| "Astro Black: A History of Hip-Hop [Episode 1]" (2007) is a lesson in the intergalactic origins of hip-hop turntablism. Set in the Bronx in the mid seventies, this video remix kicks off with the alien abduction of the three pioneers of the hip-hop "old skool": DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Baambattaa.
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Once on board the Mothership with Sun Ra and George Clinton, the three DJs are transported to Planet Rock where they are skilled in a secret alien technic – the scratch. Armed with this sonic intelligence, they are returned to the Bronx to unleash hip-hop turntablism onto the airwaves of planet Earth. |
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Situated at the intersection of science fiction and black atlantic audio culture, "Astro Black" plugs into the conceptual framework of Afro-Futurism - an area of cultural theory that has been in play since the early 90s. By confirming the alien heritage of hip-hop we are not so much falsifying a history as rewiring intergalactic mythologies that are already in circulation. |
