uncorks it and lets it do some damage. Featuring fiery vocals from Matteo, and some of Quey’s best turntable work to date, it’s the perfect encapsulation of what Samurai Shotgun is all about.
Samurai Shotgun call “The Blast” the first of many new singles and videos they’ll be dropping this year. Check them out at http://www.samuraishotgun.com/
unleash your fury with trap metal revolutionary scarlxrd’s explosive ‘dxxm’
Behind a veil of distortion, guitars crashing against 808 drums, SCARLXRD calls what he does “trap metal,” but to me it just sounds like the future of heavy music. His last record, the galvanizing LXRDSZN transformed the energy of a radical protest into pure fire. While his latest, DXXM turns down the protest clips, it retains every decibel of fury. DXXM is one of the most uncompromising heavy records ever made by an artist who sounds like no-one else on Earth.
Anchored by tracks like “BXILING PXINT,” and “HELL IS XN EARTH,” SCARLXRD delivers throat-searing raps over blistering thrash riffs. You can play this shit on the lowest volume and it’s still loud. It’s the sound of tearing shit down; it’s the sound of revolution.
DXXM, like LXRDSZN tend to be strongest when SCARLXRD leans into his industrial tendencies. On the punishing “we waste time FADED,” he contorts his voice above a wall of noise delivering the kind of song that Al Jourgensen only dreams about. “a BRAINDEAD civilisatixn” gives a brief respite from the full throttle screaming just to casually toss off that yeah, SCARLXRD’s got bars. While album highlight “BURNS” condenses his sound into 2 minutes of raw destructive power. If you can listen to that song without smashing oppressive systems and running screaming into the street, I don’t know if you’re listening to the right song. That track is an atom bomb.
DXXM is out now. And stream LXRDSZN via Soundcloud:
Picture via Instagram/artist selfie
premiere: congolese hip-hop pioneer baloji & shingai of the noisettes team up on the joyful “soleil de volt”
It’s always a good day when there’s new music from Shingai of The Noisettes, and today we’re excited to share her collaboration with the great Congolese rapper Baloji. Shingai’s remix of Baloji’s “Soleil De Volt” adds an irresistible propulsion to the song without sacrificing a single joule of energy from the original. Her distinctive voice melts over the syncopated rhythms, while small touches echo vintage house. It’s that magic collaboration that brings out the best in both artists while working towards a cohesive unity of purpose.
“I’ve been a Shingai fan for years now!” Baloji tells AFROPUNK, “I had the chance to see her live several times, she’s simply my favorite performer, showman and bassist with dexterity like none! We finally met during the Africa’s Express tour by Damon Albarn where she killed the show in a fantastic trio with Marques Toliver & Paul McCartney. She then accepted to play a role in my short film (The Kaniama Show) and we got in the studio the day after in Bruxelles: The session went extremely smooth as she’s an amazing soul! We plan to work together in the near future on more music and I’d love to direct one of her videos. I imagine that what we create will be no less than visually compelling”
If “Soleil De Volt” tells us anything, we can’t wait for what comes next.
Baloji’s latest full length 137 Avenue Kaniama is out now from Bella Union.
premiere: hip-hop artist ash león sends us flying through space with “big dipper style”
Flying through the stratosphere of intergalactic pop is Ash Leon’s newest single “Big Dipper Style”. Producer by Spekulate The Philosopher, Ash Leon’s brand new single is an unexpected ride through the hip-hop cosmos. Whizzing past meteors, Leon’s razor-sharp flow bobs and weaves in and out of the ecstatic futuristic beat. “I grew up absorbing a lot of science fiction content (comics, movies, anime, etc) about outer space and decided to tap into my inner astronaut/nerd by writing from the perspective of what I believe it would feel like to experience our solar system.”
Steam Ash León’s “Big Dipper Style”, below!
no f*cks given! the new afropunk mixtape is all attitude, no apathy
For some people “not giving a fuck” is about attitude, and for some it’s about apathy. Like Janelle Monáe and Zoë Kravitz’s sexual liberation at the end of the world anthem “Screwed,” it’s a phrase with a lot of simultaneous and contradicting meanings. On our latest mixtape, we celebrate the artists who don’t give a fuck but don’t have time for apathy. From the Nova Twins to Latasha, Tyler Cole to Jean Grae, this month is about the artists who see what’s going on in the world and are too busy speaking truth to power to worry about what anyone thinks of them. Here’s to the artists with no fucks to give.
01. Tyler Cole – The Government Song
02. Interlude: FreeQuency “Masculinity So Fragile”
03. Nova Twins – Hit Girl
04. Latasha – Sumpn
05. PEDRO – Na Quebrada (ft. Rincon Sapiência)
06. Ghost & The City – Please Forgive My Heart
07. No Kind of Rider – Dark Ice
08. Jean Grae and Quelle Chris – Zero
09. Black Pantera – Alvo Na mira
10. Interlude: Jasmine Mans “Footnotes for Kanye”
11. Crashing Hotels – Never More
12. Bakar – Million Miles
13. Interlude: Janelle Monáe (April 2018)
14. Akua Naru – Made It
15. Blac Rabbit – All Good
16. Janelle Monáe – Screwed (ft. Zoë Kravitz)
Photo by Matheus Leite
premiere: mc ājō pens a love letter to the hood in her new, anti-gentrification video “gotta love it”
“Gotta Love It” is the latest music video from the very talented MC, ĀJŌ. A love song to the hood, the misunderstood, and the folks who weren’t meant to survive. “Gotta Love It” is a song of survival that doesn’t skimp or make pretty the tribulations of the everyday hardworking folks that make the city run while trying not get run over themselves. Poetic and melodic, ĀJŌ’s storytelling is personal and visceral regardless of whether or not you’ve been to her hood and spoken to her people. “Gotta Love It” transcends any one location while capturing the nostalgia of the old hood and reverting the gaze and violence of gentrification. Produced, shot, and edited by ĀJŌ “Gotta Love It” is A gentle reminder that culture is wherever we are.”
dance-punk sounds fuel indie rock band bakar’s anthem “million miles”
“I can see your star in space / You’re a million miles away.”
It’s not every day you hear a song that makes you stop in your tracks and Just. Listen. But Bakar’s “Million Miles” is not every song. A hazy mix of indie rock, dance punk, and hip-hop, this is the kind of track that demands attention. With the explosive energy that fueled Bloc Party in their early days, Bakar rides a wave of angular tension that simmers into a washed-out chorus before bubbling over into a straight up dance punk beat. That’s the recipe for a straight up anthem.