Afro-futurism is characterized by Ingrid LaFleur, as the, “imagining of possible futures through a black cultural lens.”
It often features booming bass drums, rattling percussions and the presence of an electronic bass or keyboards. It often seeps into different genres from R&B to jazz to reggae, and alternative pop as seen through the works of Solange Knowles, Janelle Monae, Erykah Badu, Grace Jones and Flying Lotus, to name a few.
Skai Lounge explores the landscape of Afro-futurism with his latest offering “Ebony Rising”. The four-track project is a collaboration with longtime friend Tanaka.
Bubblegum Club sits down with the talented producer, DJ and musician to discuss the EP.
Lee Nxumalo: What does this project mean for you at this point in your career?
Skai Lounge: Honestly the timing of this release could’ve been better! I’ve been releasing some of the coolest DJ sets the city has seen. Earlier this year, I released a single with an alternative touch to Melodic House, and the recent shoots I’ve been coordinating with friends to bring the world of Skai Lounge to life have been beautiful.
At this point, Ebony Rising serves as a stellar contribution to the wave of Afro-futurism I’ve been pushing with my own personal spin. Plus, this is the work in my catalogue [that] I’m most proud of. I wanted to compile them [the songs] in [a] cohesive manner wrapped in themes that I care about to create a fascinating listening experience.
Lee Nxumalo: Does the title of the opening track “It feels to feel good” have any significant meaning?
Skai Lounge: There was a night [when] my friends were painting, and I decided to DJ and create a vibe while they make art. One of the tracks I played was “Then We Dance” by Eli Fola and there is a line where he says “It feels good to feel good, I think that everybody knows that”. At that moment, Tanaka and I looked at each other and kept saying “It Feels Good to Feel Good” with a smile on our faces – it even feels good to utter those words.
That title captures the essence of ‘good vibes’ and being comfortable in your own skin. Eli Fola is also an artist I highly respect who holds elements of Afro-futurism in his craft, so I thought it would be cool to pay homage to an artist I admire through using that title.
Lee Nxumalo: Why did you want to open the EP with that record?
Skai Lounge: I think it’s one of the best tracks I’ve made so far and it signals the maturation in my music. When we finished it, I thought “Damn they GOTTA hear this shit!”. Tanaka and I joke that it sounds like Fela Kuti meets Tame Impala. I honestly love how the track carries Afro-house, Electronic, and Indie elements and those are genres that I hardly hear mixed together, and that creates quite a fascinating listening experience.
Lee Nxumalo: Why was it important to collaborate with Tanaka for the project?
Skai Lounge: Firstly, it’s our relationship. He’s not only one of my best friends but we also live together. There is a level of trust on a personal level where we can communicate things openly, and as “serious” [as] the project sounds sometimes; behind the scenes, we were actually having so much fun and making stupid jokes constantly. Banter for me is quite important.
Secondly, the dude is not only one of the best musicians I know, [but] he also has a distinct voice that helped bring the project to life. With that being said, his musical opinion means a lot to me and it helped shape the production on certain tracks, especially “It Feels Good to Be Afrikan”.
Lee Nxumalo: That leads into my next question which is what do you think he brought to the project?
Skai Lounge: Haha. Answering these questions is making me quite nostalgic about my studio sessions with Tanaka and has me feeling grateful for our relationship, thank you.
Working on music has usually been, and still is, quite a solitary experience for me. Having a partner to work with continuously brought new energy into the project and that allows me to see things in a different perspective. As a producer, I had to be less ‘selfish’ since I’m always tempted to add more elements on songs but on this project, I had to be mindful of leaving space for Tanaka’s vocals which brought a sense of balance to the project. If he wasn’t on this, I probably would’ve gone overboard with sounds
The driving force behind the vocals and songwriting was Tanaka with me contributing here and there on the lyrics. The guitars you hear on “It Feels Good To Feel Good”, that’s Tanaka on it. It’s great that he comes from a different musical background as it places emphasis on how Ebony Rising is the offspring of two different worlds colliding.
Photograph by Night Closure
Lee Nxumalo: Black pride through Afro-futurism is the main theme of the project. Why did you want to explore that in this project?
Skai Lounge: To clarify, it actually isn’t the main theme; it’s one of the themes. I chose it because that’s a journey I went through and that experience just so happens to leak into my music thematically and visually. I’m big into pan-Africanism too and through tracks like “It Feels Good to Be Afrikan” I wanted to touch on something that we have in common. Whether it is consciously or subconsciously, a large portion of Black folks (especially if brought up in white areas), have had a stage where they felt their skin wasn’t good enough or had to be someone else in exchange for acceptance.
This sort of conditioning is something most of us have in common, and I believe it’s a choice for someone to embark on the journey of deep self-acceptance and embracing their identity even though you’re told through media and society “you’re not enough”. F*ck that s**t. How you feel about yourself will manifest through how you treat people. There is no way I’m gonna make music and not touch on some of the struggles I see it happening around me. Awareness is honestly the first step.
Lee Nxumalo: Why did you start the project on a light note only to end it in a broody mood with “Dance of Darkness”?
Skai Lounge: When I was putting this together, I knew I wanted to have a vibrant side with the first two tracks, and have a moody side with the last two tracks. Leaving “Dance of Darkness” for the end ties into the story I want to present. I honestly can’t go into that as I prefer to leave the door wide open for interpretation for people to make their own personal connections with the project. What I can say is that the titles along with the ordering of the tracks are all connected to a larger theme.
Photograph by Night Closure
