Over the past week or so, two high profile artists have delivered exceptional performances, centred around the topic of pro-blackness and social-conciousness on two well known and respected platforms- The Super Bowl Ceremony and The Grammy’s.
On 8th February 2016, Beyonce’ performed her newly released song, Formation, in tribute to the black panther party- a revolutionary black nationalist and socialist group, that was part of the Civil Rights movement in America during the 1960s. Including lyrics such as ‘I like my baby heir with baby hair and afro’s’, Bey refers to her daughter, Blue, and celebrates the natural hair she has. She also sings ‘I might just be a black Bill Gates in the making’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5BPfRHX1SE
This performance did receive backlash by some who claimed the performance was racist and consequently wanted to organise a protest against it. However, the Civil Rights movement, which is what the performance was in effect a tribute to, is not just part of African American History, but American history and on an even wider scale- world history.Furthermore, some may think that being pro-black is equivalent to being anti-white, or any other ethnicity, when this isn’t necessarily the case. It is simply celebrating a culture and the progress made amongst black people,especially considering our heavy history. Therefore, Beyonce’s performance is symbolic in that it acknowledges a significant part of history and honors the progress made thus far from it.
A week later on 15th February 2016, Kendrick Lamar made a similar statement of being, what many twitter users labelled, ‘Unapologetically African’ through his creative, educating and incredibly socially conscious performance. Entering the stage with chains tied around his wrists, similar to a slave, and dressed in a prison uniform, the rapper proceeded to spit a verse, confidently embracing common features amongst Africans that are often ridiculed in mainstream media:’my hair is nappy..my nose is rounded wide’. The performance later on rolls into him singing his song ‘Alright’, which acknowledges the struggles black people have experienced in slavery, amongst other things, but carries an uplifting mood in that it stresses ‘we gon be alright. we been hurt, been down before… but we gon be alright’. The performance also embeds African tribal dancing and attire into it, further expressing the point of being unapologetically black.
Personally, lyrics are of severe importance to me in songs-more than the actual sound on a track. So to see Beyonce and Kendrick openly talk about these topics that are often silenced in mainstream media, yet are significant in history and still relevant in how society functions today, its inspiring. Hopefully this will pave the way and encourage artists to use their power, through their art to speak more openly about important topics. Furthermore, as there are allot of underground artists who do speak about socially-conscious topics, it would also be good if they received more attention from the media. Either way, Kendrick and Beyonce have definitely started an important conversation.
By Maxine Harrison
