Born in a black working-class household, Janelle Robinson from Kansas City has always been fascinated by German expressionnist Fritz Lang\u2019s <\/span>Metropolis<\/span><\/i>, a masterpiece she used to watch every single night when she was a child. Since <\/span>The Audition<\/span><\/i>, the first mixtape she released that remained quite unknown, the movie is a keystone to Janelle Monae\u2019s character, drifting from cinematic expressionism to pictoral impressionnism in no time at all : <\/span>\u201cMy name is Monae, like Claude Monet. He replaced the \u2018ae\u2019 in \u2018et\u2019, as in \u2018extra-terrestrial\u2019.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Cindi Mayweather\u2019s journey is indeed amazingly realistic : the prophetic fantasy of a post-apocalyptical future filled with symbols. <\/b>As an archandroid and \u2018electric lady\u2019, she makes quite an impression : <\/span>\u201cI dreamed of a world where there were more aliens and androids than humans. I could control people, telling them life-changing stories. -\u2014 Did your imagination help you escape from reality ? \u2014 No, this was mighty real.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Forty years earlier, that same reality was jeopardized in <\/span>Space Is The Place<\/span><\/i> (1974), the full-length feature film inspired by<\/span> The Black Man in The Cosmos<\/span><\/i>, a lecture given by Sun Ra at the University of Berkeley, California. In it, Sun Ra\u2019s cosmic character in the movie speaks to the skeptical Afro-American youth \u2014 who he destined to a better life on a utopian planet \u2014 with much extravaganza : <\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>I\u2019m not real. I\u2019m just like you. <\/span><\/i>You don\u2019t exist in this society. If you did, your people wouldn\u2019t be seeking equal rights. You\u2019re not real.<\/i><\/b> If you were, you\u2019d have some status among the nations of the world. So we\u2019re both myths. I do not come to you as a reality; I come to you as the myth, because that\u2019s what black people are. Myths. I came from a dream that the black man dreamed a long time ago. I\u2019m actually a presence sent to you by your ancestors.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Thorough and thoughtful piece of metatheater : where stands the border between reality and fantasy ? Is this science-fiction scenery or a harsh critique of the time when the movie was shot ? <\/span>For decades, Sun Ra has played with the ambiguity of his public figure, swinging from interstellar statements to much more radical stances aiming at liberating the Afro-American community from the yoke of segregation. <\/b>\u201cSun Ra, you\u2019re a man who has made hundreds of records and travelled the planet\u2026 \u2014 I\u2019m not a man ; I\u2019m an angel.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n History might remember an underrated illusionnist at times, often a genius, more than just another black American artist violently thrown back to his status by a profoundly-segregating America in the awe of the 20th century. Herman Poole Blount was born on May 22nd, 1914 in Birmingham, Alabama, only to become in 1952 Le Sony\u2019r Ra \u2014 turning down the name that was forced on him, reminding him of a slavery legacy endured by his ancestors \u2014 <\/span>a self-taught revolutionary jazzman in his approach who managed to keep bebop, ragtime and other experimental tunes reachable (he recorded more than 180 studio albums in his lifetime). <\/b>According to Laurent Bardaine, co-founder of French electro band Poni Hoax, in an interview with Tsugi magazine in July 2014<\/a> : <\/span>\u201cHis music is very positive, while their [saxophonists Albert Ayler, John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders] music is filled with suffering cries. He used to play the Batman theme song right in the middle of his gigs ! Few dared to mix jazz with other components of party and madness.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Thanks to his alien nature, Sun Ra distanced himself from his own condition while remaining very close to the questions revolving around the future of Afro-Americans : his aim was to reinvent oneself only in a radical way. <\/span>In his art, he kept the best of what had already been created, bringing back the historical truth that Greek philosophy \u2014 as well as the founding principles of the Western culture \u2014 resulted from ancient Egypt; thus turning the continuously scorned suffering of black people all over the world into an unquenchable well of inspiration.<\/b><\/p>\n Following his example, Janelle Monae walks in the steps of soul and R&B major personalities, reinventing the impact this music had on people. Analogies go well : told to be influenced by Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Wonder, she surrounds herself with the likes of Prince, Erykah Badu, Esperanza Spalding on her last album, and allows herself the luxury of being featured with intriguing Solange Knowles to round everything off : <\/span>\u201cI wanted to make sure that I was creating a very diverse album that was deeply rooted in R&B music.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n She did indeed : with her two previous albums, <\/span>Janelle Monae achieves to match the stark reality of Afro-American women in the 21st century with fugitive Cindi Mayweather\u2019s, ID 57821 android, always in danger.<\/b> \u201cI\u2019m a woman, I\u2019m African-American, I\u2019m part android. I have to make sure I\u2019m speaking for the underdog.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n With the Wondaland Arts Society, the label she initiated, Janelle Monae becomes more and more involved. Especially these last few months, when a rebellious wave shook the United States, and more so the Afro-American community overwhelmed by the loss of its sacrificed members caused by a legal system getting more and more racist. <\/span>Promoting talents such as <\/b>Jidenna<\/b><\/a>, <\/b>Deep Cotton<\/b><\/a>, <\/b>St Beauty<\/b><\/a> and <\/b>Roman Gianarthur<\/b><\/a> starts with becoming instantly and unconditionally aware that it\u2019s high time to change the system. <\/b>Because music and politics are one, deep down, in this prophetic future she\u2019s trying to get us used to for years now.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Credits](\"http:\/\/blackstothefuture.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/12\/janellemonae.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nCredits : Glenford Nunez \/\/ Pitchfork<\/h6>\n
Read about Janelle Monae\u2019s interview in French Magazine Les Inrocks in October 2013<\/span><\/i><\/a> [in French]<\/span><\/i><\/h5>\n
Read “Sun Ra : Myth, Science and Science Fiction” from the Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research<\/span><\/a><\/h5>\n
Read the Guardian<\/em> article \u201cSun RA : jazz\u2019s interstellar voyager\u201d from June 2014<\/span><\/a><\/h5>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nCredits : Chris Felver \/\/ Getty Images<\/h6>\n
The bottom line of their paths : yearning for reappropriation<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nCredits : Paulo Henrique<\/a><\/h6>\n
Read What Would the Electric Lady Think ?, published on the New York Times in September 2013<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/h5>\n
United, we stand<\/b><\/h2>\n