Afro Cluster are a hip-hop/funk crossover collective from Cardiff who have been bubbling under the scene for the past few years or so, and so far 2016 has kicked off in fine style for them. Named as one of the Horizon acts (a group of artists handpicked to watch by BBC Wales) they now they present ‘Love Thing’, the vibrant first track from their forthcoming EP We Don Land. A deliciously rambunctious party tune that sways between the funky horns of The Average White Band and the joyous work of positive old school organic hip-hop acts like the Roots or De La Soul.
It’s laced with the personal and politically conscious rhymes of leader Skunkadelic whose self-aware vocals survey the damage around him – “All they want is segregation/Replace love with hatred/To generate paper/Create war amongst third nations/And take from them… Then looks skyward/Gimmie that one thing’s/Better than nothing/All of my people!” he sings, infusing positivity and collectivism into the gloomiest of world situations. All together now…
