By Daniela Capistrano
It is not often enough that you see a young black woman in pristine slacks, dress shirt, bowtie, cumber bun and saddle shoes stage dive into a crowd and start a mosh pit.
This past weekend, producer Tami Katzoff and I found ourselves in the thick of Janelle Monáe's set at the fourth annual Afro-Punk Festival, where she joined other amazing musicians, graffiti muralists, BMX riders and skateboarders at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Afro-Punk, an annual event showcasing groundbreaking bands, films and artists, was created by Matthew Morgan and James Spooner, who also made the 2003 documentary "Afro-Punk," which chronicles the subculture. Despite all of the raw energy that is present at the fest, AP still manages to be a safe, family-friendly event where participants are encouraged to register to vote at one of the many community booths.
The highlight of Saturday's AP events was when Janelle closed the show by diving into the audience, crowd-surfing into the middle of everyone and then forming a mosh pit with her fans. She then ran through the crowd, climbed back onstage where she went berserk, Iggy Pop/ David Bowie-style, and slammed her mic stand on the ground, threw water at the crowd and then ran off again, leaving the crowd screaming for more. What a show-woman!
Watch space girl sensation Janelle Monáe crowd surfing in true punk rock fashion after the jump!
After that amazing feat, Janelle cooled down in the press tent and talked to us about what Afro-Punk means to her:
I don't want to give away all of our exclusives from the festival (stay tuned for more news, videos, articles and photos in our upcoming festival coverage), but I will say that Janelle Monáe thrilled her audience (and me) with all of the songs from her upcoming album, Metropolis: Suite I, in stores August 12. Being up onstage with her was out of this world — even though I was focused on shooting her without getting in the way. She's tiny but her dance moves take up the entire stage! I could still feel the energy from the crowd below me building to a frenzy. By the time she did her last encore, there was so much gold-tinged smoke enveloping me that combined with her futuristic, spacey songs and otherworldly dance moves, I felt like I was on another planet.
Check back here later this week for all of our Afro-Punk coverage!
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