photos by Amanda Hatfield

Flatbush Zombies / flips / Gordon Voidwell

Hardcore punk rockers Cerebal Ballsy performed Saturday with a ferocity that commanded the seemingly peaceful crowd into a mosh pit. Later in the evening, the atmosphere switched into a groovy hipster paradise for all to enjoy as Erykah Badu jammed. The next day, Janelle Monae put on a performance with enough energy to power Manhattan. The performers were awesome - all of them - but they were merely a reflection of the movement known as Afropunk and the people of it.

The crowd was multi-everything - multi-cultural, multi-colored, multi-faceted, and multi-fashioned. - [Allhiphip.com]

Here's another set of photos from Day 2 of the 2012 Afro Punk Fest which featured a ton of great music -- all for free -- not to mention skateboarding and BMX competitions.

Our first set of Day 2 pictures is here, and you can see pics from Day 1 here and here. More pics from Day 2 are below.

Continue reading "more pics from 2012 Afro Punk Fest Day 2"

photos by Gretchen Robinette

Janelle Monáe / TV on the Radio / Pharrell at Afro-Punk Fest 8/26/2012

Slamming together categories -- and, when appropriate, bodies -- is the ever-expanding mission of the annual Afro-Punk Festival, which returned last weekend to Commodore Barry Park in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

It was an event summed up in action by one of its returning headliners, Janelle Monáe. She's an indefatigable song-and-dance bandleader who gleefully draws on African-American showmen like Michael Jackson, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and even Cab Calloway as her lyrics dip into science fiction. Her finale, "Come Alive (War of the Roses)," had a jitterbug-ready beat while Ms. Monáe crowd-surfed like a punk-rocker: off the stage, into the audience and back onstage for a few more snappy steps. - [NY Times]

Day 2 (8/26) of the 2012 Afro-Punk Fest was an incredibly stacked line-up, with TV on the Radio, Janelle Monáe (who was introduced by Pharrell Williams), Reggie Watts and Toro Y Moi just to name a few. Pictures from Sunday are in this post. Pictures of Day 1 (8/25) are here and here.

Continue reading "Afro-Punk Festival 2012 in pictures: day 2 (Janelle Monae, TV on the Radio, Reggie Watts, Toro Y Moi and more)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Das Racist / Spank Rock / skaters

The first day of Afro-Punk 2012 descended upon Commodore Barry Park on Saturday (8/25), bringing with it a day of live musical performance, skateboarding and dancing crowds as far as the eye could see. In addition to this second set of pictures from the Navy Yard in Brooklyn (below), check out the first set of previously posted pictures from Afro-Punk HERE.

More pics of Afro-Punk day 1, including Erykah Badu, Yasiin Bey, Das Racist, Spank Rock, Cerebral Ballzy, Oxymorrons, The Joe Jordan Experiment and more are below.

Continue reading "Afro-Punk 2012 day 1: a second set of pictures"

photos by Gretchen Robinette

Yasiin Bey & Erykah Badu / Cerebral Ballzy at Afropunk Fest 8/25/2012

Yasiin Bey joined headliner Erykah Badu on the first day of the 2012 edition of the Afropunk Festival, going down at Commodore Barry Park near the Navy Yard in Brooklyn on Saturday (8/25). The pair were joined on stage when Bey performed Common's verses from their hit collaboration "Love of My Life" on that Saturday evening. Video from that is below.

But of course Badu wasn't the only artist to bless the stages on Saturday, with the festival loaded with appearances from names like Das Racist, Spankrock, Cerebral Ballzy, Oxymorrons and many, many more during the nine hours of stage time. Pictures from the first day at Afropunk 2012 are below along with video of that Badu/Bey collaboration.

Continue reading "Afropunk Festival 2012 in pictures: day 1 with Erykah Badu, Das Racist. Spankrock, Cerbral Ballzy and more "

Rain Machine at BAM in 2010 (more by Vincent Cornelli)

As mentioned, the free Afropunk Festival returns to Brooklyn's Commodore Barry Park on August 25-26. You can check out the full schedule for the fest at the bottom of this post. On the Saturday (8/25), the Green Stage will be headlined by Erykah Badu and the Red Stage by Das Racist. On the Sunday (8/26), the Green Stage will be headlined by TV on the Radio following sets by Toro y Moi and Reggie Watts and the Red Stage will be headlined by Janelle Monae.

Speaking of TV on the Radio, Kyp Malone's solo project Rain Machine has a NYC show coming up, that will take place soon after Afropunk at Union Pool on September 1 with Soft Location and Slowdance. No other Rain Machine dates to report at the moment.

Sinkane, who also plays Afropunk Fest, continues his residency at Zebulon tonight (8/20).

2012 Afropunk Fest schedule is below.

Continue reading "the Afropunk Festival 2012 schedule & a Rain Machine show"

TV on the Radio at Catalpa 2012 (more by Toby Tenebaum)

As mentioned, the free Afro-Punk Festival is returning to Brooklyn's Commodore Barry Park on August 25-26. Since then, the lineup has been expanded, and now joining the initial announcement of Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae, Toro y Moi, Das Racist, Reggie Watts, and more is TV on the Radio (who will be headlining), Sinkane, Alice Smith, Flatbush Zombies, Radkey, Joe Jordan Experiment (JJX), and Purple Ferdinand.. Plus, the following DJs have been added: The Supasonics, Grits and Biscuits, DJ Pete Smoke Les, Stack-Aly, Roofeeo and VENUS X GHE20GOTH1K.

There will also be a Bites & Beats Food Truck Festival, an Afro-Punk Spinthrift Market, a motorcycle show, and a Nike Battle For the Streets Skate Competition, hosted by Alex Corporan and Billy Rohan. More details on these are below.

The updated lineup, flier and an Afro-Punk exclusive film, I Am Other, are below.

Continue reading "Afro-Punk Festival expands lineup (TV on the Radio, Sinkane, Alice Smith, food trucks, art vendors, bike show & more)"

The 2012 Afro-Punk Festival is returning to Brooklyn's Commodore Barry Park on August 25-26 at Commodore Berry Park in Brooklyn. The initial line-up includes Erykah Badu, Gym Class Heroes, Janelle Monae, Das Racist, Skindred, Toro Y Moi, Reggie Watts, Spank Rock, Ninjasonik, The Memorials, Bad Rabbits, Gordon Voidwell, The London Souls, Cerebral Ballzy, Phony People, and Body Language, with more to be announced. The Afropunk Festival is free and open to the public.

Additionally, the fest, now in its eighth year, will also feature "the largest street skate and BMX competition in NYC will return this year with the nation's top amateur skaters and BMX riders in a competition to be judged by top professionals in both sports." Last year's Afro-Punk Fest was cancelled due to Hurricane Irene. Let's hope for better weather this year.

Continue reading "Afro-Punk Fest 2012 line-up announced: Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae, Das Racist, Toro Y Moi, Reggie Watts and more"