This week I'm talking with Stacey A. Robinson, an artist and Afro-surrealist whose work lives at the intersection of hip hop, comics, and what he calls the Afro now. We go back to his earliest memory, drawing every morning at a window as a seven year old, and to the exact record he heard that same year that changed how he thought about art and sound before the genre it belonged to even had a name.

From there we trace his path through Milestone Media, the Black-owned comic company that reshaped what he thought was possible as a young Black artist, into the hidden systemic structure underneath hip hop itself, and land on his argument that Wakanda was never really a picture of the future at all.

00:00 Stacey's earliest memory, drawing by the window

06:15 Hearing Rapper's Delight at seven years old

10:27 What Milestone Media meant for a young Black artist

21:18 Not Seeing Black People In Futures

29:24 The hidden systemic structure underneath hip hop

29:10 Afrofuturism versus Afro-surrealism, and the Afro now

35:20 Hip Hop Elements As A System

47:13 Digging For Original Samples

54:14 Creating Art Inside Club Energy

57:52 Wakanda As The Afro Now

1:06:35 When Black Creation Gets Erased

1:13:33 Building Afro Futures Through Daily Practice

1:25:16 Joy Beyond Revolt And Rage

1:32:52 Designing Freedom And Leaving A Template

1:35:34 Where To Find Stacy And Closing

The companion Future Proof newsletter issue built on this conversation, The Future Is a Remix, is out this week:

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About Stacey A. Robinson: Stacey is an artist and Afro-surrealist based in Champaign, Illinois, whose work moves across comics, hip hop, and collage. He came up through Milestone Media's orbit and has been shaped by the Black Speculative Arts Movement. Find his work on Instagram and Facebook, and at his own website. [Steve: website URL and preferred handle weren't stated in the transcript, please confirm before this goes live]

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Thank you for joining me on this ongoing journey into the future. Until next time, stay curious, and always think forward.