“I would see more black people with mohawks than I’d ever seen my entire life. You see people who you thought you were the only one of.” -P.O.S., musician
Erykah Badu, Gym Class Heroes, Janelle Monae, Das Racist, Skindred, Toro Y Moi, Reggie Watts, The Afro-punk Festival is returning to Brooklyn’s Commodore Barry Park for the 8h Annual Afro-punk Festival on August 25-26.
The 2012 festival has the most stellar line up yet with Erykah Badu, Gym Class Heroes, Janelle Monae, Das Racist, Toro Y Moi, Reggie Watts, Spank Rock, Ninjasonik, The Memorials, Bad Rabbits, Gordon Voidwell, Cerebral Ballzy, Phony Ppl, Body Language, and more to be added! In addition, the Nike Battle For the Streets Skate Competition, the largest street skate competition in NYC will return this year with the nation’s top amateur skaters in a competition to be judged by top professionals in both sports.
Last year’s festival was unfortunately cancelled due to Hurricane Irene which almost put an end to the Afro-punk Festival but through the organization’s work and this year’s sponsors which include Nike, Vitamin Water, and media sponsors The Fader and WNYC, the festival is back and still free to the public!
Described by the New York Times as putting “rock and rebellion squarely in the category of African-American music,” the Afro-punk Festival has become a Brooklyn intuition, the focal point for the burgeoning Afro-punk movement. Over the past seven years, the festival has presented new artists before they hit it big, such as Grammy-nominated Santigold, The Noisettes and Janelle Monae. Afro-punk mainstays like Saul Williams, The Dirtbombs, and Dallas Austin have also graced Afro-punk’s stages.

“Afropunk supported me from the beginning. They’ve been the early adopters...because of their word of mouth, I’m able to go out to the rest of the world.” -Janelle Monae, musician

































“Skate boaders and BMX riders we live the same life, just on a different tool. It takes something like Afropunk to bring us together.” -Nigel Silvester, pro-bmx rider










“A constructive place of what punk rock was about.” -Ian MacKaye, musician
B, D, N, Q, or R Trains to Dekalb Avenue Station. F Train to York Street Station. B57, B62 & B69 Buses to Commodore Barry Park.
Press: Girlie Action: Sarah Avrin
sarah@girlie.com
Editorial: Lou Constant-Desportes
loucd@afropunk.com
Sponsorship and Sales: Jocelyn Cooper
jc@afropunk.com
Web Issues
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