Chicago jazz fusion and hip-hop collective Afrofuturistics just released their debut EP, The Enigmatic, via Big Bonkey Records, streaming exclusively ahead of release at New Noise Magazine. The release show lands August 29 at Le Piano in Chicago. Stream it now. 
Stream/order HERE.
Afrofuturistics was founded in the summer of 2024 by bassist and composer Erik Oldman of Sons of Ra and Mare Crisium, and rapper and producer Karl “Brother Tone” Isaacs of Sands of the Hour. Originally conceived as a vessel to interpret the works of Sun Ra, electric-era Miles Davis, and Fela Kuti through a modern beat-making lens, the project rapidly expanded into a horn-section-forward vehicle for original composition.
The ensemble blends the idioms of cosmic jazz fusion and experimental hip-hop, defined by its massive, multi-layered brass and woodwind section. The sound is an explosive collision of the improvisational fire of Seventies jazz-funk and the heavy, atmospheric pocket of instrumental hip-hop — rhythmically disciplined and harmonically expansive in equal measure. Fresh off winning Best Hip-Hop Group in the Chicago Reader‘s Best of Chicago 2025 poll, the collective brings in tenor saxophonist Keith Wakefield of Sons of Ra, trumpet and cornet player Scott Free, woodwind players Luc Mosley of Mucca Pazza and Eli Wilson, and Guinean folk artist Abdoulaye Conde on Kora. MC Levi Stress and rapper Artie Slaw of Sands of the Hour also appear.
The Enigmatic was recorded at Maynott Studios with Eric McWhorter and mixed and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Rollin Weary at Deluxe Studios.
TRACKLIST
- “These Things Happen”
- “Daydream”
- “The Enigmatic”
- “One Whole Song”
- “Lexaprocrasstination”