From the team that brought you Spotify's eccentric and insightful Drawn & Recordedseries, comes another animated journey for music lovers of all severity. Turning the lens to Afrofuturism and the origins thereof, DUST has charted the cosmic lineage of Sun Ra in the introductory episode of its new series. Narrated by Little Simz, the opening segment deconstructs and emboldens the copious meanings of the concept; how some take it as escapism, others as a celebration of black innovations, and still some as a spiritual center from which new cultural narratives can bloom.

With Sun Ra's deep-south-to-deep-space trajectory as its backbone, the parallels between Sunny's astrally-projected vision for Black America and that put forth by Afrofuturists become uncanny; championing the boundless creativity within and the call to excellence. But the tale neither begins or ends with Sun Ra. Upcoming installments will hone in on other artists and cultural figures that agitated the line between terrestrial and interplanetary blackness, like Jimi Hendrix, George Clinton, Missy Elliott and Uhura, the first black member of the Starship Enterprise.

Explore the constellations that brought us Sun Ra and instilled Afrofuturism for generations to come in the clip below. Stay tuned for the next transmission.