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DEON BROWN

@ddeonbrown

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black sonic cowboy
composer/soundsystem builder
founder: @blackamericansoundsystem
@oaklandblackcowboyassociation

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Oakland Black Cowboy Annual Parade this weekend. Thank you for the hospitality and kind words

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52nd Annual Black Cowboy Parade in The Town

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This Saturday, @oaklandblackcowboyassociation celebrates it's 52nd Annual Parade & Festival at De Fremery Park.

Parade starts at 10am and it's one of the most special things that happens in Oakland each year. Hope you can make it! 🐎🐎🐎

Thank you to the very talented local Bay Area artist who created this awesome poster, Micah Warren (@theartofroygbiv).

Also, check out the new website, Oaklandbca.org, which @momanisthetakeover helped us with!

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Inside the main branch of the @berkeleypubliclibrary, there a pair of speakers that look like mountains.

Singer and songwriter @ddeonbrown is the sound designer behind mammoth speakers, which he calls The John Henry Sound System.

They’re part of Brown’s “The Break Room” exhibition, which also features archival posters, a listening station and decades-worth of music created by Black artists.

Brown, the founder of the @blackamericansoundsystem, is the first artist-in-residence in the history of the library’s In The Stax series.

This fall In The Stax will host a number of performances, workshops and listening sessions across multiple Berkeley Public Library sites; the event series is a collaborative effort between @ddeonbrown and Berkeley Public Library Specialist @_readwatchlisten.

Before things kick off this evening with a performance by @connoisseurrat at the Claremont Branch, take a minute and read about what @_readwatchlisten and @ddeonbrown have coming up this fall.

Check the link in my bio for the full story.

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BUILD LOG 001: Before there was an exhibition, there was a room. And before there was a room, there was a question: What would it feel like to build a space for Black people to rest, listen, remember, and imagine?

Over the past few months, The Break Room was built by conversation, idea and conception piece by piece: wood, speakers, posters, plants, vinyl, photographs, archives, paint, cable, furniture, and a whole lot of labor. This is the beginning of the build log archive.

A record of the hands, materials, experiments, failures, revisions, and ideas that became The Break Room at @berkeleypubliclibrary .

What a week it has been with the opening of “The Break Room” exhibition. Thank you a billion for the love and support around this work. Gratitude, heritage and curiosity is at the core of what we do, so throughout the course of the exhibition, we intend to share the process and knowledge that came from this mission.

Shot by our good friend @larissa.fawn

Now Open through December 12, 2026. Please visit blackamericansoundsystem.org for more info.

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John Henry is outside at @51andtel, celebrating the opening of The Break Room! We are still on the dance floor enjoying music from @k.relboyne @yungantie and so many more great DJs. Come celebrate The Break Room with us until 9pm.

#blackamericansoundsystem #soundsystem #blackmusic #oaklandlove #bayarea

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THE BREAK ROOM made the news.
Last night, the debut of the new exhibition with @blackamericansoundsystem at @berkeleypubliclibrary was featured in a segment for @ktvu2 documenting the work, the sound systems, the spaces, and the ideas behind it. Thank you immensely for this recognition.

What began as an idea became a physical world. Come experience The Break Room, open now through December 12. For more information on programming, archives and more, visit blackamericansoundsystem.org for more information.

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The John Henry Speakers are up now at the Berkeley Public Library. Two speakers come together to set you in The People’s Sonic Park, giving thanks to Berkeley’s iconic People’s Park, once the home to revoloution, protest and liberation for people all over The Bay. Over the next three months, immerse yourself in the jazz, funk, soul and hip hop music of The Bay Area, from 1975 to 2005. We hope to see you at our exhibition and the programming throughout the rest of the year.

#blackamericansoundsystem #soundsystem #sounddesign #bass #blackmusicians

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bye bye summer

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truly, EARTHSEED REMNANTS has been one of the most meaningful and fully realized art exhibitions i’ve created. ❇️

a month of holding space. of asking what we carry forward. of watching people move through rooms made by artists who urn to be felt more than seen.

thank you to everyone who came out. to the opening, to open gallery hours, to the @thelivingroom.sf vision pop-up with @matthew.e.davis & friends , to the God is Change speculative writing workshop with @amaleebea_ — and to everyone who showed up to close it with us friday night. thank you for showing up and feeling the work in all its remnants.

thank you to the five artists who trusted lynse and me with their work: @nicolataa , @jasminenarkita , @jenn.ban , @ecdysis.exp , and Z. Miles. what you shared will not be forgotten. may this exhibition be a timestamp into a future you’ll realize into existence.

thank you to my collaborators & dear friends, @datboi_tre @radcheckers @jinleebaobei @ddeonbrown @bellahangnail for showing up & vibing out.

thank you to @artogether__ @firstborncryptid @sarahdawsonphotographer for being the kind of space that makes something like this possible — for the generosity, the trust, and the human spirited partnership from the very beginning.

✨ to my co curator @short_n_stout27 — this one was special for me, hope it was for you. grateful for our moments of laughter.

and to Octavia Butler, who gave us the seeds.

whole hearted gratitude and a garden of truths sprout from this exhibition. so happy to see it take root and the many births that have sprouted from this. whatever comes next, cheers to this journey we call life ❇️

What do we carry forward, and what do we allow to transform?

🎥: @skisrisky @poweredby.flora @sacredskinadornments

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OPENING CEREMONY: THE BREAK ROOM by @ddeonbrown @berkeleypubliclibrary

Tuesday, September 22, 2026
4:00–7:00 PM

Berkeley Public Library: Central Library
2090 Kittredge Street
Berkeley, CA 94704

Join us for the opening of THE BREAK ROOM, an immersive sound exhibition by Black American Sound System exploring Black music, sound, memory, and community.

OPENING CEREMONY
First Listen - First Viewing - Artist Remarks

ARTIST TALK
Deon Brown
in conversation

Free & Open to the Public

THE BREAK ROOM
September 22–December 12, 2026
For more information, please visit blackamericansoundsystem.org or visit any @berkeleypubliclibrary branch location.

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August photo dump with some memes that reflect the things I’ve been thinking about over the past month. Mostly that I am very lucky to be surrounded by people that love me and support my silly little projects. I didn’t put much thought into what I’m writing rn, but i just wanna say that life is cool and we should all enjoy it while we can cause I just know many of us have some much darker days ahead of us.

Big thanks to @secretmusehq @jasthemuse for hosting the exhibition that made some of these photos possible and any of the other artists featured here. I had some more photos of the event but my sd card got lost so I’m just using what I had saved.

I wanted to use provider by frank ocean for this but it is not on ig 💔it’s easily my most listened to song these past few weeks. I’ve been obsessed with that line “show me some wisdom in your movement….”

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