10 Years of THE AFRO IS AFRICAN
10 Years of
THE AFRO IS AFRICAN
By Odidi Mfenyana
first performed in Cape Town Festival 2004 and Joburg Bar's L/B's installation art bar, in his sophomore solo One man show "rhythms down my spine"
“Pick your Afro, Daddy, Because It’s Flat on One Side”
Afro – A style of curly black hair resembling that of African Negro tribes, says The World Book Dictionary
Afro – It needs no definition, no explanation, no contradiction, no introspection and definitely no hateration, for it is just what it is an Afro, says the Fashion Bible of the House of The Holy Afro
The Afro, Ladies and Gentlemen is not a symbol it does not gesticulate or perpetrate or instigate
The Afro is the big black truth as opposed to the little white lie.
THE AFRO IS AFRICAN
The Afro is Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five
Teaching you your ABC’s, One Two Three
Asking,” Can you feel it, can you feel it, can you feel it?”
Cause if you can’t…” I’ll be there…”
The Afro is not Michael Jackson looking like
An Invincible, Dangerous, Bad, Thriller
THE AFRO IS AFRICAN
The Afro is SuperFly, Foxy Brown and Shaft
The Afro is Miriam Makeba, Josephine Baker, Salif Keita, President Ellen Johnson Surlief, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sade Adu, Steve Bantu Biko, Stokely Carmichel, Nkwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba and Barack Obama,
But most of all its Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
The Afro is Black Thought, Black Consciousness, Black Youth, Black Soul, Black Roots, Black Booty, Black Pussy and Big Black Cocks
THE AFRO IS AFRICAN
The Afro is Jimi Hendrix high up in his Electric Sky Church
Giving thanks and praise to that Foxy Lady, that Electric Lady
That put his soul in a funk of a Purple Haze –
His Voodoo Child and the cobra to the conjuror
Miles and miles of Miles Davis
THE AFRO IS AFRICAN
The Afro is the beat, it’s the drum, and it’s the voice of Margaret Singana singing in twin tone –
“Bayete ziNkosi!”
Echoing through the Great Rift Valley
The intro, the outro, the verse and the chorus
Of every song of this earth’s great womb
THE AFRO IS AFRICAN
The Afro is Mahogany Soul, with a Baobab Bass, a Papyrus Pitch bathed in Palm Oil and wrapped in a Coffee Cacophony
THE AFRO IS AFRICAN
The Afro is strong, bold and dynamic
For it can be Nice & Easy or hard and rough
But the Afro in order to keep growing
It needs nourishment, braiding, plaiting, placating
Yet, most of all it needs…Love, uThando
So that’s why you gotta…
“Pick your Afro daddy, because it’s flat on one side…”
- Erykah Badu from the album Baduizm
THE AFRO IS AFRICAN
By Odidi Mfenyana
first performed in Cape Town Festival 2004 and Joburg Bar's L/B's installation art bar, in his sophomore solo One man show "rhythms down my spine"
“Pick your Afro, Daddy, Because It’s Flat on One Side”
Afro – A style of curly black hair resembling that of African Negro tribes, says The World Book Dictionary
Afro – It needs no definition, no explanation, no contradiction, no introspection and definitely no hateration, for it is just what it is an Afro, says the Fashion Bible of the House of The Holy Afro
The Afro, Ladies and Gentlemen is not a symbol it does not gesticulate or perpetrate or instigate
The Afro is the big black truth as opposed to the little white lie.
THE AFRO IS AFRICAN
The Afro is Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five
Teaching you your ABC’s, One Two Three
Asking,” Can you feel it, can you feel it, can you feel it?”
Cause if you can’t…” I’ll be there…”
The Afro is not Michael Jackson looking like
An Invincible, Dangerous, Bad, Thriller
THE AFRO IS AFRICAN
The Afro is SuperFly, Foxy Brown and Shaft
The Afro is Miriam Makeba, Josephine Baker, Salif Keita, President Ellen Johnson Surlief, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sade Adu, Steve Bantu Biko, Stokely Carmichel, Nkwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba and Barack Obama,
But most of all its Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
The Afro is Black Thought, Black Consciousness, Black Youth, Black Soul, Black Roots, Black Booty, Black Pussy and Big Black Cocks
THE AFRO IS AFRICAN
The Afro is Jimi Hendrix high up in his Electric Sky Church
Giving thanks and praise to that Foxy Lady, that Electric Lady
That put his soul in a funk of a Purple Haze –
His Voodoo Child and the cobra to the conjuror
Miles and miles of Miles Davis
THE AFRO IS AFRICAN
The Afro is the beat, it’s the drum, and it’s the voice of Margaret Singana singing in twin tone –
“Bayete ziNkosi!”
Echoing through the Great Rift Valley
The intro, the outro, the verse and the chorus
Of every song of this earth’s great womb
THE AFRO IS AFRICAN
The Afro is Mahogany Soul, with a Baobab Bass, a Papyrus Pitch bathed in Palm Oil and wrapped in a Coffee Cacophony
THE AFRO IS AFRICAN
The Afro is strong, bold and dynamic
For it can be Nice & Easy or hard and rough
But the Afro in order to keep growing
It needs nourishment, braiding, plaiting, placating
Yet, most of all it needs…Love, uThando
So that’s why you gotta…
“Pick your Afro daddy, because it’s flat on one side…”
- Erykah Badu from the album Baduizm
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