Funk, Blaxploitation, & Hip Hop Aesthetics

TASHEKA ARCENEAUX-SUTTON, PIERRE BOWINS with SILAS MUNRO

From the bass heavy riffs of Curtis Mayfield’s SuperFly 1973 soundtrack to the scratch and synthesized Brox rhythms of 1970s and 1980s DJ’s like Afrika Bambaattaa and Grandmaster Flash—the histories of Black music and Black design have been intermixed.

Similarly in Film, the generative collaboration between Art Sims and Spike Lee that began with the posters such as Do The Right Thing, 1981 and New Jack City, 1991 lead to audiences literally breaking down bus shelters to collect the posters. This talk will dig through the crates to show the global influence of Black design.