2/16/25

Lenzmen - Bend and Blur Your Optics

What of science-fiction when both science and fiction fall victim to tyrannical repression? Some may see in fascism's rise a boon for dystopian writings. For that, a friendly reminder and fair warning: tech bros who once read seminal cyberpunk as prescriptive look at Afrofuturism with the same lens and see in it horror stories. So, Bend and Blur Your Optics. The Lenzmen are an Atoms Family adjacent rap group borne from the same radio station that gave the world Public Enemy. The individual and collective output of their members Dynamics Plus, Dokta Strange, Centri, and Earthadox is a universe that exists both unto itself and intertwined with the last 30-odd years of underground rap and digital comics. 

On the occasion of this ground zero album work's 2010 reissue, Dynamics Plus wrote, "There’s a constant switch between cringing and being awed to the point of feeling intimidated." Of their individual lenses he recalled, "The sights came from my tendency to always dream about the future (foresight), Doc Strange was concerned with today and right now (insight) and Earthadox was always saying remember when (hindsight). Centri was always coming with some off-the-wall observation so we called him Outer-Sight and it stuck."

More missives to follow as time's destruction permits.


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