Sons of Kemet’s Black To The Future
“My revolution rides a black horse, and it is stunning!”
- Joshua Idehen, “Field Negus”
Shabaka Hutchings has long been one of the most interesting figures in contemporary music, leading a diverse trio of ensembles—The Comet Is Coming, Shabaka and the Ancestors and Sons of Kemet—that stand at the vanguard of an exciting new age for jazz. Alongside Moses Boyd, Nubya Garcia and countless others, the UK scene is erasing the boundaries of genre, leaving in their place an expression of the black experience that is among the most important protest music of our time. Their ascendence speaks to a need to reckon with the intertwined global histories of capitalism, colonialism and race. In 2020, Shabaka and the Ancestors’ We Were Sent Here By History did just that, endeavoring to save us from an apocalyptic future through the harrowing lessons of the past. Now, in 2021, Sons of Kemet’s Black To The Future looks beyond that past with urgency, manifesting an Afrofuturist present of breathtaking scope and stature.
It is tempting to view Black to the Future as a companion piece to its outstanding predecessor Your Queen Is A Reptile, and in many ways it is. The similarities that connect the two projects are many. Both share evocative artwork from South African artist Mzwandile Buthelezi. Both begin and end with riveting incantations from poet Joshua Idehen. Both are structured to unfurl with vocal-driven performances at the fore before giving way to longer form instrumental pieces. And both are galvanizing and defiant to their core, knowing that the forces of oppression never tire nor waiver.
These two works, however, could not be more different in their approach to their resistance. While Your Queen Is A Reptile seeks liberation through its guttural polyrhythmic fury and tireless propulsive groove, Black To The Future transmutes this anger into something more: a redefinition, reaffirmation and celebration of black power brought about through reflection, remembrance and the ultimate elimination of past and future into a singular, undeniable present.
Black To The Future accomplishes this by presenting the most stylistically diverse collection of compositions from Sons of Kemet yet, drawing on the sounds of Afrobeat spirituality, avant-garde funk, calypso dub, grime and rhumba to create a sound that is fiercely original, yet familiar. “Pick Up Your Burning Cross” is jittery piece of post-bop that features Angel Bat Dawid and Moor Mother trading muted lines. “Think Of Home,” a personal favorite, finds the group embracing overdubs like never before to produce a luscious and layered collection of woodwinds and reeds that sway as if blowing in an island breeze. Early single “Hustle” pairs Kojey Radical with Lianne La Havas for an uplifting swagger echoed on the modal D Double E collaboration “For The Culture.” “To Never Forget The Source,” the project’s second single, finds new life in the tracklist, serving as a sweltering transition into the album’s second half, in which “In Remembrance of Those Fallen” unfolds like an elegy of black pain replete with a warbling symphony of wind tones. Standouts like the winding “Envision Yourself Levitating” and heavily rhythmic “Through The Madness, Stay Strong” are also not to be missed.
Ultimately, it is the verses of Joshua Idehen on “Black” that complete the transmogrification of space, time and music. As Black To The Future draws to a close, Idehen cries "This Black praise is dance! This Black struggle is dance!” In doing so, he underscores the profound truth of our present: there is meaning in the struggle. Thankfully, we have groups like Sons of Kemet to show us the way in a world continually working to placate and cloud our vision.
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If your like Black To The Future, check out:
Fyah by Theon Cross
SOURCE by Nubya Garcia
Black Focus by Yussef Kamaal
Gentleman by Fela Kuti
We Out Here by Various Artists