Last week, for the first time in years, I missed the Afropunk festival. The musical movement began as an extension of a 2003 documentary of the same name, a wonderful film conceived and directed by James Spooner. The festival has grown considerably since the days it was held on a small street across from the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

While Spooner himself has been long gone from the scene, Afropunk continues to grow under the watchful eye of music industry vets Matthew Morgan and Jocelyn Cooper. Although the two have gotten flack from some who think that most of the acts included lately aren’t punk enough, criticism hasn’t stopped the festival from becoming one of the most popular NYC summer events, attracting crowds from across the world. Whereas these folks might be considered freaks and outcasts in their schools, jobs and communities, Afropunk has become the place where they can be themselves, wear what they want without ridicule, and listen to loud music two days straight.

Maureen Mahon, author of Right to Rock: The Black Rock Coalition and the Cultural Politics of Race, once said of the Afropunk community, “These are young people who refuse to be put in a box, but are still trying to make sense of themselves. Over the years, the concept of Black rock has been rejected by both Blacks and whites. Afropunk shows that there are other types of Black experiences. It’s exciting to see Blacks who are unafraid to go a different way.”

This year, while the line-up included soulful favorites D’Angelo, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Alice Smith and Meshell Ndegeocello, “real punk” was truly represented in the music of the Cro-Mags, Tamar-Kali, Fishbone and Bad Brains (with Living Colour vocalist Cory Glover subbing for bugged-out front-man H.R.). Of course, there were younger artists in attendance (SZA, A Sound Called Red, and others), but it’s nice to see a musical movement that has no problem giving props to our esteemed elders.

http://www.ebony.com/ente...z3BmpKzXr0

Corey Glover in place of HR? Wow.

Not sure if they are still happening but I was REAL into a Cleveland band called This Moment In Black History a couple years ago.