"Afrika Shox" is a song by the English electronic group

Leftfield Leftfield are a British electronic music group formed in London in 1989, a duo of Neil Barnes and Paul Daley (the latter formerly of The Rivals and A Man Called Adam). The duo was influential in the evolution of electronic music in the 1990s ...

, released as the first single from their album ''

Rhythm and Stealth ''Rhythm and Stealth'' is the second studio album by the English electronic group Leftfield, released on 20 September 1999. It reached number 1 on the UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised nationa ...

'' in 1999, and features the vocal talent of American musician

Afrika Bambaataa Lance Taylor (born April 17, 1957), also known as Afrika Bambaataa (), is a retired American DJ, rapper, and record producer. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of ...

. It was released on CD and 12" on 6 September 1999 on the Hard Hands record label, published by

Chrysalis Music Chrysalis Music is a British independent music publisher. The company's roots started in west London in 1967 when Chris Wright and Terry Ellis formed the Ellis-Wright Agency. It was formed to manage and book the bands Ten Years After, Clouds an ...

. The song was their highest-charting single, reaching #7 in the UK Singles Chart. The song was later used in the 2001 film ''

Vanilla Sky ''Vanilla Sky'' is a 2001 American science fiction psychological thriller film directed, written, and co-produced by Cameron Crowe. It is an English-language remake of Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 Spanish film '' Open Your Eyes'', which was writ ...

'' and was included in the film's

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...

Music video

The music video was directed by

Chris Cunningham Chris Cunningham (born 15 October 1970) is an English video artist and music video director who directed music videos for electronic musicians such as Autechre, Squarepusher, and Aphex Twin and Björk. Early in his career he worked as a com ...

and was one of the first videos to be put into DVD quality featured in the demo disc featured in issue 51 of '' The Official UK PlayStation Magazine''. The video portrays a homeless African-American man stumbling the streets of New York City, while pieces of him break off like porcelain. He eventually wanders into a Break-dance tournament, where a B-Boy chips off the Protagonists left leg causing him to stumble and fall to the ground to the awareness of Afrika Bambaata who assists him. As the homeless man stumbles out he gets hit by a taxi, shattering and killing him. This video portrays racial struggles and anti-capitalist ideals.

Track listing

12"

# "Afrika Shox" (VW Remix) – 6:19 # "Phat Planet" – 5:24 # "Afrika Shox" (Jedis Elastic Bass Remix) – 6:12

CD 1

# "Afrika Shox" (Radio Edit) – 3:43 # "Phat Planet" – 5:24 # "Afrika Shox" (Jedis Elastic Bass Mix) – 6:12

CD 2

# "Afrika Shox" (VW Remix) – 6:19 # "Phat Planet" ( Dave Clarke Remix) – 5:52 # "Afrika Shox" (Video)

Personnel

Initial copies of the 12" release had a sticker incorrectly stating the version of "Phat Planet" was the Dave Clarke mix (which is available on '' Stealth Remixes'')

Charts

References

External links

"Afrika Shox" music video
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Article and screencaps
{{authority control Leftfield songs 1999 songs 1999 singles Chrysalis Records singles Music videos directed by Chris Cunningham Breakbeat songs