No matter how good an idea may be, or even how thoroughly well produced and unprecedented a work may be, always, in the beginning, as an artist (of any kind for that matter) you must create material that people can relate to and identify with. Because when something is “too” alien it is often gazed at from a distance, human beings require intimacy and social familiarity.

Thus, here we are, with a brand new and very relatable short Instagram manga series entitled “可愛い男の子ナルト” which translates as “Pretty Boy Naruto.” Now, before you gain any assumptions, I did NOT plan on this project whatsoever! It literally popped out of nowhere. It was like Spirit said “Hey, you know Naruto is a ‘real nigga,’ transform him into a super smooth handsome and styled-out Afro-American player who can easily get all the girls he could never get being his original self.”

Yup, and that’s pretty much how Pretty Boy Naruto has came to be. Mind you, this little series will be short, I mean 3 to 4 posts short because I do not want Masashi Kishimoto or anyone from the legal department of Shonen Jump hitting me up with threats of filing a lawsuit for remaking their character.

Hopefully, if this thing does “blow up” and go viral, perhaps Kishimoto sensei himself will find the idea interesting, as well as amusing and not smack me with copyright infringement.

Eh, we’ll see what happens, for time will tell.

Follow me on Instagram to watch more dope madness unfold!

Listen to Pretty Boy Naruto’s theme music that I produced below or watch the video on YouTube.

Peace and guidance viewer, today I am happy to announce that Melanin Jinn: Origin will be premiering at Circle Thrift & Artspace this First Friday. What a lovely start to my favorite month of the year (October)! This is the first showcase for the Melanin Jinn series, and it will be a month long exhibition which features my boy’s new outdoor clothing brand called “Bizzare Creature.”

There will be Melanin Jinn merch for sale, such as physical copies of the artbook/manga, the Melanin Jinn special DVD (jam packed with bonuses and behind the scenes look at the process of making Melanin Jinn: Origin and the first manga chapter), and Bizzare Creature t-shirts!

You definitely don’t wanna miss out on this grand opening and if you do, don’t fret! I will be planning many more Melanin Jinn showcases to help spread awareness about this new mysterious action cartoon/anime. All proceeds will go to the production of the fully animated Melanin Jinn pilot episode.

If you’ve already watched and enjoyed Melanin Jinn: Origin then don’t hesitate to contribute to the series’ production by either purchasing any version of the artbook or dropping any amount of $$$ in the GoFundMe campaign.

Your name and social media will be credited in the ‘Special Thanks’ credits of the pilot episode when you contribute. Thank you!

I actually have a lot in store for this manga series, and… I won’t divulge my intentions or plans here or elsewhere either (Haha!) So, in the meanwhile, browse TheMarkOfBuddha.com, cop some artwork or posters, maybe even my first book In’Sight if you like, just to keep your mind occupied as I let the spirit flow through me in manifesting MELANIN JINN!

P.S. If you are subscribed to our YouTube channel, be patient because we will be posting content on there this Spring.

P.P.S. The cover above is only a prototype, may not use it for the final product.

Love your Afrokan roots, love yourself. Ase

The story of T’Challa and his kingdom of Wakanda is not only just a marvelous but ‘fictional’ representation of real ancient Afrokan culture and technology, it is also representative of spiritual and eco-technological potential that the continental Afrokans and the Afrokans of the Diaspora have. I thoroughly enjoyed “Black Panther” because it spoke for us Afro-Americans and the Afrokans born in Afroka in a way where it will engender serious conversation between the two and I love this movie for how it portrayed us Afrokan males and women beautifully and potently.

Erik Killmonger is one of the characters I really enjoyed, a lot of what he was is what I felt (and STILL FEEL) inside, due to the collective plight of my people and the horrendous events that occurred to my ancestors. However, the movie showed how one’s own rage towards his enemy can turn his rage into hatred of himself if he doesn’t fully understand or know of his roots. Killmonger spent his lifetime studying and emulating the mindset of his oppressor/enemy in order to get back at him, but he was disconnected from his roots (Afroka) spiritually, culturally, and linguistically like most of us in the Afrokan Disapora, which caused him to be brutal to his own people. This was a major gem in the movie that I think a lot of people may not have caught, this man’s anger and hate was brewing to the point where it made him hate his roots (Afroka/Wakanda) for his unfortunate circumstances. 

There’s a lot and I mean a LOT of subtle layers to this movie that we could go over, but, all that is way too extensive to cover in this post. Back on Erik Killmonger, to me he wasn’t necessarily a “bad/evil” guy (albeit he was extremely inhumane and apathetic, psychotic and violent), he was merely consumed with hate and revenge, which led him to be so vile in his actions. Here’s an Afrokan axiom to elucidate you further on this character, “The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel it’s warmth.”

Love your Afrokan roots, love yourself. Ase

We will begin our blog page in January 2018.

Stay tuned.

Simply stay tuned!