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We only have to look at the mythos of the Egyptian Pharos to realise how Africa has always played a significant role in terms of art, science and technology throughout history. Although white supremacist propaganda from the colonial era set us back with the false narrative that African culture is ‘savage’, we’ve fought for the abolition of slavery and for our independence and freedom to create cultural expressions that have impacted global community.
As inclusivity has now become the order of the day in popular culture, the visibility of African culture and artistry appears to be at an all-time high with so many new avenues available for us to celebrate our rich culture from social media to streaming platforms.
While not everyone might appreciate the significance of African culture being represented accurately and celebrated, Black Americans’ ancestral ties with Africa encourages them to contextualise themselves within the African culture. This has led to a lot of cross-cultural referencing between America and Africa as Marvel’s Black Panther’ showed the economic benefit of being inspired by Africa.
As we draw near the end of this year’s Black History Month, we’ve compiled a list of Africans who have made a global impact through music, photography, fashion and other expressions.
Chi Modu
Displaced in his infancy, during the Biafran War, Chi Modu was born in Nigeria but raised, almost entirely in New Jersey. Coming of age in East Coast America, Chi Modu’s growing expertise in photography – which he had first fallen in love with whilst studying Economics at Rutgers University in his home state – coincided with the rise of arguably the most influential genre in contemporary music: Hip-Hop. Chi Modu was a key figure in documenting the music and the culture’s leading figures. His degree was followed by vocational schooling at the International Center of Photography after which he landed the prestigious role at The Source, where his eyes would go on to make history. Documenting Hip-Hop’s glory days in the ‘90s, Modu’s motivations were to share the stories with his audience, reveal the characters and lives of his muses. Chi Modu didn’t simply produce a picture of a famous rapper, he thoughtfully, yet plainly, captured the people behind his lens. From a Rolling Stone cover image to album covers for the likes of Mobb Dep, Method Man and Snoop Dogg (of whom he has an unforgettable tribute to California, and inadvertently West Coast Rap), Chi Modu’s eyes were deeply influential to, not only the popular consumption of hip-hop and it’s artists, but also their thorough documentation into the history books.
Adewojumi Aderemi