As night fell upon a vibrant blue-and-yellow pop-up basketball court at the busy intersection of 63rd Street and Ashland, an intimate crowd of Englewood residents gathered across from the Green Line station to watch open mic performances from local poets, singers and featured rappers Shaundric and Mani Jurdan.
The jubilant, soulful sound of Afrocentric music, performed by the all-Black female band Ancestral Family Business, from South Shore, amplified the calm energy of the event and covered the whole ‘hood in a balm of joy.
“We find it so important because we consider this as ‘frequency music,’” says Arcana Bright, the band’s lead singer. “[We] wanted to touch people’s DNA without them even knowing, through the music first. And once we captivate them with the music, we hit them with the conscious lyrics — what we should be doing, unifying, the next step — because there’s a whole lot of stuff going on.”
Bright’s appearance in July at the INTH3LAND (In the Land) open mic was her first. Founded in 2020, INTH3LAND started as an idea of host Isiah “ThoughtPoet” Veney and his brother while they were unhoused and hanging out at the 95th Street Red Line station. The brothers came up with the name together, but it was ThoughtPoet who made it a reality.
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