Just having some fun with nostalgia…
“There’s a popular criticism that a lot of fantasy and sci-fi of the past ended up crafting new worlds that rarely included black people. We existed in the margins of dystopia, the underground of the underground, Or even just didn’t exist at all. Erased or never centered in these narratives. But around the dawn of the New Millennium, there seemed to be this blip in the timeline where black people weren’t just envisioning the future themselves, we were really serving, The Future.”
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro
03:04 – A E S T H E T I C & Vibes
07:29 – Computer Blue
12:06 – Blaque To The Future
17:36 – Angels & Demons
21:05 – Conclusive Thoughts
References/Resources:
Y2K Bug: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/Y2K-bug/
Y2K Hysteria Explained: https://www.ranker.com/list/y2k-hysteria-why-were-people-scared/oliver-pretl-drummond
Y2K Tensions in the Last Days of the 1900’s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhsRP6onspc
20 Years Ago, Y2K Hysteria Led to Emergency Bunkers and Cost the U.S. $100 Billion: https://people.com/human-interest/y2k-millennium-bug-20-year-anniversary/
Black Space – Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Space-Imagining-Science-Fiction/dp/0292717458/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=black+space+imagining+race+in+science+fiction+film&qid=1645730687&sprefix=black+space+im%2Caps%2C767&sr=8-3
“Black to the Future” by Mark Dery (coined the term “Afrofuturism”): https://www.uvic.ca/victoria-colloquium/assets/docs/Black%20to%20the%20Future.pdf
Black To The Future : Afrofuturism in Music Videos
Introduction to Afrofuturism: http://www.okayafrica.com/african-future-okayafrica-introduction-afrofuturism/
Afrofuturism – From the Past to the Living Present: https://newsroom.ucla.edu/magazine/afrofuturism
What is Afrofuturism and Why is it Important?: https://www.blerd.com/what-is-afrofuturism-why-is-it-important/
Sci-Fi Digital Series “Afrofuturism” Complete Series | DUST
Afrofuturism Aesthetics: https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Afrofuturism
Kaylan Michel – “Lost in the Land Collages”: https://trendland.com/afrofuturism-collages-of-kaylan-m/
Y2K Aesthetic Institute: https://y2kaestheticinstitute.tumblr.com/
Y2K Aesthetic Wiki: https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Y2K
The Y2K aesthetic: who knew the look of the year 2000 would endure?: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/19/year-2000-y2k-millennium-design-aesthetic
Y2K Aesthetic Montage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxq9hA4UbWM
How Left Eye’s Group Wrestled Music from Matthew Knowles: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jun/14/how-lisa-left-eye-lopes-rb-trio-blaque-wrestled-their-album-from-matthew-knowles
Blaque to the Future: The Afrofuturistic Girl Group Returns With Torch: https://jesitcruz.medium.com/blaque-to-the-future-the-afro-futuristic-girl-group-returns-with-torch-2fd7a9500da4
Quote in Conclusive Thoughts – “Inherent Vice” by Thomas Pynchon
source
Sir you just gonna have a whole high quality channel and NOT tell nobody?
When our consciousness eventually get uploaded to the cloud, can we all agree to build the digital world in the Y2K aesthetic?
I'm from North Africa and absolutely not black, but I grew up watching most of those videos. It's so nice to have someone articulate why there was something so special about them, what made them stand out and why they're so mind-blowingly impressive even today. My fondest memories as a 90s kid mostly consist of afro-centric media, so thank you for enriching that perspective and providing additional context to them.
GIMME JUST A LITTLE BIT, LITTLE BITTA (xs) OH ME OH MYYYYY
I am so in love with your channel, these videos are awesome
I felt like I hallucinated this visual language from that specific era. I’ve always loved Afrofuturism, maybe the fact half my favorite artists were making videos in that style is part of the reason why
Do you have books to recommend that talk about Afrofuturism and Y2K aesthetics?
Loved this video!!!
I do have a note: the y2k crisis could have absolutely bern as awful as they said it woud be. I wasn't alive yet, but my mom was, and she was working in the mecical field. If countless programmers hadn't spent weeks to months of greuling emergency work day in and day out to create solutions for the issues caused by computer clocks not being able to count past 1999, it wouldnt have just been the banks going down and becoming nonfunctional, it would have been every single hospital in the country's computer equipment. And also other stuff but can you imagine that? Every single hospital becoming severely handicapped all at once with no way to fix it except for waiting. The programmers who helped solve the y2k problem saved countless lives, and no one ever talks about it because they succeeded, and nothing really happened. Bafgling piece of history, personally i can't believe i only found out that y2k WAS a real life threateneing emergency in the year of our lord 2023 at 18 years of age, and there are still people who lived THROUGH it that dont know about all the effort put into mitigating the potential disaster
If you haven't subscribed to this channel- You're prolly a scrub.
Such an exceptionally fire topic for a video essay
Hey I just found your Chanel
I hope your doing well physically and mentally
Also I want to learn more about Afrofuturism after a Reaggaeseminar
Maby Afrofuturism is also interesting to you from that angle.
“they dont care about us” video i think started the movement tbh
What’s the song called at 12:06 ?
You are the only video that i watched about the Y2K era that mentioned Missy Elliot.
I was 20 when that era came around, So being a teen in the 90s, Y2K style seemed like a natural transition.
great analysis & laid-back presentation. wish i'd watched it sooner tbh
I wasn't a teen but a kid and I will forever adore 2000s rnb <3.
YES!!! This was my childhood!!!
Unpretty is very solarpunk. No Scrubs gives chromepunk
It must be polarizing to see your people fully realize their artistic talents and arguably introduce defining traits into the Y2K aesthetic only to see it vanish and get replaced by Kayne West and Drake. Do you know what Y2K futurists didn't envision? a boxed-in industrial military complex future shaped by 911, followed by narrow-minded identity politics and social justice warriors creating a limited, and degenerative society. The total antithesis of the hopeful, and hyperfuturistic aesthetic of Y2K.
TLC the legends!
This was the exact video I was looking for , thank you !
Brother do not stop creating, this is amazing.
Fantastic video! Thank you for the Black nostalgia 🖤
The image of blacks raised in a individualist environment exercising tribalism is mind blowing. We thought we had that beat out of us, but we just incorporated the beat into rhythm. We see futurism hitting us all from the tattered to the spandex n foil. Raising consciousness is often sought for after material solitude is obtained. Will the future always be the antidote to our past or present? Maybe the tribalism part is still under the corporate control? We still keep it moving don't we! Good vid.
I never saw it as afrofuturism to me it was just y2k era and everyone had a wholesome outlook of what their interpreted version of what the future would be here we are today very far removed from it all
The Uranus and Neptune in Aquarius era.
This is racist and stoopid. Afrofuturism? This concept revolves around using white people technology and ideas lol. "Afro peoples" are not futuristic people. White people have had to drag and pull you guys along like some lazy dog. Youve profited from white people tech. You used white people tech to make this video. Without us whites, blacks have no future lol except to go back to being hunter and gathers like your african ancestors.
Apparently, in the future, black hair will be super easy to handle.
Like Tommy’s crib in belly
second you said "I ain't gon' hold u–" I knew i subscribed correctly
Everything is chrome and curvy.
I've been watching your videos to be more informed (I'm white lol) in the the things I watch that are about black culture and I gotta say, this is some of the best video essay content I've seen on YouTube. Loving this channel and the knowledge you give.
I never seen it as Afro Futurism,
It was just Techno Y2K spirit with black persons.
Eurodance did almost the same with white people and no one know who did it first.
I really really really enjoyed this video so much. I want you to make a part 2 so bad I didn't see it on your page. This was so informative and gave many different perspectives.
Im sorry but I gasped every time Aaliyah came on the screen. My goodness.
Someone finally talking about more the y2k movement of afrofuturism!!! Thank you for this, I hope you keep going!
Y2k was white culture that we indulged in … let them have it they need something that isn’t ours
Bruh it's your channel do what you want lol
I loved the video. This was a great analysis and fun to watch. Why did you have to force an anti-capitalist message in there all the time. I get in futurism and cyberpunk there is a strong cautionary message of corporate giantism and soulless consumerism. But when TLC is saying "I don't want no scrubs" you didn't have to throw in that hackey black marxist talking point about men "failing to participate in capitalism". Capitalism didn't invent wealth in equality and it isn't responsible for women wanting a competent, competitive man with money and status.These things are natural and they are expressing woman's natural attraction to them. And when Guy is singing about futuristic consumer goods and "computerized flossing" why do you have to put a disclaimer that it doesn't fall into your view of an anti-capitalist afro-futurism. Are these things not significant expressions of contemporary black culture and therefore an accurate representation of what afro-futurism would be? No hate I am just wondering why must afro-futurism have a layer of marxism when there is nothing marxist or anti-capitalist about Y2K futurism?
I'm glad I found you when I did 😍
I'm in school studying to be a jeweller and my current project is designing a ring based on a culture/ subculture. I've discovered that afro- and Africanfuturism are two different subcultures and may explain the differences you're seeing in aesthetic.
What I'm coming to understand is that afrofuturism is by and for the diaspora (and more specifically, the African American diaspora, whereas Africanfuturism is by and for the continental Africans (usually West Africans, but it's spreading). Africanfuturism as a concept separates itself by de-centering Western influence and focusing more on the original cultures, traditions, and spirituality of continental Africans.
Loving this video and glad I've found a new amazing person to follow.