Apr 19, 2016
Afropunk is celebrating its 12th year in style. The annual Brooklyn music festival is taking place this year from August 27 - 28, and has just released its incredible lineup. Afropunk will feature headliners such as the newly Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Ice Cube, along with Tyler, the Creator, Flying Lotus, Janelle Monae, TV on the Radio, The Internet and Parliament/Funkadelic legend George Clinton.
Afropunk was originally created as a space for African Americans among predominantly white punk music scenes, but has now evolved to encompass an array of musical genres and performances. The festival is honoring its punk roots this year with a “superjam” featuring members of Bad Brains, Living Colour, and Fishbone. Last year, Afropunk also expanded in location, offering festivals in both Paris and Atlanta, Georgia. This year’s Afropunk theme is “Power to the Party.” Alongside the lineup announcement, Afropunk released a statement about the theme choice:
“Power, it's a feeling, it's an energy, it's the undisputed connection between cause and effect - the best of us give it away, the worst usurp it, but living modern life to the fullest, means either mastering your relationship to it or walking in its shadow. We are not blind.
Party is an oxymoron, it's a gathering of many for a shared purpose and it's also an outcast individual, it's a lively social occasion as well as a gang - and the story of any party is never over, because like naked cities and the metaphysical "I", there's always another take.
Power to the Party means trusting the friction, the transference of great capacity to the free spirit, belief in the high-heeled spark of the assembly, and the group-mind's ability to choose a glorious path. This isn't about getting elected, or being protected; it's about staking a claim.
Join the party and feel its power.”
Other artists on the menu for Afropunk 2016 are: TV on the Radio, Cee-Lo Green, The Internet, Earl Sweatshirt, Skunk Anansie, Skye & Ross of Morcheeba, Young Fathers, Benjamin Booker, Saul Williams, Angel Haze, Kelela, Trash Talk, Shabazz Palaces, Thundercat, Sango, Esta, Gallant, Prayers, Radkey, Seinabo Sey, The Suffers, Sir The Baptist, Sate, Downtown Boys, Roman Gianarthur, Joe Kay, The Whooligan, SPZRKT, Eden Hagos.
Ticket purchases and additional information can be found on Afropunk’s website.
IMAGE: Afropunk