Afropunk, a movement that has amplified alternative, genre-defying Black culture for over a decade, has tapped Miami as the backdrop for its upcoming Black Spring virtual festival, set to livestream on Friday, April 23.
A response to the social upheaval of 2020, Black Spring is a digital initiative to unite Black people across the diaspora with a focus on Afro-Latino and Afro-Caribbean culture. The music lineup encapsulates the festival’s theme with performances from Rico Nasty, Seu Jorge, Seafoam Walls, Dawer x Damper, Black Pantera, and Jup do Bairro.
Inspired by the new beginnings, a change in season, and the vibrancy of the Afro-Latino musical community, Black Spring aims to create a space for unapologetic celebration and liberation. The event will also continue the conversation about the varied Black experience across Latin American and Caribbean countries with segments broadcast from Bahia in Brazil and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
“Since the challenge went viral, everything as far as numbers and followers have been going up like crazy, Banks tells
New Times. I have a very busy schedule now. I have more interviews, more bookings, more hostings. Since then, everything has started to speed up.
Featured on the self-titled album Banks released last summer, “Buss It” went from being the song she wasn’t sure about to the one that has catapulted her name into up-and-comer status.
On the success of the #BussItChallenge, the Dallas-based 1501 Certified Entertainment rapper has signed a deal with Warner Records and seen her song shoot to the number-one position on the
The Shave Experiment is just as elusive and stripped down as its name suggests. In keeping with his shirtless pose on the EP’s cover art against a smoky backdrop, holding a Fender Stratocaster so it obscures his head Q works in sync with his instruments, allowing his electrifying, 70s-inspired production to tell as much of the story as he does.
“I was just floating, existing in it,” he describes the songwriting process for the EP.
Unlike the ambiguous aliases of R&B cool kids, Q (real name Q Steven Marsden) was given his mononym by his musical parents. His father Steven “Lenky” Marsden is the famed Jamaican producer who created the popular dancehall Diwali Riddim that was sampled in early-2000s hits like Wayne Wonder’s “No Letting Go,” Sean Paul’s “Get Busy,” and Rihanna’s “Pon de Replay,” while his mother worked with Beenie Man and Bounty Killer.
Cyphers have long been a part of the legacy of hip-hop. From the gritty New York freestyle battles of yesteryear that chiseled rap’s vanguard to the current showcases that illuminate rising stars, cyphers are as synonymous with hip-hop as palm trees are with Miami. Bridging the former with the latter, 99 Jamz radio personality Supa Cindy introduces some of Miami’s most promising lyricists in her latest battle round, Miami Cypher 4.
Providing a platform for budding local talent, Supa Cindy first presented her Miami Cypher series back in 2016, featuring the likes of Kiddo Marv and Ball Greezy. Since then, she has focused on scouting talent from every crevice of Miami’s rap scene. In 2017 she emceed an LGBTQ+ cypher, recruiting
Despite all the sexist sneering, 2020 was a year in which women rappers dominated.
Flo Milli, Mulatto, Sukihana (who made a memorable cameo in the WAP video), and Bbymutha charmed fans with debut projects, while follow-up albums from Megan Thee Stallion and City Girls proved they have a long-term stake in hip-hop. And as much as fans applaud these artists for their unabashed reclamation of female sexuality, the scope of freedom for women in hip-hop should continue to be broadened as the genre evolves.
Yet, even as we laud the sexual overtones of 2020’s pussy-rap anthems, there also has to be space for female rappers who exist outside of and intersect with sex-positive rap to garner acknowledgment for their creativity and musical prowess. Dissenters like Rico Nasty, Kari Faux, and Tierra Whack provide an alternative sound that pulsates along the same vein of rebelling against the patriarchal limitations placed on women rappers. It’s not enough to just add their discography to