Brian Josephs prays to the Shmurda Hat. It’s his guardian angel. Here’s the thing about a lot of Afrofuturists: They don’t necessarily like the term. That’s partly because it simplifies the varying beliefs the artists under the label represent. Also, “labels”: Many Black artists have been paranoid of those. The term itself is a bit […]

Peter Holslin wrote this from his vacation home on Mars Ishmael Butler handles the mic like a king. I mean this quite literally. On the new Shabazz Palaces album, Lese Majesty, I keep picturing the veteran rapper luxuriating atop a throne, ruling over some deep space Planet X, as he drops 10-dollar words (“sepulcher,” “farceur”), […]