Page 27 - Vo Vo | FIX MY HEAD #10: COMPLEXITY

2. Tell us about the members.
We’ll were all from the black chicago land area which has a lot of philosophies and identities. We grew up around gangs, religions, very peculiar lifestyles. Some of which we personally adhere to. I won’t go in-depth because most of it isn’t for people on the outside to really know or understand. Political engagement work isn’t something we really do regularly. It’s kinda some- thing we live. Everything about us just living is a political statement. We dont really need signs with slogans. Rolling a 2 year old down the street in a stroller while having natural hair is a whole think piece waiting to be written.
3. How is your work going around masculinity, and other themes? Can you tell our readers a lit- tle bit about this?
There are different forms of masculinity. They very among race an ethnicity. In order to survive in america alot of people have adopted a white, western, sexist approach to expressing them- selves. I feel like because that form is always centered it’s always dominant. It’s like i don’t think anyone wants to hear how my grandad kissed me on my forehead an hugged me when I did good things.
4. What are your thoughts on Afropunk?
Afropunk for me started out as website messageboard where I could connect with other black alternative people. I learned a lot of history through many people who were present during dif- ferent eras of punk,goth and metal. I didn’t actually see the documentary until a few years later. So the director behind it, James Spooner sold the rights to two black individuals who were never really involved with punk before. Their whole theory of punk was kinda based off of Tamar Kali saying that Nina Simone was punk to her and that in order to find a place in the subculture she found ties to African aesthetic in it. They took that and added capitalism and opportunism to push the brand forward. In other words they don’t really care about black diy or punk unless it keeps them relevant and makes
them money. They generally won’t feature black hard rock groups without some kind of buzz that they can use in order to feed back into the brand to keep it relevant. They don’t really have original ideas an generally piggy back on whatever social climate black people are in at the moment. If the term “flags in the air” was a popular black radical catchphrase they would put it on a shirt an sell it. They cannibalize other black creative’s work to produce a false presentation of originality. Their articles an think pieces are a culmination of other
black peoples tumblr an twitter posts. If they were a living person they
would be the one black staffer in corporate america that steals others lesser known black peoples work in order to get ahead cause they’ve
seen white people do it a million times.