This is an excerpt from Episode 1 of Astro Black, a 4-channel video installation informed by the history and politics of Afrofuturism. Early hip-hop culture was heavily influenced by the intergalactic mythologies of Sun Ra and George Clinton, and Episode 1 seeks to draw out these connections. Set in 1974 in the South Bronx, the episode begins in a neighbourhood centre where Sun Ra is discussing his ideas about the intersection of myth, race and outer space. It is here that the three future originators of hip-hop – Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash – are abducted and transported across the galaxy to Planet Rock where they are schooled in the alien language of turntablism.
Dope.
Ish you’re talking