The Retrospective

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Saul Williams and the Afro-Punk Tour San Francisco

December 16th, 2009 by

Saul Williams AfroPunk San Francisco
Photo Credit: Whitney Summer

A few years back my brother Yanick introduced me to a film that gave me a glimpse into a movement of which, up until that point, I didn’t even know I was a part. The film was Afro-Punk, directed by James Spooner, and it touches on not only the musicality of black fronted punk and hardcore bands like Bad Brains and many others, but also the very real racial aspect of being black in the punk rock scene. While no one can really dictate what is or is not black (I’ve actually had other black people tell me I wasn’t black enough, go figure. I was born and raised in Africa, folks!), the film was nevertheless profound.

saul williams
Photo Credit: Whitney Summer

Fast forward to 2009 and Afro-Punk is not only a film, but a yearly festival held in NY as well as a tour. I had the pleasure of catching it in San Francisco, where Saul Williams, American Fangs, Earl Greyhound, CX Kidtronik and Tchaka Diallo gave us all an amazing show. Considering the diverse crowd of music-lovers from all walks of life who’d come out that night for the show at The Independent, I felt a strange bond with the other concert-goers. We were treated to a bit of everything from southern hard rock to spoken word to sounds I cannot even begin to describe. After the show I had the chance to catch up with American Fang’s lead singer, Gabriel, as well as critically acclaimed artist Saul Williams, discussing everything from “Afro Punk’s” various meanings to the strange fact that Rick Reuben drives a Honda Insight.

Gabriel & Gitamba
Photo Credit: Whitney Summer
[audio:american_fangs.mp3]
American Fangs

Saul Williams & Gitamba
Photo Credit: Alicia Adams
[audio:saul_williams.mp3]
Saul Williams

Check out even more photos and coverage from the show over at The AfroPunk Website. Special thanks to Matthew & Whitney from AfroPunk.

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Tags: Event · Films · Interview · Music · San Francisco2 Comments

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2 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Whitney Summer Dec 17, 2009 at 10:23 pm

    Great meeting you,

    Best of luck with future projects!

    -W

  • 2 Jason Dec 18, 2009 at 2:55 pm

    I think this is one of my favorite posts so far!