How Afrofuturism Shaped Our Understanding of Space in 10 Albums

Consequence is lifting off with our final installation of Space Week. Today, we’re presenting 10 albums that offer a profound understanding of space, through the concept of Afrofuturism. See the full list below, and check out our ranking of the 30 Best Space Albums, 30 Best Space Movies, and 20 Best Space Television Shows.

Space is infinite, expanding so rapidly that the most distant reaches of the universe recede from us faster than the speed of light — just one of many unsettling facts about the universe that make us feel small and fuel our desire to connect to distant worlds. The vastness that exists beyond our peripheral vision knows no bounds, opening the door to endless possibilities.

Space in music gives listeners permission to abandon the familiar — to lose themselves in wondrous, ethereal soundscapes driven by analog instrumentation. Afrofuturism brings forth new meaning that subverts reality through the exploration of an all-encompassing form of limitlessness. Coined by cultural critic and theorist Mark Dery, the term refers to a cultural, artistic, and philosophical movement that integrates Black history, culture, and folkloric traditions with fantasy and science fiction for the purpose of conjuring an enlightened and liberated future.

Space through an Afrofuturist worldview exists as both a symbol of freedom and a conduit for limitless creativity. Professing to be an alien from Saturn, jazz luminary Sun Ra was brought down to Earth to deliver messages of peace and liberation through his roaring, improvised sounds that blended African cosmology with avant-garde aesthetics. His teachings were deeply-rooted in philosophy and the need to break free from the shackles of systemic oppression, create one’s own destiny, and escape to a better reality. His vision continues to inspire generations of artists whose innovations also expand the Black classical tradition.

The ten foundational albums below trace the evolution of Afrofuturism in music, and how Black artists have used the concept of space to imagine liberation and rewrite history.– Sun Noor

Alice Coltrane — Journey in Satchidananda (1971)

Journey in Satchidananda is among the earliest works of Afrofuturism. Alice Coltrane’s opus is a boundary-pushing, deeply-spiritual body of work that cemented the legendary multi-instrumentalist’s legacy as a jazz luminary and one of the greats. The aftermath of her husband John Coltrane’s death planted the seed for this psychedelic and transformative album, which opens the door to a new dimension under the guidance of her spiritual mentor Swami Satchidananda Saraswati. By bridging the gap between Western and Eastern musical traditions and philosophy, Coltrane managed to re-purpose grief into a jubilant uproar. The record’s luscious harp strings, hypnotic tanpura tones, and meditative percussion soundtrack a spiritual rebirth that unlocks a new horizon. — S. Noor

Sun Ra — Space Is the Place (1973)

The beloved Space Is the Place serves as a preliminary introduction to the multifaceted and intergalactic world of Sun Ra and his ever-changing Arkestra. The virtuosic musician, né Herman Poole Blount, sought refuge away from Alabama towards the planet of Saturn as a way to reclaim the narrative of his family history and reject the identity that was assigned to him. By borrowing elements from ancient African history and undertaking an idiosyncratic approach to jazz, the composer innately created a vast universe with endless possibilities. The 21-minute title track serves as an introduction to the raucous ensemble, which shares radical transmissions of unrestricted freedom. The album floats through cosmic compositions, laying the groundwork for embracing an organized chaos. Space Is the Place uncovered new meaning through the philosophical belief of transcending the physical realm. — S. Noor

Parliament — Mothership Connection (1975)

Coming to you directly from the mothership, George Clinton and his crew uncover a new world set in the future, centered around Black extraterrestrials in outlandish costumes. “Funk not only moves — it can remove,” says DJ Lollipop Man in the opening track, “P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up),” alluding to the collective’s conceptual mythology created to free humanity from limited beliefs through the power of music. George Clinton and his crew have always defied norms when it comes to their signature theatrics, sonic innovation, and unrestrained creativity. By making the quantum leap from reality and embarking on a fantastical voyage through the cosmos, the band transmits an important message to look beyond the immediate; to give into fantasy not only as a momentary escape, but as the conduit to alter our worldview and reframe limiting beliefs. It’s a message that continues to resonate today. — S. Noor

Digital Underground — Sons of the P (1991)

Digital Underground’s 1991 album Sons of the P was an effective passing of the torch from Parliament-Funkadelic. With George Clinton’s fingerprints all over the album, including an otherworldly feature on the title track, Sons of the P saw Shock G aka Humpty Hump leading his Digital Underground on a mission to follow in the footsteps of the psychedelic-funk pioneers. “Tales of the Funky” pays homage through bars that reference lyrics and song titles by the iconic collective, while “Heartbeat Props” honors the era’s leaders, activists, role models, and saints. The album is most faithful to Afrofuturism when it feeds itself back into the core sentiments of Parliament-Funkadelic, itself obsessed with spiritual awakening through revolutionary connections to space and time. — Kiana Fitzgerald

Digable Planets — Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space) (1993)

Digable Planets continued pulling on the thread of Afrofuturist subversiveness with Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space). The album opens with eerie beeps and space whooshes before settling into a decidedly-jazzy foundation, which continues throughout the project in different iterations. Named in part after an essay by Argentinian writer and theorist Jorge Luis Borges, the album saw its creators similarly theorizing that time and space are conceptual, relating only to individuals. “Music be light,” a woman rhythmically says on the title track, “The mind is time and space.” At its core, Reachin’ is an album about free will, and the intentional aversion to the limits imposed by the space-time continuum and every system within it. — K. Fitzgerald

Drexciya — Neptune’s Lair (1999)

James Stinson and Gerald Donald’s first full length project as Drexciya served as an expansion of the vast realm they’ve created through reframing ancestral trauma. The legendary Detroit electronic duo has built an immersive universe centering an isolated, deep-sea civilization inhabited by the unborn children of the African women who were thrown off slave ships during the Middle Passage. This Afrofuturist myth laid the groundwork for their political narrative rooted in reclamation and resistance. Neptune’s Lair fuses cosmic aquatic soundscapes with pulsating techno beats, resulting in a timeless record that serves as the connective tissue weaving together the past, present, and future of Black electronic music. Each song evokes a different emotion that mirrors the journey across this underworld. Drexciya’s debut laid the foundation for their sonic innovation, which carved out a clear path for generations of artists. — S. Noor

Flying Lotus — Cosmogramma (2010)

For the mind-bending Cosmogramma, Flying Lotus built his own spaceship out of spare musical equipment and launched himself into the stratosphere, where fragments of his creativity still float. The nephew of late jazz great Alice Coltrane, who appeared earlier in this essay, FlyLo has said in interviews that his albums are in part dedicated to her. That tribute comes through clearly on Cosmogramma, which palpitates with elaborate digital jazz that Coltrane herself might have experimented with. Flying Lotus, an incredibly-talented producer and orchestrator on his own, is well aware of the Afrofuturist philosophy of re-imagining, reclaiming, and visualizing new futures through art and science. With this album, FlyLo solidified the principles of those who came before him, on his own terms. — K. Fitzgerald

Shabazz Palaces — Black Up (2011)

Not unlike Digable Planets’ heavy focus on free will across space and time, Shabazz Palaces’ Black Up is wholly dedicated to freedom. That similarity in theme may come at least in part because the man at the center of the group, Ishmael Butler, was a founding member of Digable Planets, under the name Butterfly. In Shabazz Palaces, he is the lead MC, Palaceer Lazaro. Having a fundamental basis as a freedom-seeking artist provided Butler with the ability to build his Afrofuturist aesthetics further out. As we wrote in our A+ review 15 years ago, Black Up is “avant futuristic, for the times and ahead of it.” The album digs into the earth of Afrofuturism by way of the lyrics (“Black is you, Black is me, Black is us, Black is free,” borrowed from The Last Poets), and via the production, which rockets to the heavens as much as it plummets down onto a new planet. — K. Fitzgerald

Kamasi Washington — The Epic (2015)

The sonic tapestry of Kamasi Washington’s The Epic is daring, full-bodied, and grounded in Afrofuturist theory. By weaving together swinging jazz, R&B, and the spiritualism of gospel, Washington ties Black creativity from era to era, space to space. The efforts that went into pulling The Epic out of thin air include a 10-piece band, a full string section, and a full choir, all of which meaningfully communicate with one another through Washington’s orchestration. As the album moves throughout its three-disc, near-three-hour arc, the saxophonist and composer invites session players to bleat and prowl throughout the limitless expanse of space and time. The Epic is a throwback to the past as much as it a calling to the future, echoing the deep lineage of Sun Ra and John Coltrane as Washington marches steadily toward tomorrow. — K. Fitzgerald

Moor Mother — Black Encyclopedia of the Air (2021)

With Black Encyclopedia of the Air, Camae Ayewa offers a moment of deep introspection, guiding listeners away from familiar ideals by stressing the importance of resistance. Her work as Moor Mother has always been rooted in liberation and the importance of rejecting negative beliefs in order to reach a collective consciousness. “No more master’s clock, we travel space ways,” she sings on “Zami,” over distorted instrumentation. The record travels between time and space and is deeply-rooted in ancestral connection. The album’s limitless and kaleidoscopic soundscape alternates between darkness and light, guiding listeners away from what we’ve been conditioned to accept, and towards an enlightened worldview. Through her signature fusion of poetry with rap, Ayewa proposes visions of a better world that feels in reach. — S. Noor