Rahsaan ‘Fly Guy’ Alexander Captures the Faces of DJ’ing

Rahsaan Alexander’s photographs on display at the Point Comfort Art Fair + Show at the Historic Ward Rooming House, Dec. 10, 2023. (Photo: Ken Kurson for Fine Art Globe)

OVERTOWN—I’m not all that experienced an Art Basel goer. Honestly, I’m not all that experienced a Miamian. But the thing I love best about my adopted hometown is its in-your-face diversity. I use my not-great Spanish every single day, and can pick out a Cuban accent from a Puerto Rican accent from a Costa Rican from Argentinian. I hear Russian, Ukrainian, and Hebrew and Creole all day long.

So last year when I covered a bunch of Art Basel stories for Fine Art Globe, one of the things that struck me about this international money cotillion was just how white it is. I’m the farthest thing from an identity guy, but if the purpose of art is to uplift and broaden one’s understanding of culture, I resolved this year to spend my precious time– I don’t have as many precious dollars as a ton of the people who’ve been here this weekend – experiencing cultures other than my own.

Attendees at the Point Comfort Art Fair + Show. Hosted at the Historic Ward Rooming House, Dec. 10, 2023. (Photo: Ken Kurson for Fine Art Globe)

Rahsaan Alexander is a hard-working DJ here in town. I follow him on Instagram (you should, too) and he’s constantly up to something fun. What I didn’t know is that he’s a historian of the art form as well. And a damn good photographer.

Alexander is one of the artists featured in a kinetic and entirely worthy Miami Art Week exhibit called the Point Comfort Art Fair + Show. Hosted at the Historic Ward Rooming House in the heart of Overtown, the show features a dozen or so artists in a tent and about a half dozen inside the building, including the great Jacob Lawrence, one of the most important African American painters in history.

Alexander’s portion of the show is a play on beats per minute called “BPM: Beats, Pics and Masters.” It consists of a dozen super-tight close portraits of DJs from Miami and beyond, including Grammy winner KP the Great, who spun a set in town for the big weekend, the actor George 2.0, and Charlamagne tha God partner DJ Envy.

Works by the great Jacob Lawrence on display at the Point Comfort Art Fair + Show at the Historic Ward Rooming House, Dec. 10, 2023. (Photo: Ken Kurson for Fine Art Globe)

I met Alexander a couple years ago when I first moved to Miami. He is the brother of Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, an early editor in chief of The Source magazine. In the late 90s, I wrote a column about personal finance for The Source, and became so close to my editor there, Dimitry Leger, that his son is my godson. When Sidney visited Miami, I took him to Wynwood to go to the photography store, since that’s an interest of his as well. He told me his dad had tried to explain how influential The Source had been in its day, and wanted to know if he was exaggerating.

I told Sidney there’s no way to exaggerate the importance of The Source. There’s no analog for it among today’s influencers. The fact that a black-owned magazine sprung up out of nowhere, and almost instantly became the phone-book sized paper of record for the most important cultural movement in the world and remained independent can only be considered a work of the Creator.

Rahsaan Alexander (r) with Dimitry Leger in Wynwood, July 4, 2021. (Photo: Ken Kurson for Fine Art Globe)

I had pizza with Dimitry and Selwyn that night, and Selwyn’s brother, who goes by A Fly Guy in his DJ capacity, spun a really impressive set of classics and new stuff and blended tastefully chosen material without hitting you over the head.

So it’s not exactly a surprise that Alexander is very good at a couple different things, given his family pedigree. But what a treat to discover this gem of a space right in the middle of historic O-town, Miami’s historic Black neighborhood.

On the day I attended, Freedom Fest was taking place right down the street. The personalities from 103.5 The Beat were introducing models by saying the three most important letters in the alphabet are L.U.B. for Love You Bunches. And you can feel the love at Point Comfort Art Fair a block away.