The Blackest Joy

Akua Naru is a Hip Hop artist, producer, activist, and scholar, who theorizes the myriad experiences of Black women through rhyme along a sonic spectrum from Jazz to Soul. She has released four albums: “...the journey aflame (2011)”, “Live & Aflame Sessions (2012)”, “The Miner’s Canary (2015)”, and “The Blackest Joy (2018)”--three of which were on the label she co-founded, The Urban Era.

Akua has performed hundreds of shows in more than fifty countries across five continents with her 6-piece band. She has been invited to lecture at Harvard, Oxford, Cornell, Princeton, Fordham, University of Cologne (Germany), Ahfad University for Women (Sudan), and Pivot Point College (China), among countless others.

Akua Naru is the Nasir Jones Fellow, Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Harvard University (2018-19).