Why Kanye's New Video makes my Love Lockdown

Welcome to the Afrofuture! Completely blank and empty. Everything else has been wiped away. We've outlasted all of our oppressions and oppressors...the universe is ours to fill.

I saw art, praise, reverance and identification with, not exoticization of! This is what goes on inside of him…these people are him. This is a depiction of him. The masquerade in the monochromatic room with him, IS him. I think that’s perfect. These people are me. No matter how many times they've been co-opted by others, they are still me. Still Kanye. I love that he was able to take these images that have been shown over and over and over in an oppressive and exoticizing and distasteful manner, and make them seem fresh and new. Bring them life. Revive them.

I really appreciate bringing traditional eastern/southern African masquerades, war attire, party gear, all kinds stylization within those aesthetics ... into the future. I even saw a spaceship! Telescope, monochromatic surroundings, and the women at the end with the bright colors were very neon. I thought it was very afro futuristic and no oppressors were a part of the dialogue. They may watch it (and probably helped make it…but obviously lots of black people helped too) but they damn sure aren’t represented in it!

No bones, no flies, no drooping breasts, no national geographic. Why can’t art be African influenced? If the video had been Japanese themed with samurai warriors and the big Japanese taiko drums, it would not have been so offensive (Swazi and I seem to have the same mind). I thought it was beautiful and I saw myself in it (especially the part with the women w/ponytails…looked a little Fulani-esque to me).

We don’t have to be afraid of all depictions of traditional African culture and aesthetic.

Those mythological American paintings of naked black women being pregnant with the world (in my daddy’s living room) scare me a lot more than this video ever could.