Recap: Afropunk Festival Steams In Glory

This past weekend was the 11th annual Afropunk Festival held in Commodore Barry Park in Fort Greene, Brooklyn and it was nothing less of glorious. Afropunk is a celebration of African and Black culture that encompasses hip-hop, punk and more, but the best thing about the festival is the diverse demographics it brings out. The lineup this year was indeed a must see as Kelis, SZA, Lauryn Hill, Danny Brown, Grace Jones, Lenny Kravitz and more all rocked out in their artistic glory.

Kelis surprised the crowd by showing off her baby bump during her performance as she wore a sheer, bright pink dress emulating a maternal goddess (Congrats Kelis!). Lauryn Hill started her set late, which made everyone think she was a no-show, but even with technical difficulties of sound and light, she still managed to kill everything even though her set was cut short.

Today when Lauryn Hill stole my life! #AFROPUNK 👏🏾😭💕 pic.twitter.com/yYA2xPRshy

— Johnny Boy ☮ (@JohnTheFame) August 23, 2015

Danny Brown gave his electric energy and also, brought out Ab-Soul to stir the crowd even more. Tribal body paint, reggae vibes, gothic headdresses, grass skirts, a stripper and a hula hoop made up Grace Jones’ set. Her jokes served as interludes in between songs and at 67, her body is still banging enough to be naked in front of a crowd. Grace really envelops the name of Afropunk with not only her music, but creative style. With all of this and more the real question is, “How will next year top this?”