TRANSMISSION FROM THE AFRO SURREAL

TOPIC: A FEW NOTES ON PRESENTISM, THE AFRO SURREALIST, and ON THE AFRO-SURREAL ITSELF

MESSAGE 1 OUT OF ?????

The afro surreal abounds in every part of OUR lives. Small ways. Enormous ways. No ways at all. It rebels against order making that seems so constant in art and THE WORLD. It is the switch on the Glock. It is the howl of the saxophone on a late night on a cold planet like that one episode of Cowboy Bebop. The copy of Franz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth lobbed at the police man.

A PUNCH/BULLET/SPIT/CRITIQUE/MANIFESTO AIMED AT THE FORCES OF ORDER...

DISORDER, JAZZ, HIP HOP THE BLUES???? A THOUSAND DIFFERENT METHODS STUCK INSIDE OF THE WORLD. NOT JUST MERELY VIOLENCE...tho what is the world without that? IT IS ALSO BEAUTY>>>>>

Speaking swahili as we practice boxing next to Lake Merritt. Reciting Zeelooperz lyrics out loud as a Tesla burns on 676. MAKING LOVE TO YA LOVER AS THE SUN RISES AND SOME R&B PLAYING. THE BLUISH SKY IN GERMANTOWN. Listening to Wayne Wonder or Migos on THE RADIO AS YOU ROLL THROUGH THE PINES IN ATLANTA. Shooting guns in the desert as you listen to lofi beats. Watching the homies smoke a spliff or blunt or bowl next to the calm calm waves of the Pacific Ocean. WATCHING OLD STORMZY FREESTYLE VIDEOS. FIRE IN THE PARK FIRE IN THE PARK FIRE IN THE PARK.

THIS IS NOT A MANIFESTO AS THE AFRO SURREAL CANNOT BE CONTAINED BY ANYTHING WITH A MANIFEST>

THIS IS A A MESSAGE MESSAGE message . . . bzzzzzzzzzttt

The afro surrealist is uninterested in being legible. This message will be understood by many as idiotic. He or she or they (the afro-surrealist) has no desire to acquire white allies or speak “truth to power.” The afro surrealist wakes up in a mansion of the Black bourgeoisie or an encampment of the houseless and feels at home at the strangeness of both. THE AFRO SURREAL PERMEATES EVERY PART OF WHERE WE ARE. AS D. SCOTT SAYS (shoutout to the OG), THE FUTURE HAS BEEN AROUND SO LONG IT IS NOW THE PAST. ALL WE HAVE IS THE EVER BURNING PRESENT >>>>>>>>>

Some episodes of Atlanta can be understood through the Afro-surreal even if that BROTHA IS OFTEN CONFUSED. Who hasn’t talked with a strange Nation brotha on the BUS OR TRAIN? Or watched an invisible sports car drive fast? Something unexplained. Strange. Odd. Weird. Bizarre. Nonsensical. Who hasn’t spent time with the afro-surreal?????

WE ALL HAVE.

The afro surreal is uninterested in anything but the present. WE CALL THIS PRESENTISM. Presentism is the ability of the afro-surrealist to root themselves in the strangeness of everyday life faced by the racialized subject. It is Fanon and Wilderson, Robinson and Shakur and DuBois all rolled into one as you sit outside of your favorite chicken shop. IT DEFIES WORLD MAKING. WORLDMAKING IS FOR THE AFRO-FUTURISTS, THE AUTHORITARIANS AND THE STUDENTS OF REALISM. THE afro surrealist has little desire to make a world as THE AFRO SURREAL flows and dances through the world as it exists now. THE AFRO SURREAL IS Like THE WAVES AS PEOPLE WADE IN THE WATER LIKE THAT OLD SONG.

For those of us who have witnessed urban samurai, nothing but the present has any interest for us...

REFERENCE POINTS FOR THE AFRO SURREAL AND PRESENTISM

BLACK SKIN WHITE MASKS
VINCE STAPLES RAMONA PARK AND THE REST OF HIS DISCOGRAPHY AND HIS SHOW

DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO WITH A PAST LOVER AND NOW INCARCERATED FRIEND
IM A VIRGO BOOTS RILEY

BOUNCE MUSIC...SHOUTOUT AND RIP TO MAGNOLIA SHORTY

MUMBO JUMBO

SOLANGE A SEAT AT THE TABLE

THE AFROSURREAL MANIFESTO D SCOTT MILLER

SOUL SAMPLES ON A EARLY 2000s YE BEAT

FREESTYLING IN A BASEMENT WITH YA BROTHAS

SITTING IN MACYS JAIL
INVISIBLE MAN

GRAFITTI THAT SAYS DEATH TO THE WHITE WORLD

ARPEGGIATED HIHATS

JACOB LAWRENCE PAINTINGS MANNNNN

DANCING TO PHILLY CLUB AT THE RAVE AS A FIRE BURNS NEXT TO THE RIVER
BLACK ARMS TO HOLD YOU UP

THE MUSIC OF SLAUSON MALONE

THE IMMIGRANT FLEA MARKET WHERE YOU GET SOME FRESH NEW KICKS

PRINCE PRINCE PRINCE PRINCE

THE MUSIC OF JAMILA WOODS...WE ENJOY TINY GARDEN WITH DUENDITA

STUCK IN THE DMV WITH AN OLD WOMAN WHO UNDERSTOOD THE WHOLE GALAXY

CRYING TO NONAME’S VERSE ON COCOA BUTTER KISSES

THE JAZZ JAM AT THE ETHIOPIAN CAFE
SPIKE LEES MALCOLM X

THE MUSIC OF 21 SAVAGE

DRUNK PRAYER MAVI

STANDING ON THE CORNER RED BURNSSSSS

THE RIOT THE RIOT THE RIOT THE RIOT

ARMAND HAMMERS WHOLE DISCOGRAPHY
FRANK OCEANS BLONDE

JIM LEGXACY AFRO POP REMIX OF MILEY CYRUS...ITS FIRE THOOO

SAMPHA’S VOICE

GWENDOLYN BROOKS, THE POETRY

WHITE BOY SHUFFLE BY PAUL BEATTY

USING SECRET DEADLY MARTIAL ARTS TECHNIQUES ON A WHITE NATIONALIST

THOSE OLD SOUL RECORDS THAT YOU NEVER REALLY UNDERSTOOD

LIL MAMA’ BLOG

MAY GOD BLESS YOUR HUSTLE MIKE

GO AHEAD IN THE RAIN NOTES ON A TRIBE CALLED QUEST

THE MUSIC OF PHAROAH SANDERS

JUST ANOTHER GIRL ON THE IRT

TAKING YOUR LOVER TO THAT BLACK HISTORY MUSEUM THAT NO ONE RECALLS
NOURISHED BY TIME EROTIC PRO BIOTIC

DIVINE DAYS

JOEY BADA$$ SURVIVAL TACTICS VIDEO RIP CAPITAL STEEZ KING CAPITAL

LATE NIGHTS WITH THE HOMIES
TRAIN RIDES THAT STRETCH INTO THE INFINITE

BREAK

These are just a few small points on the graph/notes on the fretboard for you to navigate within. The AFRO SURREAL IS NOT RESTRICTED BY BORDERS MADE BY MAN. IT SPREADS JUST LIKE JES’ GREW DID IN OUR ELDER ISHMAEL REED’S SEMINAL NOVEL. THIS NOVEL ESPECIALLY THE LAST 30 OR SO PAGES IS IMPORTANT AS IT IS HISTORICAL AND RELEVANT TO PRESENTISM.

PRESENTISM AS AN ASPECT AS THE AFRO SURREAL IS AMONG THE MOST IMPORTANT IN OUR VIEW. THE AFRO SURREALIST DOES NOT FEAR THE PRESENT AS MANY OTHERS DO THE AFRO SURREALIST DOES NOT FEAR THE PRESENT AS MANY OTHERS DO. THE AFRO SURREALIST LOOKS AT NUCLEAR WAR, FASCISM, CONCENTRATION CAMPS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, GENTRIFICATION, AI, CLIMATE CHANGE, GROWING OLD, THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY, LOSING LOVE, AND ANY OTHER ELEMENTS AS ANY FLANEUR DOES. THE AFRO surrealist IS NOT AFRAID OF THESE THINGS.

A million different Black communist journals rejected this manifesto. They were afraid it would render the work of our ol’ buddy Karl irrelevant. While we enjoy Karl’s contributions, we are afraid that our communist colleagues lose themselves in their theorizing about the proletariat while the proletariat and the lumpen are too busy creating scam rap in order to fund their expenditures. We find ourselves more in step with the proletariat whatever strange antics they enjoy than any sort of MARXIST OR SOCIALIST OR ANARCHIST OR COMMUNIST. THE AFRO SURREAL SURROUNDS ALL AND EXTENDS BEYONDDDDDDD. I

PRESENTISM IS CLR JAMES MIXED WITH THE TENACITY OF YA FAVORITE DRUG DEALER AND HOODOO PRACTICITIONER PLUS A HINT OF THE NEGRO ESCAPE ARTIST...

PRESENTISM is a BLUES MAN LIKE ALONZO HICKMAN, JAZZ SINGER LIKE BILLIE AND A MC LIKE MF DOOM!!!!!

The afro surreal speaks to the New Afrika that exists in every little moment of life uncaptured by the AI DATA COLLECTION MACHINE THAT SO MANY OF YOU HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH. THE AFRO SURREALIST LOSES HIS PHONE IN THE RIVER, IN THE SUBWAY, IN THE BATHROOM, IN THE SPACE SHIP. HIS CELL PHONE IS GONE AND WILL NEVER RETURN. THE AFRO SURREaLIST IS LOST IN THE CITY JUST LIKE OREO FROM OUR SISTA FRAN ROSS NOVEL. SHE HAS NO DESIRE TO RETURN TO order...

The ATONISTS wonder where they can find the AFRO SURREAL. They have attempted to capture it. No one can contain it no matter how many prisons they build. IT BLOOMS LIKE THE FLOWERS. FLOWS LIKE THE RIVER. The strange beauty of everyday life cannot be understood adequately. THE SMOKE BLOOMS AS THE RIOT EXPANDS AND CONTRACTS. A Ski mask across our faces as we bump a local rapper with only 3 listeners as he names the cops over a drill beat...we are fighting those cops in the streets. CYBERPUNK BUT THIS AINT NO VIDEO GAME>>>>>>>>>>

IT IS ONLY IN THAT MOMENT THAT YOU KNOW IT IS ALL TOGETHER. LIKE JAZZ. LIKE THE BLUES. LIKE THE ROAR OF SATCHMO’S TRUMPET. LIKE HOW NINA BE SINGING MISSISSIPPI GODDAMMMMM...LIKE THE TIGHTEST OF LOOPS BY J DILLA.

THE AFRO SURREALIST WITH A PRESENTISM FLAVOr HAS TO MAKE SENSE OF THE REALITY. IT FLOATS IN BETWEEN THE REALITIES THAT ARE CONFUSED. FIRE AND WATER ARE CRITICAL. FIRE FOR THE LIFE WATER FOR THE DEATH FIRE FOR ANGER WATER FOR REFLECTION WATER AND FIRE WATER AND FIRE WE HOPE THAT MAKES SENSE.

WE WANT TO LIVE IN THE WAY THAT JAMES BALDWIN WRITES ABOUT JAZZ IN ANOTHER COUNTRY.

Our scribe Common raps on Be (Intro).......

I WANNA be as FREE as the SPIRITS of those who LEFT

I’m talking MALCOLM, COLTRANE, my man YUSEF

Through DEATH GREW CONCEPTION, new BREATH and RESURRECTION

nothing could B more appropriate...

(END MESSAGE FOR NOW NOW NOW)