We might understand Mills and Monáe as disseminating, in the words of Paul Gilroy, an Afrofuturist “cultural broadcast” that feeds “a new metaphysics of blackness” enacted “within the underground, alternative, public spaces constituted around an expressive culture. The performances, music, and subjectivities of Detroit techno producer Jeff Mills-radio turntablist The Wizard, space-and-time traveller The Messenger, founding member of Detroit techno outfit Underground Resistance and head of Axis Records-and Janelle Monáe-android #57821, Cindi Mayweather, denizen and “cyber slavegirl” of Metropolis-are infused with the black Atlantic imaginary of Afrofuturism. Womack is a filmmaker, futurist, and the author of Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African American Identity and 2212: Book of Rayla.
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