This weekend, the annual Afropunk Fest comes to Brooklyn's Commodore Barry Park. The show has become a yearly highlight of New York City's musical summer, featuring an eclectic, increasingly prominent line-up and a drawing a crowd to match. The New York Times has called the festival "The most mulitcultural festival in the U.S." But as it becomes a tradition, an institution even, it raises a question. What exactly is "Afropunk?"
The festival's official site says. "The word AFROPUNK itself has become synonymous with open-minded, non-conforming and unconventional, placing the institution at the epicenter of urban culture inspired by alternative music."
Hmm. That's a lot of big words. And we're not very smart.
So we decided to go to a reliable source to help us get it. We asked a person who is playing the festival, Sacha Jenkins, of the White Mandingos, to explain. Because Sacha knows us, knows that we are computer-addled, short-attention-span products of the 21st century who can only undestand ideas when they're presented in an easily digestible list, with pretty pictures to look at while we read, he humored us by explaining The Ten Most Afro-Punk Things in the World.
(After the White Mandingos themselves, we're pretty sure.)
Related: Interview: The White Mandingos Are Not Unicorns