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"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.     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. 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.






Astro Black: A History of Hip-Hop [Episode 1]
(2007)
Soda_Jerk with
Sam Smith
Digital Video
Dur. 6.35 mins
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