Sean Jacobs's Blog, page 535
May 17, 2012
‘Afropolitan Divas’ in London
The second Numbi of 2012 happened – with undeniable flamboyance – last Saturday, bringing a team of ‘Afropolitan divas’, and with them an influx of poetry and music from East Africa and elsewhere, to East London.
Created in 1998 by artist and activist Kinsi Abdulleh (that’s her in the image below with compere Diriye Osman), Numbi, named after “a kind of dance that happens in Somalia where one lets go of one’s inhibitions and gets free” is a platform for collaborations between Somali artists and others.
The evening began with a performance from poet-singer Zena Edwards (introduced by Osman as “our number one soul sister”), and poems, most memorably on bad hair and the slave trade in Bristol (respectively), by Dorothea Smartt and Rosie Martin, who read to rhythmic support from several members of what would later become eleven-piece Afrobeat outfit Bronzehead.
Following these, a quiet and beautiful set by Eritrean-born singer Miryam Solomon (pictured above) and an accompanying guitarist. Solomon’s work seems to be, unfortunately for internet-dwellers, still totally unavailable outside Numbi.
The climax of the whole thing was a performance by Somali singer Maryam Mursal who stood alone on stage, accompanied by a backing-track, her arms outstretched towards the audience in antique admonishment to sing her classic Somali u diida ceeb (‘Somalia, don’t shame yourself’). Mursal – having effortlessly attained diva status with a life of breaking precedents, government suppression, asylum-seeking, collaborations with Nina Simone and Peter Gabriel – departed after only two songs. The night ended with some Afrobeat from the Bronzehead collective, and a dj set of Afropolitan classics by Bradley Zero.
Abdulleh also edits Scarf magazine, which appears yearly, and has published some of the poets involved in Numbi, and diverse other artists, photographers, and writers of poetry, fiction, interviews, and essays. The new edition looks promising, including interviews with Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu (for whose medical sketches see here) and Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara, creative writing by Abdulrazaj Gurnah, and a recipe from Edwidge Danticat.
The launch of this year’s SCARF is Tuesday 22nd May at Rich Mix (details here).
* Photo Credits: Cristine Leone.
May 16, 2012
The future of Françafrique
“The face of the threat has changed,” a French military officer tells Jeune Afrique. “Our preoccupation is no longer to support the regimes.” The comment isn’t followed by a winking emoticon but Jeune Afrique did draw a map (link) of the French army presence in Africa today.* In 1960 France had around 30,000 soldiers on the continent. 50 years later, that number has been reduced to some 5,000. The map reminded me of the ‘Open letter to the future President of France’ Cameroonian author Patrice Nganang published in SlateAfrique last month. Here’s an excerpt:
We know, Mr. future President of France, that the French slave kingdom in Africa is maintained by thousands of French soldiers stationed here and there the continent: Senegal, Chad, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire. We know that if it weren’t for this military support, the tyrants, those commanders that keep the people in bondage, would have long been toppled by the people. (…) We expect more from you than outrage over the tyrannies that strangle Cameroon and other francophone countries. From you, we expect a withdrawal of the all too obvious support that Paris has always given to some African dictators. From you, we expect a military withdrawal from Africa. But, from you, we also expect strong gestures and concrete support to the African civil society undermined by years of dictatorship and corruption. (…) Mr. future President of France, be more than the Mitterand of La Baule, be more than the Obama in Cairo; be a friend of democracy in Africa.
Read the original letter here or a fair English translation here.
* When you click on the map it expands to show the details, including troop numbers, military operations, etcetera.
The Wisdom of Nawal el Saadawi
Earlier today on Twitter I summarized 80 year-old Egyptian feminist activist and writer Nawal el Saadawi’s comments in an interview published in the weekend edition of The Financial Times. The parts I did not tweet is about her flirting with the writer and her opening quote: “I was very good-looking when I was younger. This created a lot of problems for me. When you are intelligent and beautiful you face a lot of problems. If you are beautiful and stupid then it’s easy.” Here, below, it is in storify form. (Oh, I messed up the numbers; there are just six of them).
6 things we learn about 80 yr old Nawal el Saadawi from the FT’s “House & Home” (!) section http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/ebf4a4...
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Africa is a Country
Wed, May 16 2012 12:51:42
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1.’When you are intelligent and beautiful you face a lot of problems. If you are beautiful and stupid then it’s easy.’
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Africa is a Country
Wed, May 16 2012 12:52:18
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2. “.. You cannot be radical and have money, it’s impossible.”
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Africa is a Country
Wed, May 16 2012 12:52:31
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3. Despite her standing in the Arab world, El Saadawi has ‘little of the renown she deserves in the western discourse on the Middle East’
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Africa is a Country
Wed, May 16 2012 12:53:48
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4. El Saadawi criticizes “Muslim feminist reformers” who attract media attention ’cause they provide an analysis that makes the West wants
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Africa is a Country
Wed, May 16 2012 12:54:26
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6. My 3 husbands were afraid of me. I am a very powerful woman. I asked my ex-husband why he cheated once and he said, I was scared of you!
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Africa is a Country
Wed, May 16 2012 12:54:57
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7. My husbands needed a woman, not a writer.
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Africa is a Country
Wed, May 16 2012 12:55:14
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#Hashtag Politics
Boima blogged here recently about UNICEF’s efforts to raise awareness about the drought in the Sahel; what he described as “a step in the right direction towards facilitating genuine empathy, and away from the sensationalistic portrayals that have come to define awareness campaigns.” Then there are campaigns like this one by the French Action contre la Faim (ACF or Action against Hunger). We don’t want to sound like a broken record, but here, unfortunately, we go again.
As Osocio — the blog about “marketing and advertising for social issues” — sums up ACF’s campaign here:
To make the people of France aware of the situation ACF use the tagline “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear” [pic above]. And for the campaign they use various items like print ads, outdoor ads, web banners, Facebook and a web video. But the two most notable items are the tweet and guerrilla action. ACF asked to use the hashtag #actionsahel to spread the word. This webpage, with some French celebs, bloggers and media channels, is available for making it more powerful. From the webpage [it] is possible to send a tweet to one or more of the mentioned persons. It looks like this:
“@FredCavazza: 15 millions de personnes en danger de mort au #Sahel. Aidez-les à ne pas sombrer dans l’oubli #actionsahel @ACF_France”
On Saturday May 19 all solidarity tweets reveal on a giant billboard. This panel will be visible on the European Night of Museums, at the Cité des Science in Paris.
Here’s the campaign video:
“Un tweet peut tout changer”? Please.
Let’s break it down again:
Cognitive psychologists have long maintained that memory is not hardwired; instead, our memories of events are “imaginative recollections” that are cobbled together, rather than being filed-away blueprints of experiences, imbedded in perpetuity into our memory systems. However, if the tribulation we experienced is great enough, it creates what is known as a “flashbulb memory” — where we remember the minute details of a traumatic event as if a flashbulb-aided photograph of that experience was captured in our memory. #Kony2012 taught us, only a few short weeks ago, that a tweet, a FB post, or a PSA will not change the world. For many of us, #Kony2012 was a disaster of such epic proportions that it created a flashbulb memory: we wince and go into a collective fetal position when someone even suggests that we smile on our brother, love one another (with no kissing of course), and do some tweet-variety cartoon call to action. But it looks like very few had that flashbulb experience, teaching them a good enough lesson that they would never stick their hand into the yaws of a many-toothed charity run when it offered up its compelling grin.
* Sean Jacobs contributed to this post.
The Afrikaans struggle
Some random history: The Guardian yesterday published a short obituary of Bruce King, the British anti-apartheid campaigner–and also “an eminent geomorphologist (a scholar of landscapes) and a pioneer in the science of remote sensing.” Hamba Kahle Bruce King. The obituary, among others, makes reference to his marriage to his South African wife, Jamela Adams. It describes their wedding in “a Muslim ceremony in Cape Town” in 1964 in defiance of the Mixed Marriages Act. The couple left for England (presumably to have another ceremony there), and was then predictably refused entry back into South Africa. They then moved to Tanzania. But there’s this tidbit about their time in Tanzania: “Jamela broadcast in Afrikaans for the ANC radio station transmitting to South Africa.” I want to know more about that story.
* BTW, for those who don’t know anything about Radio Freedom, here’s a snippet, here it gets sampled and there’s also a full album dedicated to it (the image above is from that album cover).
May 15, 2012
Achille Mbembe at the Tate Modern
Over the last six months, the Tate Modern in London has held Topology: Spaces of Transformation, a series of ‘keynote conversations’ which have brought in an impressive array of international intellectuals. Previous events have tackled borders, edges, concepts of north-south, continuity and infinity. The subject of Saturday’s talk was to be no less huge, gathering David Harvey, Drucilla Cornell and Achille Mbembe to speak on ‘The Vast Space-Time of Revolutions Becoming’. Oscar Guardiola Rivera convened the event from a pair of noteworthy purple moccasins, immediately answering the title of his book What If Latin America Ruled the World (“we would all dance better”) then describing the speakers as ‘butterflies’ moving across the globe, ‘commanding’ the space they ‘hover’ above.
The first speaker, Drucilla Cornell, spoke of the revolutionary communism she had encountered in the uBuntu Township Project, in which ‘armed struggle [and overthrow of the ANC] is always on the table’ and ‘the future is always already being made’. Cornell was full of stories: mentioning, during the Q&A, her brief participation in a Marxist-Leninist cell affiliated to the Black Panthers in Oakland, at a time when the police would ‘spray’ black neighbourhoods with machine gun bullets: ‘white skin wouldn’t get you very far [with the police] when you’re in a Black Panther cell’. She was thrown out of that cell, she said, after refusing orders to sleep with the man, wrote a pamphlet defending this decision, and was thrown out as a ‘deviationist-idealist’. Cornell spoke of a strange amnesia over the history of collective action in the USA, and remembered working with a prostitute’s collective in New York, the prostitutes had developed a contraption to clean and clothe a customer’s member before sex, adding that the machine had developed ‘a couple of little kinks’, which left the men dissatisfied. And then there was the recent Tea Party square dance she had attended …
Rivera: ‘Did you dance?’
Cornell: ‘Of course!’
There she found elderly Americans recruited for oligarchy’s anarcho-capitalism because ‘they were just looking to find a husband aged 73 without going on the internet’. This revelation provoked the declaration, after Emma Goldman: I will not be part of a revolution in which there is no dancing. Cornell suggested that the transformation of capitalism should accommodate a ‘revolutionary communist dating service’.
Next, David Harvey spoke on how to transform capitalism according to a radical reorganisation of the city. We must ask ourselves, Harvey said, ‘what kind of human being is capitalism creating?’ He spoke of bifurcating between checking his pension fund online, the pain at seeing it had decreased by ten percent simultaneous with the thought ‘yay! capitalism is crashing’. The task at hand, he announced, was to work out ‘how to change mentalities’, and described a trade union friend asking him ‘how do you organise a whole city, politically?’ The answer involved working out ‘how the micro-structures [of a city] come together’, looking at Homs today to understand how the city became radicalised. In short, he argued, ‘you can’t transform the human without transforming the urban space’. Riding the E-train from Jamaica into Manhattan at 6 am one morning, Harvey was struck by the demographic of the other passengers – overwhelmingly females of ethnic minorities – and wondered ‘who has the right to the city?’ He spoke eloquently for the need to ‘decenter’ Occupy, to engage workers traditionally ‘excluded’ from union activities, to bring about the end of suburbanisation (which he drily described ‘a small task’), to reorganise the flows of the city, of the food chain and other networks on which the prevailing political order relies.
The event timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Indignados movement, and approach the internationalism of the occupy movement and the Arab Spring. Historical precedents of the Hanseatic League which founded mercantile capitalism in Europe in the early modern age, looking back at the American revolution to understand how ‘the port cities became revolutionary’, the pan-continental revolutions in 1848 and the 1870 Paris Commune. Harvey spoke of his ‘incredible fantasy’ to create ‘a socialist league of cities’, then a man called Kostas (who I’m sure I should have recognised) spoke of the recent ‘victory’ of the leftist coalition in Greece, and the hangover he had sustained in what sounded like the mother-of-all election-night parties.
Lastly, Achille Mbembe was due to speak on the concept of the ‘zero-world’. Except he wasn’t there: Rivera had announced in his introduction that Mbembe hadn’t been able to get a visa (cue world-weary laughter) but that he would joining the conversation from Dakar via Skype. So much for the butterflies image, thanks William Hague. Rivera received a text which said that the political philosopher was trying to find an internet café, then another saying he was trying to find an internet café with Skype, then another saying that he was trying to find an internet café with Skype in a part of the city where there wasn’t a power-cut, until it all started to feel like a practical joke about the exclusion of African intellectuals from ‘global’ conversations, and the connection never materialised.
Tate filmed the event, and there was some suggestion they’d put the video on their website, and promised that all contributions (Mbembe’s included) will be published in book format.
* Photo Credit: Jean-Claude Dhien
May 14, 2012
Livetweet Recap: NYT (and Vogue Italia) “Rebrands Africa” (again)
From a series of tweets I did on the New York Times story “Rebranding Africa” which you can read here.
Coming up: Elliot livetweets a read-through of @NYTimes latest infuriant, “Rebranding Africa” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/fas... h/t @siddhmi
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:45:32
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“The continent is entering the fashion arena”. What? It wasn’t in it already? Is this like when it hadn’t “entered history”?Share on Facebook
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:49:10
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Oh, I see, this is a remix of Sarkozy’s Hegelian mash-up in Dakar, but for fashion. Great idea @NYTimes!
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:50:21
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Apparently Africa is entering fashion because of “the quality of its handwork”. Nope, me neither.
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:53:21
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I wonder what else Africa might be about to “enter”? Planet Earth? The Solar System? Suggestions to @NYTimes
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:51:55
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On the plus side, Suzy Menkes is right to identify early on that Africa is, in fact, a continent.
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:52:36
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Key is the “Rebranding” of Africa. Yawn! For fuller critique of this kind of guff see http://africasacountry.com/2012/04/26...
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:55:32
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Rebranding constitutes no kind of “change in attitude/perception” because it offers Africa for consumption/ exploitation as of old
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:56:36
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This month’s Vogue Italia is dedicated to Africa. Well that’s nice. Why is @NYTimes reporting on it? Seems like a very long plug?
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:57:28
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And the cover star of that Africa edition of Vogue Italia. It’s the obvious choice: Ban Ki-Moon. African style icon, for sure.
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:58:08
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[image error]
@Okwonga @AfricasaCountry It read like an unabashed press release for Vogue Italia, didn’t it! Just absurd.
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siddhartha mitter
Mon, May 14 2012 14:12:11
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Oh God isn’t Africa so confusing? What with the poverty AND the creativity in THE SAME PLACE? You’d never find that in, say, New York City
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:00:02
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Ban ki-Moon is a Goodwill Ambassador for Fashion4Development “to support the UN’s wider issues in helping Africa”. Nonsense on stilts.
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:01:50
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Uh-oh> ” For Ms. Sozzani, “positivity” is the key word in taking an uplifting attitude to a nation where “the image is so low.” “
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:02:48
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Did the @NYTimes just refer to the nation of Africa? I think it did you know!
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:03:36
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Attn @NYTimes fact-checkers. A minute ago Africa was a “continent”. Now it’s a “nation”. We’re as confused as ever.
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:05:00
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[image error]
@siddhmi I know, eh! Copy editor should be hanging his/her head in shame. @AfricasaCountry
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Musa Okwonga
Mon, May 14 2012 14:30:56
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Sozzani: “All the pictures are made in a glamorous way — there is nothing sad, trashy or poor”. Well that’s a relief!
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:05:50
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Very important to ensure that the poor are never photographed in Vogue Italia. Sorry poor people, you’re just not cool enough.
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:07:38
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Sozzani:”if we can give an uplifting image it is helping people who wouldnt have considered Africa at all” Yes vital that those ppl get help
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:08:33
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[Also helping with rebranding]: “the lush beauty of the country & its allure as a tourist destination”
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:10:36
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All so confusing Africa fluctuating wildly b/w status as country and continent. Surely crucial to establish prior to confident “rebranding”
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:12:17
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“The emergence of Africa as a source of fashion creativity is about more than elegant images.” What, you mean they have clothes?
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:15:05
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There was I with the idea that Western fashion houses had been appropriating African style/design for ages. Welcome to fashion, Africa!
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:17:40
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[image error]
@AfricasaCountry I’m so glad we’ve been let in now. All we need is an African For Us By Us. Yes, I know, FUBU made ugly clothes.
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BringMeTheAfricanGuy
Mon, May 14 2012 13:19:56
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[image error]
@BBCAfricaHYS @AfricasaCountry Menkes repeat rebrander: ’09, Africa’s “sculpted geometric shapes & rich, spicy colors” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/fas...
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siddhartha mitter
Mon, May 14 2012 14:17:30
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Is “rebranding” really the best way to think about, for example, no longer believing in loads of racist, supremacist myths?
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:20:29
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[image error]
@AfricasaCountry World Economic Forum taught us last week that Africa is “a clean sheet of paper” http://bit.ly/JdWW7Q
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Beyond Aid
Mon, May 14 2012 13:12:33
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Livetweet Recap: The New York Times “Rebrands Africa” (again)
From a series of tweets I did on the New York Times story “Rebranding Africa” which you can read here.
Coming up: Elliot livetweets a read-through of @NYTimes latest infuriant, “Rebranding Africa” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/fas... h/t @siddhmi
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:45:32
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“The continent is entering the fashion arena”. What? It wasn’t in it already? Is this like when it hadn’t “entered history”?Share on Facebook
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:49:10
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Oh, I see, this is a remix of Sarkozy’s Hegelian mash-up in Dakar, but for fashion. Great idea @NYTimes!
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:50:21
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Apparently Africa is entering fashion because of “the quality of its handwork”. Nope, me neither.
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:53:21
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I wonder what else Africa might be about to “enter”? Planet Earth? The Solar System? Suggestions to @NYTimes
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:51:55
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On the plus side, Suzy Menkes is right to identify early on that Africa is, in fact, a continent.
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:52:36
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Key is the “Rebranding” of Africa. Yawn! For fuller critique of this kind of guff see http://africasacountry.com/2012/04/26...
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:55:32
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Rebranding constitutes no kind of “change in attitude/perception” because it offers Africa for consumption/ exploitation as of old
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:56:36
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This month’s Vogue Italia is dedicated to Africa. Well that’s nice. Why is @NYTimes reporting on it? Seems like a very long plug?
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:57:28
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And the cover star of that Africa edition of Vogue Italia. It’s the obvious choice: Ban Ki-Moon. African style icon, for sure.
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 12:58:08
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[image error]
@Okwonga @AfricasaCountry It read like an unabashed press release for Vogue Italia, didn’t it! Just absurd.
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siddhartha mitter
Mon, May 14 2012 14:12:11
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Oh God isn’t Africa so confusing? What with the poverty AND the creativity in THE SAME PLACE? You’d never find that in, say, New York City
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:00:02
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Ban ki-Moon is a Goodwill Ambassador for Fashion4Development “to support the UN’s wider issues in helping Africa”. Nonsense on stilts.
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:01:50
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Uh-oh> ” For Ms. Sozzani, “positivity” is the key word in taking an uplifting attitude to a nation where “the image is so low.” “
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:02:48
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Did the @NYTimes just refer to the nation of Africa? I think it did you know!
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:03:36
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Attn @NYTimes fact-checkers. A minute ago Africa was a “continent”. Now it’s a “nation”. We’re as confused as ever.
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:05:00
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[image error]
@siddhmi I know, eh! Copy editor should be hanging his/her head in shame. @AfricasaCountry
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Musa Okwonga
Mon, May 14 2012 14:30:56
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Sozzani: “All the pictures are made in a glamorous way — there is nothing sad, trashy or poor”. Well that’s a relief!
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:05:50
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Very important to ensure that the poor are never photographed in Vogue Italia. Sorry poor people, you’re just not cool enough.
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:07:38
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Sozzani:”if we can give an uplifting image it is helping people who wouldnt have considered Africa at all” Yes vital that those ppl get help
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:08:33
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[Also helping with rebranding]: “the lush beauty of the country & its allure as a tourist destination”
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:10:36
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All so confusing Africa fluctuating wildly b/w status as country and continent. Surely crucial to establish prior to confident “rebranding”
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:12:17
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“The emergence of Africa as a source of fashion creativity is about more than elegant images.” What, you mean they have clothes?
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:15:05
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There was I with the idea that Western fashion houses had been appropriating African style/design for ages. Welcome to fashion, Africa!
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:17:40
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[image error]
@AfricasaCountry I’m so glad we’ve been let in now. All we need is an African For Us By Us. Yes, I know, FUBU made ugly clothes.
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BringMeTheAfricanGuy
Mon, May 14 2012 13:19:56
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[image error]
@BBCAfricaHYS @AfricasaCountry Menkes repeat rebrander: ’09, Africa’s “sculpted geometric shapes & rich, spicy colors” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/fas...
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siddhartha mitter
Mon, May 14 2012 14:17:30
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Is “rebranding” really the best way to think about, for example, no longer believing in loads of racist, supremacist myths?
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Africa is a Country
Mon, May 14 2012 13:20:29
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[image error]
@AfricasaCountry World Economic Forum taught us last week that Africa is “a clean sheet of paper” http://bit.ly/JdWW7Q
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Beyond Aid
Mon, May 14 2012 13:12:33
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Diplo in the dock
Chief Boima (government name: Boima Tucker; and AIAC collective member) was invited to OPEN ARTI in Milan recently to talk about art and politics and to DJ. In the video of the event (above), Boima is joined by fellow DJ, Venus X (profiled here in The New York Times). AIAC gets some shout-outs. A lot of things get referenced: music and race, how we listen to music, Shakira, cumbia, hard style, LMFAO, David Guerra, Rihanna, etcetera. But the elephant in the room is Diplo, the famous DJ and tastemaker. It’s Venus who speaks frankly, and openly, about her run-ins with Diplo (he attacked her on Twitter after she objected to him recording her set and then bringing out a mixtape). Boima discussed the implications of the Venus-Diplo feud in this AIAC post. (At the time Diplo felt compelled to comment on the post; just scroll down.) In the video, Boima also gets to talk about that meeting with Diplo set up by Eddie ‘Stats’ Houghton (of Okayplayer/Large Up) in the wake of our post. This new video–given the viral quality of the web–will sure ignite this debate again.
Below are two other videos of Boima DJ’ing as part of the same series of events:
Video via Palm Wine.
Shameless self-promotion
Chief Boima (government name: Boima Tucker; and AIAC collective member) was invited to OPEN ARTI in Milan recently to talk about art and politics and to DJ. In the video of the event (above), Boima is joined by fellow DJ, Venus X (profiled here in The New York Times). AIAC gets some shout-outs. A lot of things get referenced: music and race, how we listen to music, Shakira, cumbia, hard style, LMFAO, David Guerra, Rihanna, etcetera. But the elephant in the room is Diplo, the famous DJ and tastemaker. It’s Venus who speaks frankly, and openly, about her run-ins with Diplo (he attacked her on Twitter after she objected to him recording her set and then bringing out a mixtape). Boima discussed the implications of the Venus-Diplo feud in this AIAC post. (At the time Diplo felt compelled to comment on the post; just scroll down.) In the video, Boima also gets to talk about that meeting with Diplo set up by Eddie ‘Stats’ Houghton (of Okayplayer/Large Up) in the wake of our post. This new video–given the viral quality of the web–will sure ignite this debate again.
Below are two other videos of Boima DJ’ing as part of the same series of events:
Video via Palm Wine.
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