Lo-Fi Futures

November 09, 2022

A talk show that takes place in a spaceship is exactly what we all need.

November CBC Community Writing and Storytelling Workshops

October 28, 2022

Sharpen your pen this November by attending a workshop!

Sue-Shane Tsomondo: Dreams of Literary Equity

October 23, 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.

Not A Political Playground Y’all: N.A.P.P.Y. Dance Collective and The Movement For Representation

October 17, 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.

Star Roots and Starry Eyes: Academia, Anarchy, and Radical Imagination

October 10, 2022

The Black Romance Book Club connects readers with authors

July 27, 2022

Tanya Lee hopes to shine a spotlight on Black Romance authors while bringing more diversity to the genre.

Colour full of Afros

July 11, 2022

Mide Kadiri is a multidisciplinary artists currently based in Mohkínstsis/Calgary. Mide has created the featured artwork as an original piece for Afros In Tha City and below discusses what inspired the piece.

Afros in Tha City + CBC Calgary – Community Writing Workshop Partnership

June 30, 2022

Do you have a story you want to shout from the rooftops? Well, we’re partnering with CBC Calgary to help you do just that!

A message to the Startup community: It’s time to empower small businesses too!

June 27, 2022

This Op-Ed was written by Mona-Lisa Prosper, Director of the Black Entrepreneur Startup Program at Futurpreneur

Malika Tirolien on Higher

June 15, 2022

In addition to her work with Snarky Puppy and Bokanté, Tirolien has worked with the band Groundfood, and has collaborated with and been featured by many other artists. Tirolien has also opened for several notable musicians, the most memorable for her being Lauryn Hill.

& 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.