Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
These days, Spooner's focus is tattooing. He's so out of the Afropunk loop, he claims, that he didn't know the festival he started was charging admission until I inform him of that fact. Although the festival is behind him, Spooner does get melancholic about what it was. "It's challenging to see—like birthing a baby, raising him, and letting it go out and completely disappointing you," Spooner says of what Afropunk has become.Members of that defunct board have all given different reasons for their distance with current Afropunk (although none conceded they'd simply grown up). One felt it became another brand. Another felt that the second half of the festival's name is overlooked; D'Angelo will get that headline billing over Bad Brains every time. However, the skepticism isn't only held by the OG members. Cynthia Francillion, four-time Afropunk attendee (twice a volunteer), commended Afropunk for giving the natural hair community an avenue to express itself. Black business need support, too, but as most would be, her friends are skeptical about something personally impactful being corrupted. Francillion told me, "They're afraid that Afropunk is going to sell out. They're afraid that Afropunk is going to become a Coachella."Follow Brian on Twitter.On Noisey: An Oral History of D'Angelo