The Afro-punk Festival is returning to Brooklyn’s Commodore Barry Park for the 7th Annual Afro-punk Festival on August 27-28. The 2011 festival has the most stellar line up yet with Cee-Lo Green, Santigold, Janelle Monae, Fishbone, Jay Electronica, Toro Y Moi, Toshi Reagon, Ninjasonik, Cerebral Ballzy, Gordon Voidwell, Reggie Watts, Res, Joi, Rocky Business, Straight Line Stitch and more to be added! In addition, the NikeBattle For the Streets Skate and BMX Competition, the largest street skate and BMX competition in NYC will return this year with the nation’s top amateur skaters and BMX riders in a competition to be judged by top professionals in both sports including Nigel Sylvester.
There are some very exciting new additions to the festival this year! Over 20 of the NYC area’s hottest food trucks and vendors have been brought together for the Afro-Punk Bites and Beats Food Truck Festival, which will bring cuisine from around the world and the 5 boroughs to the festival. In addition, Chef Marcellus Coleman, Executive Chef of Alias Restaurant in NYC, will provide his eclectic contemporary American cuisine to the festival artists, athletes and VIP’s.
Afro-punk has invited Harley-Davidson and Brooklyn Black bike scene documentarians, Denim and Chrome, to collaborate on a custom bike show featuring dozens of exotic custom bikes created by black riders in the NYC area. The custom bike show will also serve as the backdrop for the Harley-Davidson/Denim and Chrome 2012 Calendar, photographed by Darius Vick, which will featureexquisite tattooed beauties each month for bike fans across the country. In addition, the festival has commissioned an artist to paint over 300 skateboards as part of one large mural aka The Skate Artwall. The boards will be contested to Afro-punk fans at the Festival and Afro-punk will follow the life of the boards over the next year whether on the wall, the street or the half-pipe.
Described by the New York Timesas 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.
Afro-Punk 2011 Band Lineup
Cee-Lo Green
Santigold
Janelle Monae
Fishbone
Jay Electronica
Toro Y Moi
Toshi Reagon
Ninjasonik
Cerebral Ballzy
Gordon Voidwell
Reggie Watts
Res
Joi
Rocky Business
Straight Line Stitch
