Adesola Akindele

Introduction and the Rise Urban Nation Afrofuturism Collection

Taryell Simmons: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another episode of Rise Urban Nation. I'm your host, Taryell Simmons, and we've got Sola in the building wearing a lovely royal blue shirt. If you're listening, check out the YouTube episode so you can see it. Tell the people about this shirt.

Adesola Akindele: When people interact with Taryell and me, they notice we're massive Afrofuturists. So we wanted to create designs that reflect that and reflect Rise Urban Nation, like the backsplash you see behind us.

Taryell Simmons: What we like to call the black drop.

Adesola Akindele: It represents masculine and feminine energy coming together to make things better. There's another version of the design with the three primary people in RUN, which is the design on the Rise Urban Nation journal, and we have an Afrofuturism version you can get as a poster, with a space theme in the background. Go to our website, visit our store and pick out what you like.

Defining Afrofuturism

Taryell Simmons: Make sure you get a copy along with your Rise Urban Nation journal. In this episode we'll dive into Afrofuturism and the meaning of the symbols in the black drop. A guest talked about Afrofuturism in season one, and that's when some people first heard of it. In your own terms, how do you define Afrofuturism, and what does it mean to you personally?

Adesola Akindele: To me, it's a growing movement that explores the intersection of Black culture, history and technology. By culture I mean art, music, fashion, all of it, creating a vision of the future rooted in the experiences of people of African descent. As a creative, I connect with it through graphic design. Everything you see from RUN, the backsplash, the t-shirts, our posts, is my way of connecting to this movement. For Taryell, it's spoken word and the work he does in the DEI space. Together we look at it not just historically, but at how we take what we've gone through as a people and use it collectively to express ourselves.

Taryell Simmons: My mind goes back to the pyramids in Egypt. People still ask how they built something of that magnitude without today's technology. For me, that shows how Afrofuturism is embedded in our history, in art, literature and music. What films come to mind for you?

Adesola Akindele: Right off the top of my head, Black Panther, and Get Out is another one. And look at the evolution of sound. We have always been thinking about the next sound, from people like Timbaland making music with his own mouth to Dr. Dre changing how we look at music.

Reimagining Blackness and Reclaiming Heritage

Taryell Simmons: In what ways does Afrofuturism reimagine blackness and challenge the existing power structures of today?

Adesola Akindele: Black history makes clear that we were oppressed and exploited, and that our achievements were erased. But people of African descent have a natural sense of pride that remains even after trauma. That's what makes us innovative, what lets us see a solution where others see only problems. Even when left on our own, we still create. I give a lot of credit to our African American brothers and sisters, whose offshoots of African culture in music, fashion and art have spread back to the continent.

Adesola Akindele: On the continent, we're also reclaiming traditional ways that were taken from us. I recently spoke with a ceramic artist who makes modern ceramics using the old methods. Meanwhile, museums display our objects while some claim we couldn't have made them, that we didn't work with bronze or make pottery. Our memory is like a tortoise shell. You can take the language and habits, but not that. Look at how braiding started on the continent and became massive in the Americas.

Taryell Simmons: There's history there too. During slavery, braids were used to share maps and escape routes, because people weren't allowed to communicate. Even at our lowest, we innovated to survive. Imagine the creativity and abundance we could create in a thriving mode. That's why Afrofuturism says know your history, and don't start it at slavery. Go all the way back.

Technology, Change and Community

Taryell Simmons: What role does technology play in Afrofuturist work, and how does it shape the way we think about the future?

Adesola Akindele: I love the writer Octavia Butler, who said the only lasting truth is change. Change is inevitable, and it's up to us to shape it in a way that benefits us. For people of African descent, that means using technology and innovation, which were stripped from us, to create a sustainable and equitable future. That is actually our way: not for the one, but for the many. In Africa, you cannot have a rich man in a neighborhood where everyone isn't benefiting. When a community benefits everyone, everyone defends it. When you get nothing from your community, you don't feel any loyalty to it.

Adesola Akindele: Look at hair and beauty. We're finally getting products in stores made by us, for our hair. Before, we made our own at home, like coconut oil and palm oil pomade. Too often we've been consumers rather than producers, but people are now creating incubators to help founders plug into supply chains. That's what Afrofuturism is about. It's not just spaceships. Watch what Ryan Coogler did with Wakanda and you'll see the message: this is where we could be if colonialism and slavery hadn't happened. We believe in sharing and collaboration. That is our natural state when we've healed our trauma.

Afrofuturism and Social Justice

Taryell Simmons: Since George Floyd, Black Lives Matter and more consciousness around DEI, how does Afrofuturism intersect with other social justice movements?

Adesola Akindele: It intersects when we are intentional about it, so it isn't just a buzzword. The biggest part is mindset, which is why we wrote our journal the way we did: to build you up from where you were broken. We also have to remember the major events that taught our people that if they build, someone may come and burn it down. Afrofuturism gives us a sense of security through innovation, because now we can get a patent or trademark and collaborate with bigger brands to infuse our culture into things. It could be faster, but every industry would need its own manifesto for getting there.

Taryell Simmons: We are the culture, and our culture influences everything.

Adesola Akindele: Even literature and how we worship. Our culture is what remained through the pain, and Afrofuturism brings it to the forefront. The biggest issue is systemic. To change a system, you either dismantle it or build a new one, and resistance to change is the biggest problem. But the only lasting truth is change, and how intentional we are today shapes what's next.

Taryell Simmons: It's like technology updates. You get rid of the bugs, reprogram and upload the newest version. We learn from the lessons without carrying the trauma.

Responding to the Critics

Taryell Simmons: What are some of the criticisms facing Afrofuturism, and how might it evolve to respond to them?

Adesola Akindele: One is elitism, that Afrofuturism centers Black people who are educated, middle class and have access to technology. But at heart, we have a village system. It takes a village, and that was the first thing broken in the colonial era and during slavery. When I come to the table, I come as an equal. I'm not going to try to oppress anyone.

Adesola Akindele: Another is essentialism. I've always had an issue with the word "Black." Everyone else gets to be something-American, but our group is lumped together. On forms here I pick "other," because I'm African, and if anything, British. That label obscures the diversity of Black experience and how colonialism and slavery shaped us. I can trace my roots to my town of origin, and many people here can't, which forced them to embrace the word given to them.

Adesola Akindele: A third is commercialization. Just as DEI and mental health became trends, essential ones, this is how attention works. After George Floyd, a lot of the dollars brands promised went through the capitalist machine rather than direct help. But commercializing Afrofuturism says, come see what we're doing. This shirt is a conversation piece, and people of all backgrounds ask me what it means.

Adesola Akindele: The last is technological determinism. Technology and innovation are what's now and what's next. Africa never had an industrial era, so we can leap straight to tech. Even Black Panther, as traditional as it was, had technology at its center.

The Meaning Behind the Black Drop

Taryell Simmons: Let's get into the black drop and the intentionality behind it. Start with the dashiki, my favorite one.

Adesola Akindele: When I first met Taryell, he was wearing a dashiki. Seeing one on someone abroad is a welcome-home greeting, and it made me comfortable being myself around him, so I wanted to honor that first meeting. Wherever you don't quite feel yourself, seeing a dashiki tells you somebody from your place is there.

Adesola Akindele: Africa is there because RUN amplifies Pan-Africans: RUN is for you and with you. Africans in the diaspora aim to thrive, not just survive, and when you think of Africa, we want you to think of home. The lion represents royalty, not entitlement, but the responsibility you have to your people. The fist represents the struggles of our people.

Taryell Simmons: It reminds me of the Olympic athletes who protested with the Black power fist.

Adesola Akindele: Exactly. The hut represents real estate. Building a home back home is every African's aspiration. I want to buy land and build a house that encompasses my culture, with a separate dwelling for my mother. The mask is about art. It's not fair that some people first meet African art behind gallery glass. The coding sign represents technology: if your kids aren't learning to code now, they'll struggle to find jobs later. The woman with the afro represents our queens. When you support a woman, you support generations.

Adesola Akindele: The number one in a circle comes from a Nigerian saying that we never carry last. We're not here for crumbs; we're going to bake the cake. The drum is music, which flows through us. The pottery is food, stored and made in clay pots, and the dish beside it is about sharing.

Taryell Simmons: Africa is the only place with five versions of jollof rice, and every region says theirs is the best.

Adesola Akindele: They're all different, and there's no best.

Taryell Simmons: Ladies and gentlemen, the first time a Nigerian ever said there's no best jollof. That's the British side talking. What about the gold bars?

Adesola Akindele: That's self-worth and wealth. Make building wealth a priority. In our journal we talk about building your network, even while you're looking for work, because that's where the stepping-stone job comes from. Have ten people in your network who can give you access to different things, and do the same for them.

Taryell Simmons: In one of our first episodes, you said we are an asset, and you can hear that in our intro. Dr. Pamela Jolly says African Americans are the only people in America who were capital before we made capital. We have been wealth creators since we got here, and the goal is to become wealth creators for ourselves.

Adesola Akindele: The pick is about hair. Take care of your afro and stop hiding it. The hands and the heart with the plus sign are health and community. We're told we're predisposed to diabetes and heart disease, problems I didn't see growing up in Africa or England. At RUN we've learned to do this work with boundaries, because we've seen people literally die doing it. Free your mind from mental slavery, take care of your health and plan your legacy so your community can thrive.

Taryell Simmons: Health is wealth, and they coincide with each other.

What's Next for Rise Urban Nation

Taryell Simmons: What upcoming Afrofuturist projects are you excited about?

Adesola Akindele: People love the black drop, and hearing that the icons speak to them touches our hearts. We're working on making it available on more products, including notebooks, pencils and wallpaper. We're developing a six-hour Afrofuturism workshop that Taryell and I will deliver together, and we're looking for partners to bring it to their audiences. And we're planning an event for next Black History Month with people across the diaspora. Sign up for our newsletter and watch our website. Afrofuturism won't go without criticism, but we're working to make it more inclusive and socially just.

Taryell Simmons: If you're a brand or an individual excited about bringing Afrofuturism to a world stage next Black History Month, or you know someone at the UN, reach out through riseurbannation.com. When we rise, you rise, we all rise. Thank you, Sola, for creating such an amazing black drop and walking us through what these icons mean.

Adesola Akindele: You're welcome. Thank you.