These colors are running in a new direction!
Legendary band Living Colour, which has been playing punk and heavy metal for 32 years, will showcase a new musical side at the Afropunk music festival on Aug. 28, debuting tunes from its upcoming hip-hop mixtape. The new direction was inspired by the slain rapper Biggie Smalls and by the rage caused by police shootings of black people, said the band’s lead vocalist.
“Biggie had a major influence on us and we thought, ‘What was happening, what was going on?’ ” said Corey Glover. “With the proliferation of guns and black bodies being sacrificed by guns, we thought now more than ever that something needs to be done and said.”
The mixtape, named for Biggie’s song, “Who Shot Ya?” will flip the iconic rap beef song to address the current hostile climate between cops and the black community. It will also feature hip-hop takes on older Living Colour songs.
The band is also working on an album of original tunes, its first in seven years, titled “Shade.” At the festival, the band will play new songs that also channel the rage that inspired the mixtape, said Glover — an attitude that recalls the essence of Afropunk.
“We’re going to play some of the more typical stuff, but we’re going to try to play some newer stuff on the new album,” said Glover. “Our original thought for the album was taking the task of urban blues. Those old blues dudes — they took that attitude and that’s really the genesis of what we call Afropunk. They took all the hurt and joy they had and turned it into music.”
The socially conscious band formed in 1984, and scored its biggest hit in 1988 with “Cult of Personality.” Despite its early visibility as a black punk band, Glover said that the roots of the Afropunk movement extend to well before Living Colour’s debut.
“There were people doing that way before us,” said Glover. “There were lots of bands and a lot of them are progenitors of that scene — bands that no one has ever heard of.”
Glover said there is still too little reflection of black punk music in the media — aside from the Afropunk festival.
“It’s still tough out there — to be heard,” said Glover. “Mainstream media is the gatekeeper and it’s very rare we hear it. Even though there’s the Afropunk festival, there’s still no alternative, or an Afropunk radio station.”
The two-day Afropunk festival, which was founded in 2005 as a space for black punk and rock bands, will also feature performances from Ice Cube, Janelle Monae, indie rock band TV On the Radio, funk star George Clinton, Skunk Anansie, and many others.
Afropunk Festival at Commodore Barry Park (Flushing Avenue beween N. Elliott Place and Navy Street in Fort Greene, www.afrop
