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Afrofuturism
Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, and philosophy of science and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technoculture and speculative fiction, encompassing a range of media and artists with a shared interest in envisioning black futures that stem from Afro-diasporic experiences. While Afrofuturism is most commonly associated with science fiction, it can also encompass other speculative genres such as fantasy, alternate history, and magic realism. The term was coined by Mark Dery, an American Cultural critic in 1993 and explored in the late 1990s through conversations led by Alondra Nelson. Ytasha L. Womack, writer of ''Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture'', defines it as "an intersection of imagination, technology, the future and liberation". She also follows up with a quote by the curator Ingrid LaFleur who defines it as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sun Ra
Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances. For much of his career, Ra led "The Arkestra", an ensemble with an ever-changing name and flexible line-up. Born and raised in Alabama, Blount became involved in the Chicago jazz scene during the late 1940s. He soon abandoned his birth name, taking the name Le Sony'r Ra, shortened to Sun Ra (after Ra, the Egyptian god of the Sun). Claiming to be an alien from Saturn on a mission to preach peace, he developed a mythical persona and an idiosyncratic credo that made him a pioneer of Afrofuturism. Throughout his life he denied ties to his prior identity saying, "Any name that I use other than Ra is a pseudonym." His widely eclectic and avant-garde music echoed the entire history of jazz, from ragtime an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alondra Nelson
Alondra Nelson (born April 22, 1968) is an American policy advisor, non-profit administrator, academic, and writer. She is the Harold F. Linder Chair and Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, an independent research center in Princeton, New Jersey. She is deputy assistant to the president and deputy director for science and society of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), where she performed the duties of the director from February to October 2022. From 2017-2021, she was president and CEO of the Social Science Research Council, an independent, nonpartisan international nonprofit organization. She was previously professor of sociology at Columbia University, where she served as the inaugural dean of social science, as well as director of the Institute for Research on Women and Gender. She began her academic career on the faculty of Yale University. Nelson writes and lectures widely on the intersections of science, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Octavia Butler
Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction author and a multiple recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.Crossley, Robert. "Critical Essay." In ''Kindred'', by Octavia Butler. Boston: Beacon, 2004. Born in Pasadena, California, Butler was raised by her widowed mother. Extremely shy as a child, Butler found an outlet at the library reading fantasy, and in writing. She began writing science fiction as a teenager. She attended community college during the Black Power movement, and while participating in a local writer's workshop, was encouraged to attend the Clarion Workshop, which focused on science fiction. She soon sold her first stories and by the late 1970s had become sufficiently successful as an author that she was able to pursue writing full-time. Her books and short stories drew the favorable attention of the public and awar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American musical collective, music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton (funk musician), George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament (band), Parliament and Funkadelic, both active since the 1960s. Their distinctive funk style drew on psychedelic culture, outlandish fashion, science-fiction, and surreal humor; it would have an influential effect on subsequent funk, post-punk, hip hop music, hip-hop, and techno artists of the 1980s and 1990s, while their P-Funk mythology, collective mythology would help pioneer Afrofuturism. The groups released albums such as ''Maggot Brain'' (1971), ''Mothership Connection'' (1975), and ''One Nation Under a Groove'' (1978) to critical praise, and scored charting hits with singles such as "Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker), Give Up the Funk" (1975) and "Flash Light (song), Flash Light" (1978). Overall, the collective achieved thirteen top ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Dery
Mark Dery (born December 24, 1959)''Contemporary Authors Online'', s.v. "Mark Dery" (accessed February 12, 2008). is an American author, lecturer and cultural critic. An early observer and critic of online culture, he helped to popularize the term 'culture jamming' and is generally credited with having coined the term ' Afrofuturism' in his essay "Black to the Future" in the anthology ''Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberculture.''Yaszek, Lisa. "Afrofuturism, Science Fiction, and the History of the Future". ''Socialism and Democracy'', vol.20, no.3, November 2006, pp.41–42. He writes about media and visual culture, especially fringe elements of culture for a wide variety of publications, from ''Rolling Stone'' to ''BoingBoing''. Early life and education Dery was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He grew up in Chula Vista, California. He earned a B.A. from Occidental College in 1982. He is of Anglo- Irish-Scottish descent with some distant French ancestry. Teaching From 2001 to 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonzun Crew
Jonzun Crew was an American electro and early funk– hip hop group that was active in the 1980s. The group was led by Michael Jonzun, his brothers Maurice Starr and Soni Jonzun, and Carl (Captain Fingers). Overview The Jonzun Crew was formed by Florida-born brothers Michael, Soni, and Larry Johnson (also known as Maurice Starr) in Boston in 1981, with Gordy Worthy and Steve Thorpe filling out the lineup. The group carried its spin on Parliament-Funkadelic's loopy sci-fi themes of Afro-futurism throughout the 1980s and early 1990s for several albums. The group's most famous tracks, “Pack Jam (Look out for the OVC),” “Space is the Place,” and “Space Cowboy” were featured on the group's debut album, ''Lost in Space'' (1983). Other notable tracks included “We Are the Jonzun Crew” and “Ground Control.” The group's sound was particularly unique because all of the synthesizer parts were played live as opposed to sequenced, and despite using drum-machine hits in it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Parallel universes in fiction, parallel universes, extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial life, sentient artificial intelligence, cybernetics, certain forms of immortality (like mind uploading), and the technological singularity, singularity. Science fiction List of existing technologies predicted in science fiction, predicted several existing inventions, such as the atomic bomb, robots, and borazon, whose names entirely match their fictional predecessors. In addition, science fiction might serve as an outlet to facilitate future scientific and technological innovations. Science fiction can trace its roots to ancient mythology. It is also related to fantasy, Horror fiction, horror, and superhero fiction and contains many #Subgenres, sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Panther (comics)
Black Panther is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist-coplotter Jack Kirby. The character first appeared in ''Fantastic Four'' #52 (cover-dated July 1966) in the Silver Age of Comic Books. Black Panther's real name is T'Challa, and he is depicted as the king and protector of the fictional African nation of Wakanda. Along with possessing enhanced abilities achieved through ancient Wakandan rituals of drinking the essence of the heart-shaped herb, T'Challa also relies on his proficiency in science, rigorous physical training, hand-to-hand combat skills, and access to wealth and advanced Wakandan technology to combat his enemies. Black Panther is the first protagonist of African descent in mainstream American comics, having debuted years before early black superheroes such as Marvel Comics' the Falcon (1969), Luke Cage (1972), and Blade (1973) or DC Comics' John Stewart i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deltron 3030
Deltron 3030 is an alternative hip hop trio composed of producer Dan the Automator (as the Cantankerous Captain Aptos), rapper Del the Funky Homosapien (as Deltron Zero/Deltron Osiris), and DJ Kid Koala (as Skiznod the Boy Wonder). They also collaborate with a variety of other musicians under many futuristic pseudonyms. History ''Deltron 3030'' The group's debut album ''Deltron 3030'', released on May 23, 2000, is a concept album set in the year 3030 that tells of the dualistic conflict of fatalism that takes place between the moral concepts of "righteousness" and "malevolence." The story tells a prophetic tale of a warrior's thirst for battle as Del's alter ego, who goes by the name "Deltron-Zero," along with his comrade who happens to be a time-traveling cyborg wizard named "the Automator," face-off against megalithic corporations that megalomaniacally rule over our thermodynamic universe. The lyrics were written in less than two weeks and are characterized by extravag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warp 9
Warp 9, an American sci-fi themed electro-funk, hip hop group is best known for its ground breaking, influential singles including " Nunk," "Light Years Away," and "Beat Wave," which ranked among the most iconic groups of the electro hip hop era. Described as the "perfect instance of hip hop's contemporary ramifications," Warp 9 was the brainchild of writer-producers Lotti Golden and Richard Scher. The duo wrote and recorded under the moniker Warp 9, a production project at the forefront of the electro movement. Background Lotti Golden and Richard Scher were among the early electro production teams in New York City, utilizing the Roland TR-808 drum machine and the casio keyboard, which built its brand of electro by layering multiple keyboard textures over drum-machine tracks, which became Warp 9's signature sound. Although the sound of the Roland TR-808 was the basis for Warp 9's rhythm tracks, Golden and Scher began to introduce live percussion in Warp 9 recordings. For exa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serengeti Cyborg, By Fanuel Leul
The Serengeti ( ) ecosystem is a geographical region in Africa, spanning northern Tanzania. The protected area within the region includes approximately of land, including the Serengeti National Park and several game reserves. The Serengeti hosts the second largest terrestrial mammal migration in the world, which helps secure it as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa, and as one of the ten natural travel wonders of the world. The Serengeti is also renowned for its large lion population and is one of the best places to observe prides in their natural environment. Approximately 70 large mammal and 500 bird species are found there. This high diversity is a function of diverse habitats, including riverine forests, swamps, kopjes, grasslands, and woodlands. Blue wildebeest, gazelles, zebras, and buffalos are some of the commonly found large mammals in the region. The Serengeti also contains the Serengeti District of Tanzania. The name "Serengeti" is often said ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kool Keith
Keith Matthew Thornton (born October 7, 1963), better known by his stage name Kool Keith, is an American rapper and record producer from The Bronx, New York City, known for his surreal, abstract and often profane or incomprehensible lyrics. Kool Keith has recorded prolifically both as a solo artist and in group collaborations. Kool Keith is generally considered to be one of hip-hop's most eccentric and unusual personalities. Kool Keith was a cofounding member of Ultramagnetic MCs, whose debut ''Critical Beatdown'' was released in 1988. After two more albums with the group, ''Funk Your Head Up'' and ''The Four Horsemen'', Kool Keith released his critically acclaimed solo debut album, ''Dr. Octagonecologyst'' under the name Dr. Octagon in 1996. He subsequently released a series of further independently released hip hop albums, including ''Sex Style'', ''First Come, First Served'' (as Dr. Dooom), and most recently ''Keith''. After releasing only one album on a major label, '' Black ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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