Sun Araw:Echoes of Blackness

=Music industry and black performers: Exploitation or autonomy?

ShortAn original story.

Blacknessand Femininity

The Future Looks Like Will Smith

AfroPunk:Community.Movement.Festival.

What his commerical success in Sci-Fi means

Table of ContentsLetter from the Editors.................................p.1

Blackness and Femininity..............................p.3 Sara Yanicostas

Afropunk: Festival, Movement, Community.....p.6 Including interview!..............................p.9 Adeze Wilford

Sun Araw: Echoes of Blackness.....................p.11 Mariam al Askari

What Does the future of Blackness Look Like?.p.13 Chloe Cole

“Short”....................................................p.16 Katie Bock

WHAT IS BLACKNESS?

This is the question we started this issue with. To answer the question, our

contributors chose different black individuals to write about and explore the

ways in which they created their own variations of what it means to be black. One

of our contributors even stretched the definition of blackness by profiling Sun

Araw, a musician who isn’t black but produces “black” music. Since defining

blackness is elusive, our contributors attempted to depict variations of blackness

as a way of highlighting its multiplicity.

In many ways the Afrofuturism movement inspired this issue. By thinking

of black people in the future, Afrofuturism inherently re-imagines blackness. As

Eshun writes in Further Considerations: “the manufacture, migration, and

mutation of concepts and approaches within the fields of the theoretical and the

fictional, the digital and the sonic, the visual and the architectural exemplifies

the expanded field of Afrofuturism.” Eshun asserts that evolution and adaptation

is essential to blackness. Thus, these modes of blackness we present echo

Afrofuturism’s focus on moving black bodies out of the past to both explore and

expand their role in the future.

We love the format of magazines: it’s bright, colorful, entertaining. It’s easy to

pick up and start perusing at any page, for any reason. Choose the facet of

blackness that interests you most, and begin there. Or page through for the ads,

each of which is also an Afrofuturistic piece in its own right. Or, if you trust us,

follow the table of contents and let us show you each story in order, building

resonance through their organization. We love the internet: the sounds as well as

the sights, the power to move across worlds with a single click, the instantaneous

satisfaction. Explore the videos, articles, and readings embedded within this

magazine. Click. Search. Discover.

We hope that in reading this issue, your definition of blackness begins to

shift, expand, and evolve. Please enjoy!

Thanks for reading,

The Editors of Multiplicity

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

DEAR READERS,

on Tour now

UPCOMING DATES April 12th University of Pennsylvania PHILADELPHIA, PA

April 13th & 20th Coachella INDIO, CA

May 16th San Francisco Symphony SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Buy tickets here

“Janelle Monáe: Sister from

another planet…recalls Prince,

OutKast, Erykah Badu, James

Brown, Grace Jones, Stevie

Wonder, David Bowie, Jimi

Hendrix, Bernard Herrmann,

Funkadelic and the Incredible

String Brand”

-Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian

“Janelle Monáe brandishes the

acetylene torch for radical

Afrofuturism…She’s an agent of

change, and we’re not just talking

robot emancipation.”

-John Calvert, TheQuietus.com

 

 

AfroPunk  Fest  

An  Interview  with  Kara  Mahon  

Multiplicities  wants  to  represent  as  many  

voices  as  possible  in  every  issue.  As  a  

supplement  to  our  look  into  AfroPunk  as  a  

movement,  we  thought  it  would  be  best  to  

include  a  first  hand  view  of  the  festival.  

Here  is  a  brief  interview  with  festival-­‐goer  

Kara  Mahon:  

Recently  we  interviewed  Oberlin  junior  Kara  Mahon  about  her  experience  at  AfroPunk  ‘12  

Kara  is  from  New  Rochelle  New  York  and  currently  lives  in  Ohio  while  finishing  up  her  undergraduate  time  at  the  liberal  arts  college  Oberlin.    

A  Closer  Look  

This  interview  was  rescheduled  in  light  of  the  race  and  hate  crimes  that  were  occurring  on  Oberlin’s  campus  this  past  month.  Thankfully  Kara  was  able  to  share  some  thoughts,  despite  the  racially  charged  atmosphere  at  her  school.  

“I loved everything about the festival.”  

M: This interview is just to see how Afrofuturism as a movement is compared to countercultures like AfroPunk and how people are drawn to certain groups musically, artistically and culturally. Can you give me an impression of what you encountered at the festival, how you felt about being there and the types of people you thought were there? KM:I am attracted to the AfroPunk subculture mainly because it encompasses so many other subgroups and identities. I am a queer, Afro-Caribbean girl who listens to reggae, dancehall, metal, r&b, hip-hop, etc. Being able to mesh all of that together in art, whether visually or sonically, is just amazing to me

M:How did you find out about the festival? KM:As far as the festival itself, I found out about it by word of mouth I believe. I have known about it for a couple of years but never actually went to check it out. I am a huge Bad Brains fan and I may have heard about it from their fan pages or something. I decided to go this past summer because Reggie Watts was performing (I'm kinda obsessed with him lol) And I couldn't miss Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae.

Photos  Courtesy  of  Kara  Mahon  

M:What the general feeling about AfroPunk, did the organizers make mention of alternative culture?

 

KM: AfroPunk allows for the intersection of identities which should not be taken for granted in the Africana community. We do not have access to certain spaces. And when we do finally enter them we have to work harder than everyone else to gain visibility. There have been times when I just didn't feel comfortable at metal shows. I loved the music but I just couldn't deal with being the token Black person. AfroPunk offers an environment of both, and rather than either, or. It’s a safe space that allows you to admit that you like both hip-hop and rock. That you beatbox and skateborad. etc. Brown skin becomes the thing that almost everyone has in common and your art is what represents you.

M: Was music the only thing featured at the festival?

KM: Sometimes when you get a bunch of young, intelligent, confident, creative kids of color together in one place it can turn into a contest. Who looks 'the most different'? Who looks like 'they aren't trying'? That kind of thing. And though I had a blast, you could tell that not everyone was there to just enjoy the music and the weather. Some just came out to be seen. But I guess you have the superficial type in all subcultures.

 

byline  

Lorem  Ipsum  

 

AfroPunk Fest 2013

Commodore Barry Park August 24-25

Lineup Announcement Soon!

Sun Araw: Echoes of

Blackness Sun Araw (sound familiar?) is a master looper, sampler, and creator of ghostly, sun drenched soundscapes, often infused with remnants of past decades and previous masters. Cameron Stallones is the man behind name. He is originally from Austin, Texas but now lives in Long Beach, an element which is definitely factored into the equation when considering the numerous influences that inspire his tie-dye, beach fuzz music.

Sun Araw is a very interesting artist to consider while looking through the Afrofuturist lens. His music, techniques and philosophical approach quickly reminded me of those key Afrofuturist ideas like the exploration of time and space through music, the repurposing of sound, and the technical manipulation of instruments and electronic equipment.

In an interview with M. Hugh Steeply, a writer for the online music and film webzine Tiny Mix Tapes, Stallones generously reveals the influences and drives behind his music. He explains that he is heavily influenced by other musicians (mostly from the 60’s, 70’s era) like Fela Kuti, as well as long-take filmmakers such as Tarkovsky, Altman etc. But even though Sun Araw’s music includes faded impressions of other artists within the dizzying overlap of timeless sounds, he maintains that in order to create truly authentic and personal music, he must first be in tune with his own creativity and emotional state.

Steeply: “That faded impressions idea is real interesting in the way that Heavy Deeds sounds so much swampier and toiled than both Beach Head and those afro-funk reference points; they sound really nicely tangential to me. So you're particularly drawn to putting new and personal energy and ideas into the older things you hear?”

Stallones: “[…] An organ idea from Steve Reich's “Four Organs,” or a guitar tone off a Big Star record, or a rhythmic idea from The Pyramids, or something like that becomes the wrapping for the idea that came from basking [in] the glow. It's important to me that the idea itself comes from beyond all that, but once the idea has been retrieved, it's a joyful celebration to deck it out in subtle hints and tributes to music, film, any cultural artifacts that I love. Those artifacts get fused with zones you've placed them in, and become important, glowing iconography in the mythology, and they help you find your way back there when you want to go.”

So, is Sun Araw an Afrofuturist? Is he furthering the black legacy in music? Can he faithfully embody blackness if Cameron Stallones is a white man with a handlebar mustache? Should that matter?

For Sun Araw, the environments in which he works are also important in steering the creative process. In 2012, Araw took a trip to Jamaica, collaborated with the aging reggae-roots band The Congos, and released the album entitled Icon Give Thank. Araw’s musical tools and techniques were originally developed by 60’s Dub producers like Lee “Scratch” Perry, and later carried across genres and geographical borders along what Nabeel Zuberi would call the “roads” of Diaspora and globalization. So this collaboration truly represents Dub’s journey across borders and trip back to the homeland, a tangibly Afrofuturist enterprise. In an interview at Festival EDP Paredes de Coura (which is great to watch as Cameron and his friend and band mate Alex beautifully account for the philosophy and experience behind Sun Araw), one of my favorite moments is when Cameron speaks of his trip to Jamaica and says: “These people live like kings there because they still remember how, you know, and they remember how to improv, you know?”, and Alex continues the statement and says “improv in life, not just music”.

Blackness in the Afrofuturist sense is not a single, unchanging identity, but rather a continuously metamorphosing one. It is neither a stereotype that black people follow, nor an archetype that they “ought to follow”. Sun Ra and George Clinton, two important and influential musicians, have both created incredibly distinct and representative personas, and they often rally their listeners and talk of going away and conquering space. However, their mission is definitely not to carve a path or provide their fans with a mould for what blackness is or should be. Instead, Ra and Clinton are honoring pure creativity and potential, and invite their fans to do exactly what they do, which is to express themselves in the most authentic and liberating way, even though they make reference to elements of black culture. They seem to be promoting inspiration rather than emulation.

And this is what Sun Araw’s project is all about. He chose not to adhere to any musical conventions, pushes the boundaries of experimental music, and promotes intuitive improvisation, all the while channeling echoes of AfroDiasporic and black sounds, among other cultural influences. But once again, does he actively participate in the celebration and exploration of blackness? Or is Sun Araw one of many individuals who have simply been exposed to black culture through globalization?

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE OF BLACKNESS LOOK LIKE?

The trailer for After-Earth, Will Smith’s newest movie, was released in

December. Here is the TRAILER.

After-Earth is a tale about a father and son crash-landing on a dystopian

earth a thousand years after mankind escaped their origin planet. This plot

seems to have resonances of Octavia Butler’s Afrofuturist novel, Dawn.

The release of another Hollywood sci-fi flick starring Will Smith inspires us

to re-examine the reasons why Smith has been so successful in a genre

where, historically, black actors have been absent.

In his book Black Space, Adilifu Nama explores the representations of

blacks in sci-fi cinema. He notes a shift in the genre in the 1990s and poses

the question: “Who explains the centrality of black representation in a genre

known for leaving black people out?”

He answers: “Will Smith.”

Nama attributes Smith’s success to his

rap career and his popular sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. These

reasons focus on components of Smith’s persona that adhere to

traditional black stereotypes.

“Who explains the centrality of black representation in a

genre known for leaving people out? Will Smith.”

Smith’s work in Men in Black, one of his first commercial successes in the

sci-fi genre, supports this interpretation because he released an

accompanying rap SONG, which contributed to the movie’s success.

However, other scholars and critics view the increased representation of

blackness in 1990s Hollywood with more skepticism. In Framing

Blackness, author Ed Guerrero asserts that 90s movies depicted “themes

and formulas dealing with black issues and characters that are reassuring

to a white audience.

Will Smith’s Sci-Fi Movies

Independence Day (1996)

Men in Black (1997)

Men in Black II (2002)

I, Robot (2004)

I Am Legend (2007)

Hancock (2008)

Men in Black III (2012)

After-Earth (2013)

Hancock 2 (pre-production)

I, Robot 2 (pre-production)

Thus, he argues that Hollywood limited representations of

blackness.

Guerrero also writes that the newfound popularity of rap

music wasn’t a sign of Americans embracing black cultures.

Instead, he explains that there was a new audience, “a vast,

crossover, white youth population that [had] come to

identify its milder suburban discontents with black anger

and rebellion.” He explains that once white culture

reappropriated black music, they were willing to embrace the

black individuals who produced it, like Smith.

In a similar vein, movie critic, Victor Wong wrote a piece for

Alternative Takes analyzing the role Smith’s blackness played

in Men in Black. He points out that the film avoids explicitly acknowledging Smith’s race, only doing so once or

twice in the contexts of jokes. He asserts that this shows that Hollywood wants to mask Smith’s blackness. He

also argues that Smith’s character was edited -- from the choice of weapon he uses to the way he speaks and

behaves -- to counteract black stereotypes and therefore be “safe.”

However, Guerrero’s and Wong’s problems with Hollywood’s representations expose the limitations they

themselves place on the definition of blackness. For example, Guerrero is angered by “the juxtaposition of the

opulent, soothing image of a black professional class rendered on “The Cosby Show” in contrast to the stark,

real-time, genocidal slaughter of urban blacks on the nightly eleven o’clock news.” He seems to reject the reality

of black professionals. In doing so, he rejects the idea of multiplicity of black identity.

However, Guerrero’s and Wong’s problems with Hollywood’s representations expose the

limitations they themselves place on the definition of blackness.

While these scholars and critics’ opinions are helpful in discussing Hollywood’s representations of blackness,

they do not provide an adequate answer to the central question: What is the appropriate representation of

blackness? Does each black actor have to adhere to this appropriate representation? Are there as many

representation of blackness as there are figures to represent?

Independence Day, 1996 I, Robot, 2004

Men in Black, 1997

The future is here.