Six Must See Films for the Calgary Black Film Festival 2022

May 25, 2022

The 2022 Calgary Black Film Festival is set to hit screens, both in person and at home starting Thursday the 26th of May, and concluding Sunday the 29th. Viewers will experience stories that bring truth to power, rooted in both joy and resilience.

CTV's Joelle Tomlinson Looks Forward to the Calgary Black Film Festival

May 24, 2022

Catch Joelle Tomlinson at this year’s Calgary Black Film Festival Black Market. Tomlinson will be a panelist at the event titled NETWORKING: The How To Rules for Approaching People in the Industry. Learn more at https://calgaryblackfilm.com/

Countdown to Calgary Black Film Festival 2022

April 29, 2022

This year, the Calgary Black Film Festival [CBFF] will run both online and in-person from May 26 - 29. Here is what festival Founder Fabienne Colas has to say about the importance of nurturing film production talent within local Black communities and beyond.

Sebastian Clovis on Gut Job and HGTV's changing landscape

April 27, 2022

Gut Job premiers April 27, 2022 on HGTV Canada, so we sat down with Sebastian Clovis to talk about implicit messages within the show and HGTV’s changing landscape.

From Her to Now: Black Mothers, Black Children

April 22, 2022

oualie reflects on the passing of her mother, and in doing so, touches on a larger conversation about how lived experiences shape our concepts of safety.

A Very Black Calgarian Production: Lemba on her Recent Project Not That Deep

April 21, 2022

This article is a part of an ongoing partnership between the Rozsa Foundation and Afros In Tha City in support of Rozsa Foundation's commitment to sharing diverse voices and stories of the Alberta arts community.

From Pitfalls To Power: The Wakefield Brewster Story

April 19, 2022

Everyone Talks a Big Game About Black Mental Health Until the Moment of Adversity Arises

April 15, 2022

For decades, Will took abuse from the internet. Joke after joke. Everyone talks a big game about Black mental health until moments of adversity arise.

The Lack of Support for Brittney Griner Shows How Society Continues to Fail Black Women & Queer People

March 24, 2022

Brittney Griner is a Black, queer woman. And for western society, that isn’t enough to fuss about.

Steeven K. on writing and directing

March 18, 2022

Steeven K. is a Congolese-Canadian filmmaker, director and writer currently residing and working in Vancouver. Recently, Steeven was one of 30 recipients of the Telus StoryHive grant for Emerging Black Creators, and is currently working on the pilot episode for a series focusing on the story of a young Congolese immigrant.

Read the full cover story

Aquakultre covers the September 2026 issue of Afros in tha City. The complete story explores 1783, Matriarchs, the family histories behind the work and the moment Lance Sampson found his voice.

The full feature and photo story will be released with the September digital issue and limited print edition.

& Afro-Disco Makossa: The Dance Floor Record He’s Always Wanted to Spin & More.

Music never arrives without a history. It carries places, technologies, memories and the fingerprints of those who came before.

For our August cover story, Afros in tha City sits down with Adrian Younge to explore the sounds, relationships and creative philosophy behind Afro-Disco Makossa—a record born from his long-held desire to create music for the dance floor without surrendering the depth, musicianship or historical consciousness that defines his work.

Drawing from makossa, soul, funk and disco, the album does not treat these traditions as relics to be reproduced. Younge approaches them as living languages: sounds capable of holding their histories while continuing to move, transform and speak to the present. The result is music designed for movement, connection and deep listening—a record that looks backward only to understand where it might travel next.

But this conversation extends far beyond one album.

Younge reflects on the trust that can only be built through consistency, his enduring creative partnership with Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and the ecosystem they have created through Jazz Is Dead. Rather than positioning legendary musicians as figures frozen in the past, the platform invites living artists to continue creating, experimenting and adding new chapters to their own stories.

He also speaks about attending law school because he wanted to become what he calls “an educated artist”—someone equipped to understand contracts, intellectual property, ownership and the structures surrounding the work. His independence is not simply an aesthetic or an industry label. It is knowledge, preparation, discipline and the infrastructure required to protect a creative life.

That philosophy carries particular weight for an independent publication like ours. Building outside traditional systems requires more than vision. It requires learning how the machinery works, deciding what must remain yours and creating an ecosystem capable of supporting the work long after the excitement of an idea has passed.

Throughout the conversation, Younge retains the curiosity that first led him toward music. “We’re just bigger kids,” he says—a reminder that serious artistic practice does not require abandoning wonder. Growth can mean becoming more skilled, more informed and more intentional while remaining open enough to keep discovering.

This is a cover story about a dance-floor record, but it is also about something larger: how artists honour history without becoming trapped inside it, how independence is built rather than declared, and how curiosity keeps the conversation moving forward.

Adrian Younge covers the August issue of Afros in tha City.

Read “Afro-Disco Makossa: The Dance Floor Record He’s Always Wanted to Spin” at afrosinthacity.com and in our print publication.

Stories Shaping Culture.